After 29 years in the US military, Col. Ann Wright retired and became a diplomat. In 2003, she quit her position at the State Department in protest of the Iraq war. In May, she was aboard Challenger 1, one of six in a flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, when it was raided by the Israeli Defense Forces. She plans to board a similar flotilla in October. Sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Wright gives an eyewitness account (7-9 pm Wednesday, July 28. $10 suggested donation. James A Little Theater, 1060 Cerrillos Road, 660-6848).
SFR: Were your anti-Iraq-war views unwelcome at the State Department?
AW: Well, there were three of us that ended up resigning over the Iraq war. Each of us got over 400 emails from colleagues, US diplomats from around the world, who said they had mortgages and kids in college but, ‘You’re doing the right thing.’
What were you doing on the flotilla?
I was on the flotilla because I totally oppose the Israeli policy of quarantining and blockading the people of Gaza. It was a collective punishment for the 1.5 million people who live in Gaza for their election of Hamas.
Did, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, Israeli forces act in self-defense?
We were forcefully boarded in international waters by commandos on Israeli naval vessels, a total of 30 naval vessels. Our ships were civilian, carrying unarmed people, and had no weapons, which was well-publicized beforehand. International inspectors had checked to see if there were weapons and they found none. The Israelis had checked, too, and found none either.
Did you receive warnings and an offer to have the goods shipped over land?
Oh, absolutely. Israel had said that before; however, that’s not the purpose of this. It was to break
the blockade, which was an illegal blockade. And no one trusts that the Israelis would allow any materials on the ships to go in, anyway.
The accounts of the raid from the Israeli government and the Free Gaza Movement vary greatly, even with contradictory video footage. What happened?
Our captain had pulled off power to the ship when a large Israeli navel vessel came in front of ours. Our captain stopped the boat because we were not there to ram an Israeli boat. When that happened, the commandos from ships on both sides immediately boarded our ship, shooting grenades that blow out windows and eardrums, and with smoke. They threw passengers on the deck of the ship into glass. They fired paint bullets that hit people—one of the women on my ship was hit in the face. They used stun guns.
Following the raid, the Obama administration called for an impartial investigation but didn’t condemn Israel’s actions. What do you think of the US response?
[An impartial investigation] has not been formed at all. The Obama administration is in no way pushing for an international investigation…They’re accepting whatever the Israelis tell them. As a former US diplomat, I am very distressed that the Obama administration had such a weak response to the Israeli killing of nine people, including one American citizen.
Did you expect the violence?
I didn’t think the Israeli military would use lethal force.
Nine people died, but you’re going to do it again?
Absolutely, and I’d expect the Israeli military and navy would learn their lesson. The Israeli government has already acknowledged the international condemnation. They haven’t formally stopped the blockade, but they’re allowing more goods and materials to come into Gaza. We are raising money in the US to purchase a boat in the name of citizens to show we will challenge Israeli policy and also the complicity of the US government in that blockade.
SFR: Were your anti-Iraq-war views unwelcome at the State Department?
AW: Well, there were three of us that ended up resigning over the Iraq war. Each of us got over 400 emails from colleagues, US diplomats from around the world, who said they had mortgages and kids in college but, ‘You’re doing the right thing.’
What were you doing on the flotilla?
I was on the flotilla because I totally oppose the Israeli policy of quarantining and blockading the people of Gaza. It was a collective punishment for the 1.5 million people who live in Gaza for their election of Hamas.
Did, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, Israeli forces act in self-defense?
We were forcefully boarded in international waters by commandos on Israeli naval vessels, a total of 30 naval vessels. Our ships were civilian, carrying unarmed people, and had no weapons, which was well-publicized beforehand. International inspectors had checked to see if there were weapons and they found none. The Israelis had checked, too, and found none either.
Did you receive warnings and an offer to have the goods shipped over land?
Oh, absolutely. Israel had said that before; however, that’s not the purpose of this. It was to break
the blockade, which was an illegal blockade. And no one trusts that the Israelis would allow any materials on the ships to go in, anyway.
The accounts of the raid from the Israeli government and the Free Gaza Movement vary greatly, even with contradictory video footage. What happened?
Our captain had pulled off power to the ship when a large Israeli navel vessel came in front of ours. Our captain stopped the boat because we were not there to ram an Israeli boat. When that happened, the commandos from ships on both sides immediately boarded our ship, shooting grenades that blow out windows and eardrums, and with smoke. They threw passengers on the deck of the ship into glass. They fired paint bullets that hit people—one of the women on my ship was hit in the face. They used stun guns.
Following the raid, the Obama administration called for an impartial investigation but didn’t condemn Israel’s actions. What do you think of the US response?
