PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
 
The Israeli attacks that began on October 7 have reached the level of genocide, where over 50,000 civilians have been massacred in Gaza. While all of this is happening before the eyes of the world, people of conscience have reacted to this genocide in the name of human dignity. These reactions have reached a global scale. Every person with a conscience has organized protests in the streets to stand against this genocide. They have made the world aware of the brutality of the occupying state. But what have the authorities, who have the power to stop this genocide, done in response to the outcry of the people?
While all the condemnations issued, press releases given, suspension of relations with Israel, halting of trade, and policies in favor of Palestine are all significant steps, the genocide has not yet ended. Israel, which is killing people like a terrorist organization and occupying the Palestinian lands, has not taken a single step back from its attacks.
However, in response to the inaction of those in power, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which previously organized flotillas to Gaza to protest the occupying Israel and to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, has organized humanitarian aid flotillas in many parts of the world to send aid to Gaza, and to say "stop" to Israel.
Although the Conscience Ship, which was supposed to set sail from Türkiye and stop at European ports and carry out awareness-raising actions specifically for Palestine, has completed all necessary procedures to set sail, the Turkish Ministry of Transport is not granting permission for it to leave the port, without providing any explanation as to why this exit permit has not been granted. We understand that there are certain political reasons and concerns behind the withholding of this document.
So, what will we do in the face of this genocide?
Regardless of belief, color, race, or nationality, we call on all people of conscience to take action against this unprecedentedly brazen genocide, to say to the arrogant occupier Israel, "Enough, your time is up!"
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition believes that with this flotilla movement it has initiated, a ceasefire can be achieved in Palestine, humanitarian aid can reach Gaza, and the genocide can be stopped.
The people of Palestine are waiting for us. The people of Palestine are waiting for the peoples of the world, their last hope, to take action against the ruthless genocide being inflicted upon them.
European countries that stand with Palestine and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has 57 members, have not been able to stop Israel, the spoiled child of the USA, from carrying out the genocide.
It is now time for people of conscience to take action.
While Gaza, which has been turned into a massive genocide camp before the eyes of the world, stands on one side, we do not accept the unjustified and unexplained obstruction of the Freedom Flotilla. Any political obstacles placed in our path are walls that must be overcome and torn down. Those who build these walls of obstacles will not be able to account for their actions before the conscience of the world.
We invite all people of conscience to the Freedom Watch we have started in front of the Haydarpaşa Port, where the Conscience Ship, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, has been chained.
Our protest will continue until the Conscience Ship sets sail.
Long live our Free Palestine Cause!

In the attacks that began on October 7th, the occupying Israel has massacred more than 40,000 people. The events taking place in Palestine, where the attacks by the occupiers continue, have reached the level of genocide. Speaking at a march attended by tens of thousands of supporters of Palestine against this genocide, Mavi Marmara Association President Beheşti İsmail Songür made the following statements about the Freedom Flotilla ships:
“Israel's perception of 'inaccessible Gaza' is entirely a lie. However, whenever we attempt to take action, we find ourselves facing Israel and its collaborators.
For months, we coordinated the Freedom Flotilla in various countries around the world. During this process, thousands of people became supporters of our flotilla. The Freedom Flotilla aimed to act in consultation with the governments, civil society organizations, and the people in all the countries it was located. However, in recent days, we have docked our Conscience Ship, which is part of the Freedom Flotilla, at Haydarpaşa Port. While our ship, which has completed its loading and certifications, is ready to set sail, it has been waiting at the port for 25 days due to a port exit document that takes only 15 minutes to process.”
Continuing, Songür said that if it were said that the ships were sailing for purposes other than humanitarian aid, the process would be entirely different:
“If we had said 'Our ship is going to Tel Aviv or Ashdod,' this process would have taken exactly 15 minutes.
We have been receiving many threats and searches for days. We are told that what we are doing is dangerous. We are told that there are political issues, that there is trade involved. Friends, which international agreement is Israel currently abiding by? While Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which agreement is it abiding by? When small children are being killed, which agreements did Israel abide by, and now you are bringing some trade agreements to confront us?”
Songür emphasized that the states that provide or allow the supply of oil and energy to Israel are complicit in the crime, and continued:
“We say 'Beloved Azerbaijan,' 'Brother Azerbaijan.' The crude oil coming from Azerbaijan is transferred to Israel through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline after passing through our country. It is refined there and used as fuel for the planes that bomb Gaza.
While trade ships from Turkey go to the Ashdod port, which is 35 kilometers away from Gaza, the fact that humanitarian aid ships cannot reach Gaza, just 35 kilometers further down, is a political disgrace.
In a place where genocide is taking place, you cannot use trade, politics, economy, or international agreements as an excuse. You must take a firm stand.”
Finally, Beheşti İsmail Songür concluded his words as follows: “From now on, no matter what happens, we will get the Freedom Flotilla out of these ports. No matter how much pressure you put on us, either do something or let us do what we have to do. But do not use us in your dirty politics.”

