Flotilla Ship Sabotaged in Greece

The ship carrying activists that planned on joining a flotilla protesting Israel’s economic sanctions on Gaza was deliberately sabotaged, a spokesman for the ship’s owner said. The ship is jointly owned by Swedish, Greek and Norwegian activists, and a spokesman in Stockholm, Mikael Löfgren said the damage was discovered at 6:30 a.m. Athens time. Löfgren said the propeller and the propeller shaft were cut, and that “divers filmed the damage.” Löfgren said “we simply don’t know who did it,” but did call it a hostile act. Israel was criticized last year for attacking a similar flotilla and killing nine pro-Palestinian activists, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Monday approved using any means necessary to stop the flotilla from reaching Gaza. The flotilla has said they were not planning on entering Israeli waters, and were instead wanted to travel through international waters to Gaza’s borders.