Yonatan and Itamar Shapira were
two of the Israelis on-board the Jewish boat to Gaza, the Irene. They
above all were subjected to violence from the Israeli forces who
intercepted the boat.
These are their words an hour after they returned to their family in Israel:
claiming that the take over of the boat was non-violet and quiet on
both sides – but what actually happened was that the boat passengers
were non-violent, but the Israeli Navy was very violent.
At sunrise we stopped about 35 miles from shore and put up all the
flags and banners from the organisation – the boat looked so, so
pretty! We then turned south-east and headed towards the port in Gaza.
Film maker Vish and journalist Eli took the dinghy and took stills and
video of the boat. Everyone felt a sense of excitement as we stood on
deck waving goodbye to the quiet journey we had been on. We knew that
soon we would be intercepted, so we used the time for briefings.
Holding each other’s hands, we talked about the principles of the boat
and decided on strategies of how to deal with the Navy.
When we were approximately 20 miles outside of Gaza, a big Navy
warship was spotted to the north of us. At that point it was still quite
far away, so we held course.As the warship drew closer they hailed us
and spoke to Glyn, the captain. The Navy said that we were entering a
closed area by an oil rig, so the Irene altered course slightly in
response. We then saw another smaller ship in front of them. As the
warship approached and drew parallel to the Irene the smaller ship
remained stationary. A number of smaller vessels were spotted coming
from the east. The Navy again called us demanding to know our intention
– we replied that we were headed for Gaza.
The Navy responded with the exact declaration they made before attacking the Mavi Marmara :
“You are entering an area which is under military blockade and is closed under international law.”
Itamar was in charge of communicating with the Navy, and responded by reading our own declaration in English and Hebrew:
“We are a boat of the European organisation Jews For Justice For
Palestinians. We are unarmed and non-violent and determined to proceed
to the port of Gaza. You are enforcing an illegal blockade and we do
not recognise your right to do this. On this Jews For Justice for
Palestinians boat are peace activists of all ages among us holocaust
survivors, bereaved parents and Israelis who refuse to collaborate with
the illegal occupation of Palestine.”
We waited for them to confirm that they had heard.
The Navy repeated their message in Hebrew – then the boats started
coming from all sides. Eight army vessels surrounded us – three or four
of the ships had cannons.
We called the soldiers to refuse their orders:
“We call on you IDF soldiers and officers to disobey the illegal
orders of your superior officers. For your information, the occupation
of Gaza and the Palestinian Territories are illegal under international
law; therefore your risk being tried in the international courts. The
blockade as well as the occupation is inhumane and contradicts
universal and Jewish moral values. Use your conscience. Remember our
own painful history. Refuse to enforce the blockade. Refuse to occupy
Palestine.”
Itamar read this in Hebrew and English on radio a few times as the
boats came towards us. Everyone was getting ready and holding hands on
the Irene, getting ready for interception. Vish was in the front taking
photos and filming the whole thing.
There were more than 100 soldiers on all the military boats around
our boat. Two small boats with cannons drew up on both sides, shouting
and threatening us with megaphones and constantly moving closer
towards us. Glynn the captain stayed calm and behaved exactly to
principles of boat, staying on course and challenging the Navy.
The military spoke to Itamar directly and stated that he was
responsible for the harm that would come to us and the risk that we were
taking by not changing course. We understood very quickly that we
were about to be boarded at any moment. The small boats came right up
close and then the north side jumped on board.
alongside us with some 20 armed, and muscled navy soldiers I was amazed
for the thousandth time in my life at how the army portrays the
reality to themselves and to us. They insisted that it is me personally
who is responsible for the violence that may happen if we do not obey
and they will be “forced” to board our little boat. I cynically tried
to show them how ridiculous it seems to have so many armed, strong
and trained soldiers boarding a boat with 9 un-armed people, most of
whom remember the second world war and civil right movement in the
60′s, who declare non-violence. How can they portray the violence as
our responsibility. I reminded them of the holocaust survivor and
bereaved parent on board and that we do not want any confrontation
with them. I think it made them angry but reduced their possible
violence to most passengers apart from Yonatan and I. It is very
important to remember that the Israeli army had killed two Gazan
fishermen in the passing week with minimum media attention for
getting “too close” to what the IDF has decided the blockade border
is. Therefore their violence toward us must be put in proportion to
this.
not sure what they have of it or what was broadcast as he was about to
go on air when the phone was grabbed.
