Four activists are attempting to make legal history by arguing that Israel attacked American territory when it raided a US-registered ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza six years ago.The group said they were shot with rubber bullets, Tasered and handcuffed by masked commandos during a “terrifying” midnight assault on their vessel, part ofa flotilla seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade in 2010. One was injured by a stun grenade that exploded one foot from his head, he said, causing permanent partial loss of sight in one eye.
Several legal actions have been launched since the May 2010 incident, in which nine Turkish activists died on the Mavi Marmara ship, but none have succeeded. In 2014, the international criminal court decided not to investigate because the alleged crimes were not considered to be of “sufficient gravity”.
However, the four plaintiffs – three US citizens and one from Belgium, who were among 17 people sailing on the small Challenger I – will argue that because they were sailing on an American-registered, American-flagged vessel in neutral waters, they were in American territory. As an infringement of US sovereignty the raid was, in effect, no different from an Israeli raid on Times Square.
“The fact of claiming jurisdiction because it’s a US-owned vessel is a novelty and possibly unprecedented,” said lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice, working on the case with London-based law firm Stoke & White. “It you’re under a flag it means you’re entitled to the protection of the state, and vessels are entitled to protection on the high seas.”
The group has filed a civil claim in Washington for damages against the state of Israel. They are seeking compensation for harm and distress, injuries and losses caused by the botched raid. Israel has refused to acknowledge responsibility and liability for the maritime assault and has not paid any compensation to those directly affected.
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