Some of my contributions in his aid were inadvertently syndicated here, with HTML not escaped properly, etc. I’ve removed those posts.

I’ve received an email blast from The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Apparently early this morning they were in contact with the sea-going activists for a brief period and they said that their various electronic systems (it is vague) are being scrambled, despite flying a friendly flag and still being in international waters.

Here’s the email:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Angela Godfrey-Goldstein <snipped />@icahd.org
Date: Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 5:03 AM
Subject: FW: Statement from the SS Free Gaza & SS Liberty
To: <snipped />@icahd.org

***please forward freely***

10am, 23 August, 2008
A Statement from the International Human Rights Workers Aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, Sailing to Gaza

*At 10am this morning, the Cyprus team of the Free Gaza Movement was able to briefly speak with our people on board the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty. They are all fine, and they asked us to release the following statement:

“The electronic systems which guarantee our safety aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty have been jammed and scrambled. Both ships are flying Greek flags, and are in international waters. We are the victims of electronic piracy. We are currently in GMS P area A2 and we are relying on our satellite communications equipment to make a distress call, if needed.

We are civilians from 17 nations and are on this project to break the siege of Gaza. We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board such an emergency develop.

We are currently experiencing rough sea conditions, and we call on the Greek government and the international community to meet their responsibilities and protect the civilians on board our two ships in international waters.”

Because they are not “experienced sailors,” perhaps there is room for some misdiagnosis of the problem — I have no reason to come to that conclusion and don’t have the knowledge required to vet. Perhaps the period in which they could clearly communicate was too brief to add detail.

This is unsettling news. One does think, for a moment, back to what the Israeli state did to another ship called Liberty.