Bipartisan letter to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asking him to intervene to prevent the convoy from sailing from Turkey to Gaza, breaking Israel’s naval blockade, US lawmakers send.
The initiative belongs to Chris Papas, Nicole Malliotakis, Dina Titus, Grace Meng and Bran Snyder. The MPs, who reaffirm their support for the existing mechanisms for sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, express their concern at the refusal of the organizers of the convoy to allow Israeli inspection of the cargo.
They also point to the negative effects of Turkey’s imposition of trade sanctions on Israel.
The letter states: “We are writing this letter to express our concern over the deterioration of Israel-Turkey relations and the reports that a Turkish coalition is planning to send a convoy to Gaza. While we strongly support the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, we are gravely concerned that such a hastily organized effort could inflame further regional tensions, disrupt existing relief mechanisms, exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and jeopardize the multilateral negotiations aimed at securing a temporary ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.
Continued security threats to Israel since the October 7 attack by Hamas, including an unprecedented attack on Israel by Iran and its proxies, are undermining its security and its economy. These events also underscore the importance of congressional approval of aid to Israel, which ensures the strategic support needed to enable the country to defend itself. We also support your government’s comprehensive, multilateral strategy to keep humanitarian aid flowing to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The US government’s plan to build a floating jetty off Gaza and the ongoing Amalthia humanitarian corridor demonstrate effective international cooperation.
However, we are seriously concerned about the so-called “Freedom Fleet Coalition”, which plans to breach the established security perimeter with an unknown number of ships to deliver aid to Gaza. The convoy, led in part by the Turkish Foundation for Humanitarian Aid (IHH) – which has close ties to the Turkish government and has previously raised funds for Hamas – intends to do so by bypassing established aid channels and refuses to allow the Israeli inspection of cargo.
We strongly urge you to contact President Erdogan and the Turkish government directly to prevent or delay the departure of the flotilla and to ensure that all shipments to Gaza are vetted and comply with international humanitarian standards.
We are also concerned about the imposition of export restrictions from Turkey to Israel, which may exacerbate the economic difficulties facing the country. We urge you to pressure Turkey to rescind this policy to avoid further igniting regional tensions.”
The initiative is supported by the organizations AHI, AJC, HALC and FDD Action.
Source: ertnews
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