[An impartial investigation] has not been formed at all. The Obama administration is in no way pushing for an international investigation…They’re accepting whatever the Israelis tell them. As a former US diplomat, I am very distressed that the Obama administration had such a weak response to the Israeli killing of nine people, including one American citizen.
Did you expect the violence?
I didn’t think the Israeli military would use lethal force.
Nine people died, but you’re going to do it again?
Absolutely, and I’d expect the Israeli military and navy would learn their lesson. The Israeli government has already acknowledged the international condemnation. They haven’t formally stopped the blockade, but they’re allowing more goods and materials to come into Gaza. We are raising money in the US to purchase a boat in the name of citizens to show we will challenge Israeli policy and also the complicity of the US government in that blockade.
In the admittedly informal interview in “Guerrilla Flotilla,” Col. Ann Wright makes several unsupported assertions—the Israeli blockade of Gaza is illegal, “no one trusts Israel” to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza
overland, the attacks by the IDF were unprovoked, Israel is “quarantining” Gaza as collective
punishment for the election of Hamas.
Here is what I assert: The Turkish organization sponsoring the flotilla is terrorist at heart, and wished to confront Israel, not deliver aid. Israel claims—with video support—that the boarding commandos were confronted by the Turkish activists with hand weapons and, furthermore, that their intention was to provoke a lethal response.
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza, it has had to endure almost daily rocket attacks by Hamas. Israel therefore has the right to prevent by naval blockade the introduction of war materials into Gaza.
Israel has in fact transferred many tons of supplies into Gaza from Ashdod. It is not true there is a food, fuel and medical crisis in Gaza. Thousands of truckloads of essentials enter Gaza on a daily basis. Medical care not available in Gaza is provided to residents of Gaza free of charge in Israeli hospitals.
Finally, Israel believes if the blockade on Gaza were lifted, Hamas would establish an entry port for war materials from Iran and elsewhere, 40 miles from Tel Aviv.
We should be grateful that former Col. Wright has the courage to speak up.
As for the previous comments, it doesn't get much more mindless. Only in a brainwashed culture would someone with a tertiary news source attempt to argue with an eyewitness about what that eyewitness actually experienced.
There is also the Norwegian doctor, Dr. Mads Gilbert, who has now devoted much time and energy to discussing what he saw as a doctor in Gaza. (If you haven't heard of him, google him and watch his testimony please.)
The media has turned on him too. They can't refute the horrors that he saw, so he has been labeled as a propagandist.
Nobel Peace prize laureates, peace activists, former military commanders, humanitarian doctors... it doesn't matter who you are. If your message isn't the right one, someone will make you wrong.
The truth is right before our eyes. It always will be.
Richard Ferber’s “assertions” about recent events in Gaza need clarification.
He states that the Turkish organization sponsoring the flotilla is “terrorist at heart.” The flotilla was meant to be provocative, in the best spirit of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, and bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians. Does that make it “terrorist?”
Mr. Ferber accepts the Israeli position that the activists struck first. Col. Ann Wright, who was there, said the activists were unarmed and used pieces of railing to defend themselves once the commandos descended on the lead ship and began to fire. We have Israeli video footage but no footage that the activists took (all cameras, etc., having been confiscated by the Israelis).
Mr. Ferber asserts “there is [no] food, fuel and medical crisis in Gaza.” That is the Israeli position. The United Nations has said there is a deep humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The aquifer is, in large part, polluted. Israeli bombardment has caused a destruction of the sewage system. Lack of building materials (blocked by the Israelis) prevents repair of the system. Food is severely rationed. Electricity is unpredictable and sporadic, etc.
If Israel wants to end the standoff, it should immediately end the siege of Gaza and enter into peace negotiations with all Palestinians, including Hamas.
Regrettably, there is significant ignorance and bias about Israel and the Palestinians. The latest example in the Santa Fe Reporter was in the letter by Don Tashjian.
Contrary to his implications, it is a known fact that the Turkish organization backing the flotilla, while founded for charitable purposes, has been identified even by the Turkish government as holding to terrorist goals.
When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they left the strip with high-tech operational greenhouses, which could have provided the Gazans with the basis for a good economy. Unfortunately, the residents destroyed all within days. No doubt there are many problems remaining in the area, but lack of basic supplies is certainly not amongst them.
If Gaza truly wanted peace, they would not continue to fire rockets upon innocent civilians including young children in Sderot, Ashkelon and surrounding areas.
Finally, it is extremely naive to talk about peace negotiations with Hamas. Hamas is clear that it does not want Israel to exist, and will do all possible to bring about its destruction. What could peace possibly mean in such a context?
Playing by Hamas’ rules, peace would mean the end of Israel, and some of us are not willing to accept that!