Green Party Stands with Handala Crew Seized by Israel
FOR RELEASE
Monday, July 28, 2025
Media Contact, Beverly Rolfsmeyer
[email protected] and 267-977-0570
Green Party Stands with Handala Crew Seized by Israel
The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) stands in support of the brave crew of the Handala which was seized by Israel on Saturday, July 26. The interception occurred in international waters outside Palestinian territorial waters in violation of international maritime law.
All eyes were on Handala as it transported 21 civilians to help deliver medicine, baby formula, and stuffed animals to the children of Gaza. The Handala, launched from Siracusa, Italy, on July 13, was attempting to break the devastating and illegal blockade on Gaza imposed by Israel and to bring much-needed relief to the Palestinians.
“Israel has no legal authority to detain international civilians aboard the Handala,” said Ann Wright, a member of the Freedom Flotilla’s steering committee. “These are foreign nationals operating under international law in international waters. Their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end.”
The bravery displayed by the crew of the Handala is nothing short of inspiring. This was the third Freedom Flotilla ship carrying humanitarian aid to have been attacked by Israel. In May 2025, Conscience sailed to Gaza to bring relief to the population, only to be attacked by a drone which critically damaged the vessel and forced it to retire from the mission. Then in June, the Madleen was raided by Israel, and its crew members arrested, abused, and deported.
Israel has ignored the International Court of Justice’s binding orders that require the facilitation of humanitarian access to Gaza. Their continued attacks on peaceful civilian missions represent a grave violation of international law.
The Green Party of Philadelphia stands in solidarity with those aboard Handala and calls upon the necessary precautions and protections that States may offer in ensuring safe passage in the service of humanity and adherence to international law. We must highlight the conditions that prompt people of conscience to sail are predicated on the inaction of States to prevent this genocide from occurring. The United States government has materially and ideologically supported Israel in such a way that the genocide inflicted against the Palestinians ought to be known as a U.S. crime as well. The Green Party calls on elected officials to stop the genocide by refusing to fund Israel with our tax dollars and to cease shipping arms to Israel.
The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP, www.gpop.org) is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPOP candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPOP, please follow GPOP on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
For More Information See:
Freedom Flotilla, https://freedomflotilla.org
Photo,
July 26, 2025, photo, https://freedomflotilla.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Handala-boarded-1024x573.jpg
END ITEM
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Mozambican Liberation Day and Green Party Ecological Wisdom
Sunday, October 8, 2023
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I am truly honored to be speaking to you today, among such distinguished guests. In the name of the Green Party of Philadelphia (www.gpop.org), I want to welcome the ambassador of Mozambique, members of the consulate, and the other dignitaries who have come to join in this flag-raising.
We know the green in the flag stands for the gifts of nature and living in harmony with it, and that is what we too are about, as Greens. We are here in the interests of friendship and building on that friendship in peace and justice. I have been asked to talk briefly about Ecological Wisdom, one of the Green Party’s four pillars, and connected with the messages of the Partido os Verdes de Moçambique and the Ecological Party of Mozambique.
I believe, as an historian as well as chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia, that it is especially important for those in the U.S. and the global north generally to recognize the historical and the ongoing ecological damage rendered out of all proportion in the global south, including and even especially in Mozambique. Friends don't let friends contend alone with destructive droughts and related fires. Friends don't cause friends to confront catastrophic floods and cyclones, with their devastating immediate and also cumulative effects.
Aside from exponential increases in the spread of disease that can be linked to climate change, there are now already extremely serious deficiencies in the availability of surface water, despite the country’s many rivers, and the intrusion of saltwater deep into the country. Average temperatures are quickly climbing, especially in the southern and central regions, challenging the survivability for people, animals, and plants alike, even as conditions have paradoxically caused an astronomic increase in fossil fuel consumption from the mid-‘90s to present.
These conditions also deeply threaten relations with Mozambique’s neighbors, such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, while at the same time foreboding a crisis of climate refugees. Even in moments as celebratory as the present one, we need to all take action to halt further climate change, as well as to deal equitably with its already drastic effects in Mozambique as in the U.S., and across the world in the spirit of friendship and peace.
We are one planet. We are here to celebrate and build on relations. Building those relations means knowing one another better. I look forward to learning more about the vibrant nation of Mozambique today - - including what we can learn from Mozambicans about ecological wisdom. Thank you!
Belinda Davis (Mount Airy) has been chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia since 2019.
The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP, www.gpop.org) is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPOP candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPOP, please follow GPOP on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
For more Information:
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