Jon Furniss/WireImagePink Floyd may have no plans to reunite musically, but the band’s surviving members have come together to voice their support of some international female pro-Palestinian activists who were detained by the Israeli military when they attempted to defy that country’s marine blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The band has issued a joint statement that reads, “‘Pink Floyd reunites to stand with the Women of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’…David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Roger Waters stand united in support of the Women of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and deplore their illegal arrest and detention in international waters by the Israeli Defense Force [IDF].”
According to The Jerusalem Post, the IDF reported that the flotilla, which carried 13 women from various countries, was intercepted Wednesday by the Israeli Navy about 35 nautical miles off the Gaza coast and the passengers were brought to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Among the women on the flotilla were Mairead Maguire, a 1976 Nobel peace laureate from Northern Ireland, and a retired U.S. army colonel named Ann Wright.
The flotilla’s coordinator, Zohar Regev — an Israeli activist who lives in Spain — told The Jerusalem Post before the boat was intercepted that she felt the Israeli government was making a mistake by “stopping international peace activists in water that is not Israeli water and stopping people that are not aiming to harm Israelis in any way and just trying to bring a message of hope and solidarity to Gaza.”
The Israeli government has explained that it believes if the blockade is lifted, Hamas militants will be able to smuggle weapons and other materials that can be used to kill Israeli civilians.
Earlier this week, Waters posted a video on his Facebook page in which he expresses his support for the women on the flotilla.
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