![\"\"](\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/05\/unnamed.png\")
Photo credit: Freedom Flotilla Coalition<\/p><\/div>\n
The Conscience is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a network of international activists that has been challenging Israel\u2019s maritime blockade of Gaza since 2008.<\/p>\n
The group alleges that the attack came from Israel \u2013 an allegation bolstered by a CNN investigation. According to CNN<\/a>, flight-tracking data from ADS-B Exchange showed that an Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft departed from Israel early Thursday afternoon and flew at low altitude over eastern Malta for an extended period. While the Hercules did not land, its path brought it in proximity to the area where the Conscience was later attacked. The plane returned to Israel approximately seven hours later. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment on the flight data.<\/p>\n The ship suffered significant damage, but fortunately, no one was hurt. That was not the case when the Freedom Flotilla was attacked in 2010<\/a>. This May 2 attack comes just weeks before the 15th anniversary of the infamous raid on the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish ship that led a previous flotilla to Gaza in 2010. On May 31 of that year, Israeli naval commandos stormed the ship in international waters, killing ten people and injuring dozens. The Mavi Marmara had been carrying over 500 activists and humanitarian supplies. That attack drew condemnation from around the world and calls for an international investigation\u2014calls that Israel dismissed.<\/p>\n One of this year\u2019s flotilla organizers, Ismail Behesti, is the son of a man killed in the 2010 raid. In videos circulating<\/a> after the recent strike, Behesti is seen walking through the damaged interior of the Conscience, his voice resolute as he condemns what he believes was another Israeli act of aggression against civilians on a humanitarian mission.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are asking how Israel can get away with attacking a civilian ship in international waters,\u201d said Tighe Barry, speaking from the port in Malta. \u201cBut since October 8, 2024, Israel has shown complete disregard for international law \u2013 from bombing civilian neighborhoods to using starvation as a weapon by blocking food from entering Gaza. This is just one more example of its impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is the outrage?\u201d Barry continued. \u201cThe U.S. condemns the Houthis for stopping ships carrying weapons to Israel \u2013 and bombs Yemen mercilessly for it. But will they condemn Israel for attacking a peaceful ship on a humanitarian mission to Gaza?\u201d<\/p>\n The Freedom Flotilla Coalition<\/a> and activist groups such as CODEPINK<\/a> are calling on governments and international bodies to speak out and take action.<\/p>\n The Conscience was carrying no weapons. It posed no threat. Its only crime was daring to challenge a brutal siege and slaughter that the UN itself has condemned as illegal and inhumane. That\u2019s the real threat Israel fears \u2013 not the ship itself, but the global solidarity it represents.<\/p>\n So, will the world speak up about Israel\u2019s latest outrage? Or will this, too, be quietly buried beneath the waves?<\/p>\n Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of<\/em> CODEPINK for Peace<\/em><\/a>, and the author of several books, including<\/em> Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the early hours of May 2, the quiet of night was shattered aboard the Conscience, a civilian vessel anchored in international waters, 17 kilometers off the coast of Malta. Aboard were 18 crew members and passengers, jolted from sleep by the sound of two explosions. Flames and smoke filled the air. The ship had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1141],"class_list":["post-52813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52813"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52821,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52813\/revisions\/52821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52813"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=52813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}