🔴 This message is the final call of conscientious people to the authorities of the world.
🎭 To all authorities and societies who have been watching genocide for 312 days from their comfortable seats as if watching a theater play, it is now time to say, "take off the masks and take action!"
Because every moment we do not act, we continue to be complicit in genocide.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT ❓
1️⃣ You can help by retweeting, favoriting, adding to your story, and informing your circle via DM on every piece of content we publish about the film's promotion.
2️⃣ After the film is released, you can ensure it reaches a wider audience by retweeting, favoriting, and adding it to your story.
3️⃣ After the film is released, if you wish, you can download the film and share it in any way you like on any platform without citing a source.
📌 We ask all people who still have a conscience to heed our call and support the dissemination of the video.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition believes in fundamental rights for all, including Palestinians. Unfortunately, these values are not shared by many of the world’s governments. Our Break the Siege mission ships and crew in Istanbul have been prepared to sail for some time now, but we have been waiting for a required document from the Turkish/ Istanbul Port Authority, granting us permission to depart from Istanbul. Without this document our vessels would be stopped and potentially detained if we attempt to leave port.
After weeks of discussions with the Port Authority, it is now clear to us that such permission will not be forthcoming from the Turkish government. We have been given no explanation as to why the Turkish government will not give permission for the departure when the government has been otherwise strongly supporting Palestine. Based on our past experience, we expect that it is owing to intense pressure from the United States, United Kingdom, and perhaps other NATO countries strongly aligned with Israel.
Our mission has been once again bureaucratically stymied. Our Flotilla ships have met all legal requirements for this voyage, yet we are being blocked by a political decisions on the part of the Turkish government.
Israel has occupied Palestine for over 76 years, blockaded Gaza for 17 years, and for the last 10 months has been engaged in a genocidal assault on a trapped and beleaguered civilian population, bombing, killing, maiming, torturing and deliberately starving and causing infected over 2 million people. Most of governments  have been and continue to be shamefully complicit.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and our many supporters have been working to ready this mission for months, and we are all deeply disappointed that, despite its rhetoric, the Turkish government has now joined the ranks of those complicit in maintaining Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza. We continue to call on our governments to follow the clear guidance of the International Court of Justice regarding the illegality of the Israeli occupation in general and in particular the duty to facilitate the unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians of Gaza.
The FFC will continue its efforts to challenge the illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza, including efforts to have our vessels released so that we can sail. A primary goal of our mission is to raise awareness about the genocide in Gaza in our respective countries. Our boat Handala continues on its For the Children of Gaza mission, now visiting Mediterranean ports and building solidarity as it makes its way towards Gaza.
The FFC wants you to know how much we value the fact our supporters have been so patient for so long. We will continue to work tirelessly to attempt to sail but, in the meantime, we need to let everyone know that for the moment, the sailing of Break the Siege of Gaza must be put on hold, indefinitely. But ıts not mean we are going to give up.Our respective national campaigns remain active and engaged: please watch for updates about our actions and other Palestine solidarity actions near you.
 
