Today, in a staggering act of violence and defiance of
international law, the Israeli military attacked and boarded
the Madleen, a humanitarian flotilla attempting to deliver
food and medical aid to the people of Gaza. The vessel was
in international waters, carrying aid workers, doctors,
journalists, and supplies desperately needed by a population
Israel has systematically bombed, starved, and
displaced.
This was not a military
confrontation. It was the assault of an unarmed civilian aid
ship by a state acting with total impunity. This is piracy,
it is state terror, and it is a genocidal act of
war.
A regime engaged in genocide would
send sends drones and armed commandos to detain civilians in
international waters. We are witnessing the total moral
collapse of a state, supported for years by Western
Governments to act with utter impunity, violate our global
legal system, morality and principles. No amount of spin or
military propaganda can hide the cruelty of deliberately
starving a population, targeting children, bombing hospitals
and bakeries, and then violently stopping others from
bringing aid.
This attack on the Madleen
not a separate incident — it is part of the same campaign
to eliminate Palestinian life, hope, and survival. It is why
the International Court of Justice has already ruled that
Israel is plausibly committing
genocide.
This is not
complicated.
Israel has no legal authority in
international waters. Under the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Israel’s boarding of a civilian
aid ship beyond its territorial waters is an act of
piracy, unlawful kidnapping, forcible abduction
and armed aggression.
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Under
international humanitarian law, deliberately blocking aid to
a population facing starvation is a war
crime.
Under the Genocide Convention, when a
state intentionally denies food, water, and medicine to a
population it is bombing and displacing, this constitutes
part of a genocidal campaign.
The
silence of the New Zealand Government is no longer neutral,
and it demonstrates a shocking lack of respect for
international law, for human rights, and for the safety of
global humanitarian workers.
It reflects a broader
decay in foreign policy — where selective outrage and
Israeli exceptionalism undermine the credibility of
everything New Zealand claims to stand for.
We call on
the New Zealand Government to:
• Publicly condemn
Israel’s illegal assault on the Madleen and its
passengers. • Demand the immediate release of all aid
workers, journalists, and civilians abducted by Israeli
forces.
• Suspend all diplomatic, military, and
trade cooperation with Israel until it complies with
international law.
• Support international
accountability mechanisms, including referring Israel’s
crimes to the International Criminal Court and backing
enforcement of the ICJ’s provisional measures on
genocide.
This Has to Stop. This is not just a crisis
in Gaza. It is a crisis of global morality, of international
law, and of our basic shared humanity.
We stand with
the people of Gaza. We stand with the brave souls aboard the
Madleen, and we demand an end to this madness before the
world forgets what it means to be human. We need a
government that stands for all that is right, not all that
is wrong.
Aid is not terrorism. International waters
are not Israel’s territory. And silence in the face of
evil is complicity.
Thyme4Action
Human rights
advocates, educators, and community members committed to
justice and international
law
