• About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Canadian activists face two months of incarceration in Israel without trial

by Canadian Boat to Gaza
November 9, 2011
Reading Time: 3min read

Update: Despite a threat from an Israeli judge that they could face 2 months in prison, Freedom Waves to Gaza activists David Heap and Ehab Lotayef are being released and deported back to Canada today. They will arrive on Thursday, November 10.

—

On Tuesday, November 8th, Freedom Waves to Gaza activists detained in Israel — including Canadians David Heap and Ehab Lotayef — came before a judge and were told they could be held in prison for two months without charges or trial.

To avoid this, the judge told them, they must sign a statement that they entered Israel “voluntarily” and “illegally” despite being violently kidnapped from international waters and taken to Israel against their will while trying to reach Gaza. While a handful of Freedom Waves to Gaza participants have been deported — including Canadian Karen DeVito — 18 activists and journalists have now been in Israeli prison for five days with no end in sight.

The Israeli military forcibly commandeered the boats Tahrir and MV Saoirse that journalists and activists were travelling on as part of the Freedom Waves initiative and brought them to Ashdod port in Israel.

American journalist Jihan Hafiz was on the Canadian boat Tahrir, and was among those detained by Israel despite her press credentials. Israeli authorities ordered her and others not to talk about “anything negative or political” during their brief phone calls to home from Israeli detention. This censorship explains why some details are only just coming out now. She reported Tuesday about her experience during the Israeli takeover of the Irish and Canadian boats:

“There were three warships […] four Zodiacs, four water cannon boats, as well as four regular gunboats. All of the commandos on all of these boats were heavily armed. It looked like they were taking on an army of a foreign country.”

She added: “Two water cannons started to pour lots of water into the Irish boat, which flooded it, blew their sockets, and cut off all the electricity. And so, at that point, the Irish delegates I spoke to said they told the Israeli army, ‘We’re taking on water. We’re sinking. We’re going to go down at sea if you continue with the water.'”

Hafiz went on to describe the violent takeover during which guns were pointed at the heads of the boats’ passengers, how they were roughed up, mistreated, strip-searched, and filmed naked. She also tells of how the journalists’ equipment was confiscated, in a bid to silence any reporting that might contradict the sanitized Israeli account of what happened during the hijacking of the Tahrir and the MV Saoirse.

For the full video interview and transcript, click here [1].

“Our friends have been assaulted, tasered, beaten, kidnapped, robbed, and imprisoned. Now Israel is threatening to illegally detain them for two months. What is it going to take for the Canadian government to actually do something about another country kidnapping Canadian citizens and refusing to let them go?” demands Wendy Goldsmith, an organizer with the Canadian Boat to Gaza.

“We are disappointed, but not surprised, by the inaction of [John] Baird and [Stephen] Harper,” said Canadian Boat to Gaza organizer Dylan Penner. “In its failure to speak out against Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the Canadian government is condoning Israel’s disregard for the human rights of the citizens of Gaza and giving it impunity for its refusal to comply with its international obligations. It is this silence that compels citizens of good conscience, like David and Ehab, to act where our government has so consistently failed to do so.”

Organizers of the Canadian Boat to Gaza are demanding Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird step down for failing to do his job to stand up for the interests of Canadians.

For updates, stay tuned to:
Twitter (@CanadaBoatGaza and #freedomwaves), Facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza, tahrir.ca, ustogaza.org, freegazaoz.org, and irishshiptogaza.org.

Send

Related Posts

Livestream: Local News Matters — Incubating local news in the Maritimes [video]
Media

Livestream: Local News Matters — Incubating local news in the Maritimes [video]

June 14, 2025

A one-day symposium will bring together journalists, publishers, media experts and others in Sackville, N.B. today to discuss the future...

Délai prolongé! COOP Média NB offre d’emploi : Journaliste vidéo autochtone
Articles en français

Toujours pas de justice cinq ans après le meurtre de Chantel Moore

June 10, 2025

Le 4 juin était le 5e anniversaire de l'assassinat de Chantel...

The Millennium Scoop: an ongoing crisis for Indigenous families
Indigenous

The Millennium Scoop: an ongoing crisis for Indigenous families

June 10, 2025

Some people are aware of the horrors experienced by Indigenous children in the residential school system, and maybe they've heard...

No decision on industrial park expansion after third session of public hearing 
Environment

No decision on industrial park expansion after third session of public hearing 

June 4, 2025

The third session of a public hearing on a proposed industrial park expansion on the outskirts of Saint John was...

Load More

Recommended

Livestream: Local News Matters — Incubating local news in the Maritimes [video]

Livestream: Local News Matters — Incubating local news in the Maritimes [video]

43 minutes ago
Délai prolongé! COOP Média NB offre d’emploi : Journaliste vidéo autochtone

Toujours pas de justice cinq ans après le meurtre de Chantel Moore

4 days ago
The Millennium Scoop: an ongoing crisis for Indigenous families

The Millennium Scoop: an ongoing crisis for Indigenous families

4 days ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

X
Did you like this article? Support the NB Media Co-op! Vous avez aimé cet article ? Soutenez la Coop Média NB !
Join/Donate