US and UK 'immensely let down' families of detained Gaza flotilla activists

The families of British and American Global Sumud Flotilla activists illegally detained by Israel have told Middle East Eye that the US and UK governments have failed to properly represent their citizens. 

Clare Azzougarh, the daughter of Malcolm Ducker, a 72-year-old British air force veteran who captained a boat on the flotilla and is being held in Ketziot prison, said her family feels “immensely let down by the British government in so many ways”. 

Laura Adler, the sister of David Adler, a Jewish-American member of the flotilla and co-general coordinator of the Progressive International, told MEE the response of the US government had made her realise that “not everyone is deemed to be equally American”. 

“I didn’t realise how non-responsive and passive the US government would be,” Laura Adler said.

“I am disappointed on that front. The US clearly has other priorities in the Middle East than the protection of its citizens, including American veterans who have also been detained.”

Azzougarh said that while the British government “may not agree with the flotilla’s mission, they have a responsibility to their citizens.

“They have not said a single word in public,” she said. “It’s inexcusable. They are meant to care about international law.”

'They [UK government] have not said a single word in public. It’s inexcusable'

– Clare Azzougarh, daughter of  Malcolm Ducker

Adler and Ducker, who served as a fighter pilot in the RAF between 1972 and 1979, were among almost 500 people intercepted by Israel in international waters late last Wednesday.

They have both been visited just once by their consulates. Adler was seen not on his own but as part of a group of American men held by Israel.

He is also a citizen of France and Australia, and Laura Adler said the response of those governments had been much more proactive, attentive and detailed than that of the US.

The British foreign office has told Ducker that no British nationals are being deported from Israel on Monday.

Taken and detained

The Global Sumud Flotilla, a convoy of civilian vessels carrying food, medicine and other essential supplies, was intercepted by Israeli naval forces in international waters before reaching Gaza, its intended destination. 

Crew members were abducted and taken to Ashdod port and then transferred to Ketziot prison in the Negev Desert. Reports from released participants describe violence, humiliation, deprivation of food and water, and a lack of legal counsel during their detention.

On Sunday night, the Israeli foreign ministry denied claims that Israel was mistreating Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and other detained members of the flotilla. Israel has so far deported at least 170 members of the flotilla.

According to an eyewitness and a diplomatic source, Adler was singled out at the detention centre that activists were held in at Ashdod.

He was made to hold and look at an Israeli flag and was confronted by Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right Israeli minister who visited the site and derided the captured members of the flotilla as “terrorists”.

“I went to visit Ketziot prison and I was proud that we are treating the ‘flotilla activists’ as terror supporters. Whoever supports terrorism is a terrorist, and deserves the conditions of terrorists,” Ben Gvir said.

'This isn’t about Jews and the protection of Jews. This is about punishing people who disagree with Israel'

- Laura Adler

In a message posted on the eve of Yom Kippur, Adler wrote that he joined the flotilla to “reclaim our Jewish identity, to stand with our Palestinian brothers and sisters, to defend humanity before it is too late.

“This isn’t about Jews and the protection of Jews,” Laura Adler said of Israel and the western support it has received.

“This is about punishing people who disagree with Israel."

Adler's detention has drawn statements of condemnation and demands for action from US senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen, Congressman Ro Khanna and Miguel Diaz-Canel, the president of Cuba.

“End the impunity of the genocidal Zionists and their accomplices,” Diaz-Canel wrote on social media. 

'The honour of his lifetime'

Ducker, who became a commercial pilot after leaving the RAF and is a qualified sea captain, has a medical condition and had his medicine taken from him by Israeli authorities.

The British consul in Tel Aviv visited him in prison on Friday, but his family said the British government had not mentioned his case publicly and had done nothing proactive to ensure his fair and proper treatment. 

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“We are supporting a number of British nationals who have been detained in Israel and are in touch with the local authorities,” a British foreign office spokesperson said on Monday.

Asked about Israel detaining British citizens on the flotilla, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said that it was "a matter for the Israeli government".

"When we got arrested and phoned the foreign office from an Israeli military base, their response was 'Well, you appear to be in contact with the authorities there'," a British activist previously imprisoned in Israel told MEE.

Ducker was supposed to be deported after 72 hours, after signing the relevant paperwork on arrival in Israel. That deadline passed on Sunday night. 

Azzougarh said her father had “felt like he had to apply to join the flotilla because he could sail and had a captain’s licence”. 

He was appalled by British intelligence collaboration with Israel and by the regular RAF spy flights leaving RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus to fly over Gaza.

When Israeli naval forces came to intercept the Global Sumud Flotilla, Ducker was able to evade them for many hours.

“It’s been the honour of his lifetime,” Azzougarh said of her father’s participation in the flotilla.

“He’s not a radical. How can anyone look at this situation and not do anything? It’s affecting us all.”