They attacked Itamar and took him to their boat. The other soldiers
viciously pushed Glynn from the helm. The rest were holding hands
singing “We Shall Overcome.” I think Reuven may have been playing his
harmonica!
ITAMAR: At least 2 soldiers, to what I understood, were
assigned to getting all recording devices. The Israeli Channel 10
reporter stood next to me and one of the soldiers just took his camera
from his hand. I took the camera back without touching the soldier and
put it behind my back and refused to give it to the soldiers. The
soldier called another one and together tried to make me move with
twisting arms and shouting and trying to reach for the camera. when
they did not succeed they asked for a permission from their commander
to arrest me. 4 of them dragged me to the military boat and forced me
down to the boat’s floor in order to handcuff me. I did not give up
until one of them pushed his fingers deep onto the artery in my neck,
and then I heard Yonatan’s dreadful scream and saw him losing control
of his body because of the electric shock he got. I shouted to Rami to
throw the camera into the boat’s engine-room and Yonatan was brought
to the military boat that I was on and we were both handcuffed and
taken to a large ship.
over everything. At that point I was sitting on the floor of the boat
hugging Glynn and Reuven, trying to decrease the risk to them, then
moved to sit with Rami. On each side one of the passengers turned off
the engines so as not to make it possible for the navy to steer the
boat to a different place.
Soldiers on boat approached me and Rami, they seemed to want to take
me to a Navy boat. Me and Rami hugged each other – the strongest hug I
have ever given to anyone!
The officer came towards us, pulling out his taser ordered us to
stop holding on to each other. The soldier threatened if I did not let
go they would hurt me, then tasered me on my right shoulder and shot
twice – it was very painful – but not as painful as the next shot where
he pulled aside my life jacket, put gun on my chest and fired.My whole
body lost control and I convulsed like a fit, I let out a high
pitched scream. Then they took me to one of their boats.
And that was the “non-violent” take over of the Jewish boat to Gaza.
Of course if we were Palestinians or Muslims they would have shot with
live ammo, but because we were Jews and Israelis and had world
attention they did not want to do what they did to the Mavi Marmara. Of
course later they took all evidence filmed by Eli and Vish and the
only evidence which now exists is with the military and the military
film itself. It would be amazing if somehow there was pressure for the
army to release the media materials we shot – there’s no reason for
them to keep it. It’s amazing footage of all 48 hours of the voyage and
the messages we wrote on the masts and flags from everyone who had
sent wishes. Probably the most powerful images are of the actual
seconds when the Navy boarded the ship.
All our banners and flags were pulled down by the army and the boat was pulled with the rest of passengers on-board to Ashdod.
Itamar and I went to Ashdod in the big warship which took several
hours. We saw the boat being towed to the port. We saw the protesters,
friends, family and supporters waiting for us on the beach since the
morning, and a boat of film makers with cameras that were trying to
reach us but was intercepted and forced to turn back to the port.
Each one of us had an intimate body search – they touched me quite
intimately but no internal search. Eventually we were taken to a police
station in Ashdod and saw more demonstrators waiting for us outside.
The police station took several hours, they interrogated Rami,
Itamar, Reuven, Eli and I and we were all accused of trying to enter an
illegal closed zone, while Rami, Itamar and I were also accused of
threatening, insulting and attacking the soldiers.We were all released
around eight in the evening. It was shocking to be attacked so
brutally whilst hugging and singing – the soldiers shouted at us,
shook and pushed us. We were shocked to hear the army say the takeover
was peaceful.
There was a big group of Israeli media and also people from Reuters
and a few others waiting for us outside station. We answered their
questions, then Reuven took out his harmonica and played a beautiful
Jewish songs abut people who pursued peace. Everyone joined in around
us, as we sang together some people who were passing by shouted things
like “death to the Arabs”.
If we weren’t Jews and Israelis we would have much less chance to
make it out alive. I send my love and thanks to everyone for all of
their support, love and efforts to help us.”
NOTE:
Yonatan was not given or offered any medical attention at any point after he was shot with the taser.
They were released on 5000 N.I.S bail to return for additional interrogation or court discussion.
It is unclear as to whether they will be charged.