“Cllr. Richard Humphreys' pathetic smear of myself and fellow United Left Alliance member, Cllr. Hugh Lewis, does not bother me in the slightest. However, his attack on the nine activists who were killed by the Israel Defence Forces last year is outrageous. In contradiction to the facts, but in line with Israeli propaganda, he has said that responsibility for the killing of these people lies with them and that they 'attempted to kill and injure members of the Israeli Defence Forces.' This is a fabrication not backed up with any evidence. In fact, a UN report in September 2000 confirmed that at least six of them were 'summarily executed' by the IDF. Out of respect to the family of those activists and concern for the message it sends to the IDF about how it should respond to this flotilla, I call on him to retract that statement immediately.

“Despite the combined efforts of the Israeli state and their friends in high and low places, they will not be able to stop this Freedom Flotilla. We will set sail within days for Gaza. The impact of our trip will be felt in Gaza and throughout the world as the horrific conditions that are imposed by the Israeli state on the people of Gaza are highlighted.”