The decades-old conflict between Israel and Gaza became a little too localized this week for Earlham College economics professor Mehrene Larudee.
As news of the Monday Israeli attack on the Free Gaza Movement’s flotilla spread, Larudee learned her brother, Paul Larudee, had been aboard one of the ships. Every hour seemed to pass by a little slower as she waited on news of him.
The flotilla of ships had been carrying aid and hundreds of activists from different countries, a number of them from countries allied with Israel, to the blockaded Gaza strip.
Paul, a 64-year-old from El Cerrito, Calif., was one such activist involved with the Free Gaza Movement, which backed the flotilla transport.
Paul was not on the boat that received the brunt of the attack, the Miva Marmara, but some passengers on his vessel, the Svendoni, were injured, and all were detained. Several in the flotilla were reported dead and at least six were seriously wounded.
Until Tuesday night, Mehrene was unaware whether her brother was one of those victims.
Paul was reported by the Consulate to have resisted arrest. He remained silent and unresponsive when Israeli soldiers ordered him to move. He was reportedly beaten by the soldiers, receiving a black eye, various bruises and twisted joints.
Paul Larudee is the only detainee not to have gone through the deportation process, family related to Mehrene said Tuesday. “It’s unnerving. Now that’s he’s the only one left there, it’s easy for people to forget about him,” she said.
Though the exact nature of the deportation documents is not known, she said she was advised it required a signature that released the Israeli government from all responsibility in terms of the deported person, who is required to admit he came into Israel illegally.
“He never even set foot in Israel until they brought him there,” said Mehrene Larudee, referring to the fact that the flotillas had been outside Israeli waters. His American attorney has been trying to reach him, but has been unable to make contact as far as his family knows.
Israel is claiming that its actions were in self-defense. Israel patrols the borders to prevent weapon smuggling into Gaza, and the soldiers involved say they were attacked as they neared the flotilla. After their release, however, passengers are telling a different story. Mehrene thinks a little differently as well. “The movement backing the flotilla was committed to nonviolence,” she said.
Mehrene attended Thursday’s town hall meeting with Rep. Mike Pence and participated in the discussion concerning Gaza and Israel. After noting Gaza’s desperate need for aid in its time of rebuilding, she called out Pence for focusing too much on Israel’s side of things, and not on what the rest of the world has to say. Pence countered that humanitarian relief reaches Gaza daily through Israel and, he said, Israel has every right to protect itself against the movement of arms into the Gaza area, which he said it is doing.
Mehrene Larudee has lived in Richmond just less than a year, working as a visiting associate professor of economics. She came here from Massachusetts and is currently under a one-year contract.
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