NGO gets court order to seize Gaza flotilla to compensate terror victims
Freedom flotilla 2011
An NGO obtained an unusual court order on Wednesday to seize a flotilla – which is trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza – in order to provide assistance to terrorist victims, even though those boats have not yet been captured by the IDF.
Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center, representing terrorist victims’ families, got Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Drori to issue a temporary seizure order for two Norwegian ships, which are due to reach Gaza’s maritime area as part of the flotilla in the coming weeks.
The interim court order means that the ships, the Karstein and Freedom, worth between €75,000 and €150,000, will be initially designated to be sold, the proceeds going to benefit the victims of Hamas terrorism, should the IDF capture them while trying to break the blockade.
According to court documents, the ships’ owner and Hamas would still have an opportunity to contest the seizure and sale of the ships before a final order is granted.
The flotilla’s organizers have said that if they succeed in reaching Gaza, the ships will be donated to civilian organizations and local fishermen.
But Shurat Hadin, bringing expert witnesses former Dep. Navy commander Rear-Admiral Noam Feig and former Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) official Aryeh Spitzen, told the court that Hamas would most likely use the ships to increase the size of its navy. Even if the ships were initially donated to civilian causes, Hamas’s desire to use them to attack Israeli naval vessels, natural gas facilities and for more attempts to break the blockade would be too hard for it to resist.