In solidarity,
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition Steering Committee

While in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves for 29 years, I thought I had seen some pretty stupid things the military was told by politicians to do. It always begins with politicians deciding the easiest, most sensible solution to a problem would have too much political baggage and cost them votes in the next election. So, they look for a politically expedient solution, one that is invariably very expensive and convoluted.
 
<h3 data-role="headline">ATTEMPTING A MILITARY SOLUTION FOR A POLITICAL OR DIPLOMAT PROBLEM—AGAIN!!!</h3>
In this vein, all too often, politicians turn to the U.S. military for a solution to a non-military problem. Then some A-type personality in the military presents a hair-brained idea to the politicians, probably never thinking that the idea would be accepted. Then it is accepted to get the politicians out of a jam, and the next thing you know is that the Rube Goldberg, crazy idea is being funded.
This unbelievable scenario is what has happened with getting humanitarian aid into <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a> for the starving survivors of the Israeli genocide of Gaza. Instead of U.S. President Joe Biden marking a red line in the Israel/Gaza/Egypt sand demanding that <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/israel">Israel</a> allow into Gaza the miles of tractor-trailer loads of food and medicine that have been stalled for months at the Rafah border crossing, Biden's inept diplomatic team sent out a plea for help to the U.S. military.
Palestinians in Gaza and citizens around the world will not forget that miles of supplies are just feet away from Gaza at the Rafah crossing and the U.S. will not use its pressure on Israel to open the gates at Rafah.
And the U.S. military, always looking for validation of its immense "capabilities," seized the opportunity to use one of its little-known assets—the <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/04/30/heres-how-the-us-led-humanitarian-aid-pier-off-gaza-would-work/" target="_blank">Army's Joint Logistics Over the Shore, or JLOTS</a>, system that provides bridging and water access capabilities—to help out the failed U.S. diplomatic efforts to get the U.S.'s "strongest ally in the Middle East" to end the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by letting the massive truck convoys filled with food and medicines into Gaza.
Normally used to move military equipment across rivers where bridges have been blown up—many times by the U.S. military itself—and sometimes to transfer military equipment from a ship onto shore, the U.S. Army's small navy swung into action and began sailing to the Mediterranean in U.S. Army ships filled with barges that can be locked together to form landing docks and causeways.
<h3 data-role="headline">RUBE GOLDBERG COMPLEX OF CONSTRUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION IDEAS</h3>
In a Rube Goldberg complex of construction and transportation ideas, the U.S. military anchored to the sea floor three miles off the northern coast of Gaza a floating dock system onto which large cargo ships can dock.
Cargo ships will off-load pallets and possibly container loads of humanitarian assistance—long-life packaged food and medical supplies—on the three-mile off-shore dock. This cargo will have undergone inspection by Israeli authorities in the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, 200 miles from Gaza.
The inspection process involves <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/04/30/heres-how-the-us-led-humanitarian-aid-pier-off-gaza-would-work/" target="_blank">Cypriot customs, Israeli teams, the U.S.</a>, and the United Nations Office for Project Services. The U.S. Agency for International Development has set up a coordination cell in Cyprus.
Two-thousand trucks to offload ONE ship driving 1,800 feet on a causeway that will be dangerously affected by tides, winds, and waves is a recipe for disaster.
From the cargo ships, food and medical supplies will be transferred into the backs of U.S. Army trucks (probably 2.5-ton trucks) that have arrived on the floating pier brought there by two types of smaller Army boats—Logistic Support Vessels, or LSVs, and Landing Craft Utility boats (LCUs). LSVs can hold 15 trucks each and the LCUs about five.
The loaded 2.5-ton trucks will be driven back onto the LSVs and motored three miles to the second floating pier system constructed by the U.S. military.
The trucks will then be driven off the LSVs onto the second pier and down a two-lane, 1,800-foot (six U.S. football fields long) causeway anchored onto Gaza land by the Israeli military. The causeway will be anchored onto Gaza shores by the Israeli military because the U.S. military is forbidden to have "boots on the ground" in Gaza.
