SIGN NOW: In Defense of the Global Sumud
Joint Statement from Parliamentarians & Public Officials Across the World to End Israel Impunity & Protect the Humanitarian Workers of the Global Sumud Flotilla Following Their Violent Abduction in International Waters
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In the darkest hours of 29 April 2026, Israeli naval forces — operating over 1,000 kilometers from territorial waters — launched an armed assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla off the coast of Crete. Over 180 unarmed humanitarian workers from dozens of countries were kidnapped and assaulted in international waters — with two of them, Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek, abducted under false pretences back to the State of Israel. The flotilla sailed because the failure of the international community to act. The State of Israel continues to conduct a genocide in the Occupied Territories, destroying civilian infrastructure that the flotilla sought to help repair. Their abduction is thus not separate from Israel's campaign of destruction; it is an extension of it. We, the undersigned, thus call on our governments to act immediately on three fronts: Diplomatic protection. Every government whose citizens are aboard must intervene now — through consular action, direct communication with Israel, and public demands for the immediate release of all detainees. This is not a humanitarian gesture. With lives at immediate risk, it is a legal obligation. Public investigation. Governments must open urgent, transparent investigations into this assault: who authorised an armed naval operation at an unprecedented 600 nautical miles from Israel, what conditions detainees face, and how we must hold Israel accountable for the safety of the civilians it has abducted. Economic sanctions. Israel has spent decades accumulating an uncontested record of violations of international law: as an illegal occupier, as an architect of apartheid, and as a state that bombs and starves civilian populations. The assault on unarmed civilians in international waters is the logical continuation of a broader culture of impunity, which must end with real and immediate economic sanctions. The passengers of the Global Sumud Flotilla risked their lives because of our inaction. We owe them our collective political will — before it is too late.
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