Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does the flotilla stunt really help the people of Gaza?

I reckon we shouldn't panic too much on behalf of those three New Zealand citizens who've been intercepted by the Israeli military and the flotilla.

Obviously, we want international law to be followed, but it's pretty clear that these guys knew what they were getting themselves into and did it anyway.

I mean, they are absolutely milking this for all that it's worth with the social media posts claiming they've been kidnapped and all that kind of stuff - by the Israelis, by the way.

But they knew this was gonna happen, and they were prepared for it because this is what happened to Greta in June.

She was on the flotilla that got stopped by the IDF- and they took her to Ashdod and they kept her for a few hours and then they tried to make her watch a video of the October 7 massacre, she didn't want to.

And they put her on a plane in the back row, right in front of the toilet, so there wasn't even any reclining space for her, and then they packed her off home.

And that was fine. So they got on some more ships and they tried to do it again.

So it was always going to play out in exactly the same way. And for that reason, I think it is fair to call this a stunt, because what they're doing is something that they know has no reasonable chance of success - which is delivering aid to Gaza, but they're doing it anyway, to draw attention to Gaza. That's a stunt.

Now, I'm not going to criticize them for wanting to draw attention to Gaza because it is horrific and intolerable what's happening there.

And if there is any doubt that the Israelis are deliberately constraining the flow of aid, I think that was quite obviously dispelled this week when the Trump peace plan was released and it promised that if Hamas accepts the deal, then full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip.

Which is essentially, I think you can see, an admission that full aid is currently being withheld from the Gaza Strip.

So I understand why they want to draw attention to it, but I still don't have much time for stunts like this because generally, they don't actually draw attention to the thing that they're trying to draw attention to - which is the starvation in Gaza.

They only really draw attention to themselves - which is Greta and her mates. That's what we're talking about. Because we're not talking about Gaza today, are we? We're talking about Greta and her mates.

The whole thing becomes about the safety and the treatment of the activists, not the safety and the treatment of the people of Gaza.

And frankly, they are, in my opinion, of no value whatsoever to the people of Gaza right now.

Now, obviously, I do hope the IDF treats these kids well. Our diplomats have asked for as much, but they knew this was going to happen.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Look, I reckon we shouldn't panic too much on behalf

(00:01):
of those three New Zealand citizens who've been intercepted by
the Israeli military and the flotilla, because I mean, obviously
we want international law to be followed. But it's pretty
clear that these guys knew what they were getting themselves
into and did it anyway. I mean, they are absolutely
milking this for all that it's worth, with the social
media posts claiming they've been kidnapped and all that kind
of stuff by the Israelis. By the way, but they

(00:23):
knew this was going to happen and they were prepared
for it, because it is what happened to Greta in June.
She was on the flotilla that got stopped by the
IDF and they took her to ash Dodd and they
kept her for a few hours, and then they tried
to make her watch a video of the October seven massacre.
She didn't want to. Then they put her on a
plane in the back row right in front of the toilets,
so there wasn't even any reclining space for her. And
then they packed her off home and that was fine,

(00:45):
and so they got on some warships, and they tried
to do it again, so it was always going to
play out in exactly the same way, and for that reason,
I think it is fair to call this the stunt,
being that what they're doing is something that they know
has no reasonable chance of success, which is delivering aid
to Gaza, but they're doing it anyway to draw attention
to Gaza. That's a stunt. Now. I'm not going to
criticize them for wanting to draw attention to Gaza because

(01:07):
it is horrific and intolerable what's happening there. And if
there is any doubt that the Israelis are deliberately constraining
the flow of aid, I think that was quite quite
obviously dispelled this week when the Trump Peace Plan was
released and it promised that if Hamasis accepts the deal,
then full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza strip,
which is essentially I think you can see an admission
that full aid is currently being withheld from the Gaza Strip.

(01:30):
So I understand why they want to draw attention to it,
but I still don't have much time for stunts like this,
because generally they don't actually draw attention to the thing
that they're trying to draw attention to which is the
starvation in Gaza. They only really draw attention to themselves,
which is Greha and her mates. That's what we're talking about.
We're not talking about Gaza today, are we We're talking
about Greha and her mates. The whole thing becomes about

(01:53):
the safety and the treatment of the activists, not the
safety and the treatment of the people of Gaza. And frankly,
they are, in my opinion, of no value whatsoever to
the people of Gaza right now. Now. Obviously, I do
hope the IDEF treats these kids well our diplomats. Diplomats
have asked for as much, but they knew this was
going to happen. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,

(02:14):
listen live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.