Flotilla captain: Passenger boat sabotaged in Greek port
By JPOST.COM STAFF
28/06/2011
"I clearly believe this is sabotage by those who wish the boat not to participate in the Freedom Flotilla," Thodoris Boukas says; comments come after Free Gaza Movement warns "underhanded tactics" will not stop flotilla.
A ship captain participating in a protest flotilla scheduled to sail to Gaza this week said on Tuesday that one of the passenger boats was sabotaged in a Greek port the previous day.
In a video featured on the Freedom Flotilla's website, captain Thodoris Boukas explains how the sabotage was discovered and said "I clearly believe it is sabotage by those who wish the boat not to participate in the Freedom Flotilla."
"Today we came here to test the boat, we added some fuel, started the engines, and at some point, one of the engines ceased [to work] as if a rope was tangled in its propeller. That's what we thought in the first place. We looked around, and there was no sign of the rope," Boukas said.
After asking a diver to help determine the problem, the captain said "The boat has been sabotaged. Someone has rasped the axle that is made by stainless steel, a very hard material."
He noted the tool used was very specific, indicating that the act was calculated.
The captain's statement comes after the Free Gaza Movement on Monday vowed to continue with its plans to sail the flotilla to Gaza despite repeated warnings from Israel not to do so.
The group said in a statement that "Israel's best efforts to stop our boats at port, including pressure on governments, threats against insurance and communications companies, intimidation of human rights defenders, frivolous lawsuits and other underhanded tactics, have thus far failed. The Freedom Flotilla has set sail."
I think that Israel has failed to take the flotilla and other Palestinian related issues serious enough.
Israel should have as soon as the last flotilla was over started targeting the leadership of various flotilla terrorist groups. Those groups that seek to do violence against the IDF should see their leadership run over by trucks, die of heart attacks and other various methods.
Israel needs to fight these terrorist like we fought fatah in the 1970's.
