Basketballs and theater-lightning are some really urgently neede goods in Gaza. And there must be tons of concrete on this small ship. I can't stop laughing!

should not have allowed the ship to sail in the first place. Now what you will get back will (hopefully) be a severely damaged vessel. Why it is it always Israel who is asked ot show restraint, while everybody else might be aggressive and insulting and defaming? Time for a change!

These morons should be fined and deported immediately after there arrest. The ships should be sold on eBay to the highest bidder.

It's a bit frustrating to see how some people naively believe (or at the very least, pretend to believe) that the people in Gaza have the urgent need to have Basketballs (luckily, it's not baseballs, as it would be too American)... and for that they are asking Israel to break a siege on the militant/terrorists controlled Gaza strip. It's not the Israel is happy to have the borders blocked. If you see how many missiles are flown from Gaza towards the Israeli schools nearby in the Israeli territory, one should ask: "Why do these 'peace activists' try to support the current government in Gaza ?!", which is clearly the reason and cause for the siege in the first place. I really wish that more Europeans will open their eyes and realize that such actions are not doing any favours to the Palestians in Gaza. On the contrary, these actions simply defy the whole point, as Hamas directly benefits from the misery of its people under the siege... so supporting Hamas is NOT supporting Gaza. Hopefully, time will tell.

Even the EU has laws, I believe. If a ship is refused entry by any nation, it has to turn back. I don't see a problem. Try to sail to a Russian/Chinese/North Korean port without permission and see what happens.

Ignorance is blindness. When was the last time you had a conversation with any Finn on Mid-East? Finland is the one of two pro-Israeli countries in Europe. Serbia is another one. In this case the ship was bought by Sweds and they kept the Finnish flag on that ship. Finland has nothing to do with that. Perkele!

Yes Timo, you're absolutely right, and please don't make a conclusion that Israelis have bad feelings towards Finland, on the contrary - most people know that Finns in general have a very positivie attitude towards us. I have personally met quite a few Finnish people here, and they all seemed to be enjoying Israel a lot! ( I loved this perkele by the way!)))))

Mr. Piipponen did not say go talk to the Swedes. Therefore it's hard to believe your statement. I agree with you that #2 should not make hasty generalizations about all Finns. Certainly out of all the anti-semitic/zionist scandinavia, Finland is by far the least hostile towards Israel.

listen to the advise, dear finnish fm, or that "attack" boat of yours will be FINNISH.... :))

They ask our military to practice restraint in our actions against a civilian vessel. We should ask their civilians to practice intelligence against running a military blockade.

It is a Swedish-owned ship. It only has a Finnish flag in it. Next time read the article before commenting.

to # 6 it helps you to curse??? You are too naive abt sweds having bought the ship...why don't the world care abt the syrians...how many demonstrations have there been abt their missery??? How many really care???

Is mostly pro Israel and have had parades that are all pro Israel while carrying Israeli flags.

you are right. Finland is one of the few sane countries in Europe. Do you know why they kept the Finnish flag on the ship?

The Finns are some of the most enlightened and just people in Europe. They are great friends of Israel. This stupid "flotilla" ship is not a Finn initiative.

So much energy is spent on attacking the Israeli blockade on Gaza by flotillas manned by human rights groups. These groups fail to understand that Hamas that rules Gaza is no paragon of human rights. They are cruel killers of their own people who oppose Hamas rule. Why do these human rights activists not oppose Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran's Ahmadinajad and Syria's Assad? The flotillas are manned by double standard human rights activists.

A floating flea market... Just what the starving Gazans need.

I don´t have nothing to do with that boat. So why your kind of people want to kill all the finns because of some swedes own some stupid boat under finland´s flag. Should we kill all the americans because Obama is a pro palestinian. I have seen more pro palestinian activty iin your country than ever in Finland.

So why they have to keep Finnish flag? Imagine if someone would use this boat for terrorist attack and it is sailing under Finnish flag...

underware and drop off on gaza border. they can shop for clothes at the shop[ping center there. strong arm if they resist. one must not treat fools easily.

There are also Finnish activists on that boat. But they don't represent Finland or all Finns. I and many others don't like any kind of anti-Israel propaganda theater and agitating - not at all. Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja is unfortunately not very friendly towards Israel, as you may already know. So let's see, what's gonna happen - but hopefully those activists don't do anything more stupid as they are already doing. Not against Palestinian arabs but this is not the right way. These kind of activists would never have the courage to go to many of those muslim countries where for example us Christians are really persecuted by Islamic extremists without any reason except our different religion. Even talking about it and these same mostly leftist activists will call you islamophobic or rasist. Those kind of activists don't care much about antisemitism either, even if their own propaganda causes it.

Syria has more need of Helsinki globetrotters and their load of balls. Seriously though, Finns are good people. and know how to take a joke.

I have yet to hear that Finland took any steps to deflag the vessel. Why is that? Unless and until it does -- Finland is culpable. Deflagging a vessel is pretty easy. About three minutes worth of paperwork. So, why is the ESTELLE permitted to sail under Finnish flag? I'm more interested in deeds than in words. Thus far, the Finnish government has done nothing.

New policy is needed for these situations. Cease the ships, jail those on board for a minimum of 2 years and never return the ship. Use it for the good of Israel or donate it to a charity to help Israelis. Make it a law and enforce it. Those in the world who would continue these silly attempts to break the blockade will think twice.

Please excuse the rudeness of #9. He is not in the US and has nothing to do with Obama. He is just a rude Canadian. Not all Canadians are rude however.

If Turkey can stop an aircraft over its airspace for military reasons, Israel sure can stop a sea vessel for self-defense reasons. Besides there is perfect legal precedent for doing so. Stop that ship! Everything the ship carries can be funneled via land either through Egypt or Israel!

may have very little to do, if anything, with this silly, stupid ship. I guess they have always decently noticed Israel's right to exist and determine her future. But what the Israelis do need to do in a war situation with Gaza, in addition to the existing maritime blockade, is to torpedo any vessel not yielding in to IDF calls to turn back or stop sailing.

Israel sends tons of aid to Gaza every day. It has offered to send any humanitarian to the Gazans via the port of Ashdod. There's nothing to be gained from these leftists giving legitimacy to Hamas terrorists.