The truckloads of food and medical supplies will then be driven somewhere... and supplies distributed by some organization... yet to be determined according to the latest news reports.
The empty trucks will then be driven back along the two-lane, 1,800-foot causeway to the floating pier where they will be driven into the small LSVs, and the LSVs then sailed back three miles to the larger off-shore pier and the process begun again. The long causeway should be a cause of alarm for drivers, as the winds and waves so dramatically affected the construction of the causeway that most of the causeway was put together in the calm waters of Ashdod, an Israeli harbor, after winds and waves made construction of the causeway in place off Gaza impossible. Parts of the causeway are now being towed 20 miles from Ashdod harbor to northern Gaza to be linked into place.
<h3 data-role="headline">WHILE THOUSANDS OF TRUCK LOADS OF CARGO WAIT AT THE RAFAH BORDER CROSSING, IT WILL TAKE 2,000 TRUCK LOADS TO EMPTY EACH 5,000 TON CARGO SHIP  </h3>
if a large cargo ship has 5,000 tons of food and medical supplies to be off-loaded, and if each truck can hold 2.5 tons of cargo, it will take 2,000 trucks to take the cargo from one ship. If there are 15 trucks on each LSV, then the LSVs will have to make 133 trips to get the trucks to the 1,800 foot causeway.
If the LCUs that hold only five trucks are mostly used, then it would take 400 trips to get the cargo to shore.
Two-thousand trucks to offload ONE ship driving 1,800 feet on a causeway that will be dangerously affected by tides, winds, and waves is a recipe for disaster.
<img id="a3a4d" src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/image.jpg?id=52262356&amp;width=680&amp;quality=90" alt="" width="1400" height="4754" data-adjusted-src="true" data-rm-shortcode-id="04f793d66088df8a2b58fbfb5aa8a2e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A graphic, not to scale, showing how the aid delivery system will work. (Photo: Department of Defense)
<h3 data-role="headline">WILL ISRAEL BOMB THE DOCKS, PIERS, AND CAUSEWAY? REMEMBER THE USS LIBERTY!</h3>
The possibility of probability is high that Israeli military jets, drones, and artillery may "mistakenly" target the pier complex... or Hamas or other militant groups may decide that the U.S. complicity in the genocide of over 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza outweighs the meager food and medical supplies the U.S. is bringing into Gaza, which presents another aspect of the recipe for disaster for the U.S. Rube Goldberg pier.
U.S. military personnel should remember the Israeli attack on a U.S. military ship, the USS Liberty. In 1967, the Israeli military bombed and torpedoed a U.S. ship off Gaza, killing 34 and wounding 171, and almost sunk the ship. The U.S. cover-up for its ally Israel's brutal, lethal attack on a U.S. military ship continues to this day, as does the U.S. complicity in the Israeli genocide of Gaza.
<h3 data-role="headline">THE WORLD WILL NOT FORGET</h3>
Palestinians in Gaza and citizens around the world will not forget that miles of supplies are just feet away from Gaza at the Rafah crossing and the U.S. will not use its pressure on Israel to open the gates at Rafah, instead offering an expensive, idiotic solution to an easily solvable problem.
Source: <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-military-pier-gaza">https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-military-pier-gaza</a>

The program, met with great enthusiasm from hundreds of children, was supported not only by the Mavi Marmara Association but also by the Orphan Foundation, Umut Ol Association, Sefire-i Alem International Student Association, and the Initiative for Solidarity with Palestinian Women.
Children enjoyed various activities such as Ottoman paste-making, face painting, storytelling, jewelry design, cotton candy, popcorn, street games, drawing, and painting. They also had the opportunity to find answers to many questions they had about the Palestinian issue. This allowed them to have fun while also being educated about this important social issue.
At stations named after Palestinian cities set up at the festival, children learned about Palestine's cultural and historical heritage through different activities. Each station provided children with both entertainment and nourishment of Palestinian awareness. This meaningful day filled with games and activities left a lasting impression on the children's minds regarding Palestine.
Starting after the noon prayer at Sehzadebasi Mosque and ending in the evening, our Aqsa Heroes Children's Festival hosted colorful scenes, becoming a memorable and educational moment in the memories of both children and their families.