While Israel is
studying the UN Human Rights Council report probing
the events of May's Gaza-bound aid sail, the organizers are preparing for their next sail, by by launching an anti-Israel street and media campaign. .
The future flotilla is expected to reach the area in early October, carrying hundreds of anti-Israeli activist from Europe. Organizers launched the media campaign in London, last week.
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| 'Largest flotilla yet' en-route to Gaza / Ynet reporters |
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Ships from Britain, Morocco, Qatar to rendezvous in Syria, sail toward el-Arish Port in northern Sinai Peninsula; activists plan to enter Gaza through Rafah Crossing, deliver humanitarian aid |
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The 4,000-mile journey, which is currently still land-bound, will arrive in Syria next
week. Participants will then set sail to Egypt's al-Arish
port and from there to Rafah crossing.
For now, the participants' campaign have taken them to Torino, Italy, where they staged a support rally dubbed "Viva Palestine – from Italy to Gaza" and have embarked on a mission to raise funds and supporters, using displays depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
holding a bloody butcher knife and a second display feature the skeleton head of an Israeli soldier, with Palestinian children coming out of its mouth.
The Netanyahu display
Displays including skulls embedded with the Star of David and Palestinian flags are expected to be shown throughout the journey.
Organizers claim the flotilla will include 12 vessels carrying 5,000 activists, but Israel says only a few hundreds are expected to actually arrive.
Foreign Ministry Communications Director Yossi Levy said Friday that "the media ruckus the sail activists are trying to rile up is the opening shot in a heinous campaign which in unjustifiable and means only to damage Israel's international image and standing.
"Just as the Marmara terror ship was
not carrying so much as one ounce of humanitarian aid for Gazans... this sail and others like it aim to breach a hypothetical blockade and ease 'mass hunger' which is nothing more than the figment of an anti-Israeli campaign."
Gaza, he concluded, "Longs not for the end of an Israeli occupation, but for the end of Hamas occupation,
which has plunged it into great darkness."
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