Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does the flotilla stunt really help the people of Gaza?

I reckon we shouldn't panic too much on behalf of those three New Zealand citizens who've been intercepted by the Israeli military and the flotilla.

Obviously, we want international law to be followed, but it's pretty clear that these guys knew what they were getting themselves into and did it anyway.

I mean, they are absolutely milking this for all that it's worth with the social media posts claiming they've been kidnapped and all that kind of stuff - by the Israelis, by the way.

But they knew this was gonna happen, and they were prepared for it because this is what happened to Greta in June.

She was on the flotilla that got stopped by the IDF- and they took her to Ashdod and they kept her for a few hours and then they tried to make her watch a video of the October 7 massacre, she didn't want to.

And they put her on a plane in the back row, right in front of the toilet, so there wasn't even any reclining space for her, and then they packed her off home.

And that was fine. So they got on some more ships and they tried to do it again.

So it was always going to play out in exactly the same way. And for that reason, I think it is fair to call this a stunt, because what they're doing is something that they know has no reasonable chance of success - which is delivering aid to Gaza, but they're doing it anyway, to draw attention to Gaza. That's a stunt.

Now, I'm not going to criticize them for wanting to draw attention to Gaza because it is horrific and intolerable what's happening there.

And if there is any doubt that the Israelis are deliberately constraining the flow of aid, I think that was quite obviously dispelled this week when the Trump peace plan was released and it promised that if Hamas accepts the deal, then full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip.

Which is essentially, I think you can see, an admission that full aid is currently being withheld from the Gaza Strip.

So I understand why they want to draw attention to it, but I still don't have much time for stunts like this because generally, they don't actually draw attention to the thing that they're trying to draw attention to - which is the starvation in Gaza.

They only really draw attention to themselves - which is Greta and her mates. That's what we're talking about. Because we're not talking about Gaza today, are we? We're talking about Greta and her mates.

The whole thing becomes about the safety and the treatment of the activists, not the safety and the treatment of the people of Gaza.

And frankly, they are, in my opinion, of no value whatsoever to the people of Gaza right now.

Now, obviously, I do hope the IDF treats these kids well. Our diplomats have asked for as much, but they knew this was going to happen.

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