Gaza Boat 311.
(photo credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
A group of Israeli left-wing activists who were angry about the Turkish attacks
on IDF soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara two weeks ago decided Monday to cancel
the flotilla that they were planning to Cyprus to protest the Turkish occupation
of the island’s northern half.
The Jerusalem Post reported exclusively on
June 5 about the planned flotilla, which was to be led by former MK Alex
Goldfarb (Tzomet, Yi’ud) and Modi’in Meretz activist Pinhas
Har-Zahav.
The story made headlines in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece and
throughout Europe, and some 800 supporters of the flotilla joined its
Facebook
group.
But Israeli government officials persuaded the activists to cancel
the voyage, because they were worried that the media attention would
remind
international media of the Gaza flotilla when most of the world’s
attention had
shifted to other issues like the British Petroleum spill and the World
Cup.
“The publicity we already received did its part in reminding the
world [that the Turks are occupiers],” one of the organizers of the
flotilla
said. “Personally it’s depressing for me that we didn’t get to go. But
the
government officials we spoke to were professionals, and they told us
that doing
it now was not right for the state, so we listened to them.”
The flotilla
was to include 23 yachts of six people each.
The yachts were donated to
the cause by their owners.
A group of Israeli students who were planning
to go Turkey to remind the world about the Armenian genocide and what
they
labeled the ongoing Turkish oppression of their Kurdish minority may
also cancel
their plans.
Abe Selig contributed to this report.
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