Israel Deports Foreign Activists From Global Resilience Fleet After Intercepting Aid Ships

Israel’s occupation authorities deported all foreign activists and human rights defenders detained aboard ships of the Global Resilience Fleet after intercepting their passage in international waters and denying them the delivery of aid, following widespread international condemnation over how they were treated during detention.

“The American activist Cooper did not imagine she would face such intense intimidation from the German government to deter her from participating in events in support of Palestine and calling for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its official X account that the move comes to end what it called the Public Relations Fleet, in an explicit attempt to smear the international solidarity movement with the Palestinian cause.

Al-Jazeera Net

Masrawy says the occupation continues to tighten its blockade on the Gaza Strip, and it quotes the Israeli Foreign Ministry communiqué that Israel will continue to impose its military encirclement on the Gaza Strip.

In the same account, Masrawy links the deportations to a broader wave of international anger sparked by statements and a video clip posted by Itamar Ben-Gvir, in which foreign activists were shown restrained on the ground with the taunting phrase he said, 'Welcome to Israel'.

In Berlin, a commemorative gathering for the 77th anniversary of the Nakba was met with police violence, with state forces surrounding the procession to prevent it from spreading through the streets of the German capital.

Revolution Permanente describes a massive police deployment with streets at the front of the demonstration completely blocked and two water cannons positioned ready to intervene, and it says police forces repeatedly intervened to disperse the demonstration.

Masrawy

The outlet says protesters were beaten, choked, and dragged to the ground during forceful arrests, including a protester struck in the face with fists and feet to the point of drawing blood according to several witnesses.

Revolution Permanente also says Berlin police arrested a female protester by pinning her against their vehicle, then striking her head against the bodywork, throwing her to the ground, and brutally crushing her with their legs, while other officers stood by with gas canisters in hand.

Al-Jazeera Net reports that foreign activists in Germany faced deportation because of Palestine, describing the case of an American activist identified as Cooper who said she faced intense intimidation from the German government to deter her from participating in events supporting Palestine and calling for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.

“Main content Search Footer Europe — Reportage Gaza: In Germany, the Great Denial In the name of history and support for Israel, promoted as a 'state raison d'État,' the German voices who denounce the massacres in the Palestinian enclave are silenced or suspected of antisemitism by media, politicians and cultural institutions”

Mediapart

The outlet says Cooper told Al Jazeera that she did not expect the repression to reach this level, which she sees as a message of intimidation to all supporters that the German government will confront any opposition to its stance on Gaza with harshness.

Al-Jazeera Net also describes the Chilean activist Luis Cortés being detained and then having his residence suspended after participating in a sit-in inside the Free University of Berlin in November 2023, and it says the Foreigners' Office refused to renew his residence due to ongoing investigations despite a court ruling of acquittal.

It adds that the Irish activist Shane O'Brien said he could hardly believe deportation could be proposed against a European citizen, and it says his lawyers reviewed internal documents showing immigration officials found no legal basis to deport him while the case continued under direct pressure from the German Ministry of the Interior.