Israel Has Illegally Abducted and Detained Two Australian Citizens in International Waters

The Australian PM and foreign minister have begun taking a harder line on Israel. Anthony Albanese stated on Sunday that the nation is in breach of international law due to its withholding of food from Palestinians in Gaza, while Penny Wong reiterated it being “not consistent with international law”, yet neither have touched on the two Australian civilians just abducted by Israel at sea.

The Handala is a ship belonging to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that was sailing towards Gaza last weekend carrying 19 civilian crew and two journalists. Its purpose was to breach the apartheid Israeli-imposed siege upon the Gaza Strip, so as to distribute the humanitarian aid that it was carrying to the starving people of Gaza, which included “baby formula, diapers, food and medicine”.

Israeli soldiers illegally stormed the vessel in international waters 40-odd nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, way outside of Israeli jurisdiction, at around 5.40 am Sydney time on Sunday, 27 July 2025. As part of the FFC crew, Australians Tania Safi and Robert Martin have been taken into Israeli custody, despite perpetrating no crimes, and they’re currently being held in Israel.

DFAT informed the ABC on Sunday that it was aware that the two Australians onboard the Handala had been taken into Israeli custody. 

This act was illegal, as there are only a few circumstances, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in which a nation can intercept a foreign ship in international waters, which are in cases that involve piracy, illegal broadcasting, slavery or statelessness.

But despite the two Australians having been illegally intercepted in international waters and forcibly taken to Israeli territory, Albanese and Insiders host David Speers didn’t consider the incident worth mentioning during their Sunday morning discussion of the PM’s critical position-shift on Israel and neither has minister Wong considered to flag Tel Aviv as having kidnapped a couple our locals.

Intercepted at sea

“My name is Tania Safi from so-called Australia,” said FFC crew member Safi in a prerecorded video testimonial. “If you are seeing this video, the Handala and its crew have been intercepted at sea. I have been abducted and taken against my will by the Israeli military or forces of a country that enables, profits from or protects Israel’s genocide and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.”

“I appeal to everyone to put pressure on the Australian government to sanction Israel, to stop their participation in Israel’s war crimes and to demand my release, as well as the release of everyone on board the Handala as soon as possible,” the journalist continued.

An FFC video report has the activists on 28 July 2025 being detained near Israel’s Ashdod Port, with lawyers from Adalah Legal Centre having been allowed to meet with most of the FFC detainees at the port to provide legal consultation, while two of the captives, who are dual Israeli US citizens, were seen whilst already having been transferred into Israeli police custody.

The Handala had set sail from the coastal town of Gallipoli in Italy on 20 July. The ship was surveilled by drones belonging to Frontex, the EU’s coastguard, on a nightly basis, but as it drew closer to Gaza, Israeli drones commenced monitoring the ship.

Released on Monday, a letter penned by Robert and Tania outlines that they were going to undertake a hunger strike when taken into custody by the apartheid Israeli state, and they too underscored that it was in aid of calling on the Australian government to stop trading with Israel and to stop hiding Tel Aviv’s war crimes in the same way as it had concealed the fate of this continent’s First Peoples.

Decadeslong blockade on Gaza

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition formed in 2010, and due to the fate that much of the crew members suffered on the initial FFC voyage that same year, it is well understood that to do what Robert and Tania and 19 other crew members have just attempted is to risk one’s own life.

The first Freedom Flotilla Coalition voyage involved the MV Mavi Marmara, which was stormed on 31 May 2010 by Israeli troops, who shot and killed nine civilians, with a tenth member dying later as a result of their injuries. This maiden voyage was attempted because Israel was then subjecting the Palestinians of Gaza to a blockade that limited the amount of food allowed to enter into the Strip.

Israel used to occupy Gaza in a similar manner to the way it currently occupies the West Bank, with illegal settlements. However, in 2005, it determined to pull out of Gaza. The region was then permitted to hold a democratic election in 2006, which Hamas won outright, so the group was legitimately voted into office by Palestinians. But Israel was none too pleased with this outcome.

So, when the Hamas government rightfully began governing Gaza in June 2007, Israel placed a blockade on the region, and has limited the food supplies, medicine and fuel entering ever since. Indeed, the forced blockade of the present is a continuation of this eighteen-year-old policy.

Selective compassion

So, on Monday 28 July, following the Australian PM having shifted his position on the Gaza genocide significantly over the weekend and his foreign minister having since joined the chorus, the pair failed to acknowledge the newly detained Australians in Israel, as they apparently weren’t too concerned about Netanyahu having illegally abducted two local citizens from international waters.

“Prime minister Anthony Albanese and Senator Penny Wong,” Martin and Safi continued in their hunger strike declaration statement, “we have seen you be selective with your compassion, and we have seen you in moment of integrity, too. We call on you to prioritise what is left of your humanity, not your paychecks. We demand you value our lives and safety.”

Abdalah Legal Centre reported on Monday evening Sydney time, that it had met with all but four of the FFC detainees, which included having consulted with Martin and Safi, and while five of the crew members had already been released, the two Australians continued to be detained.

But at that same time, Albanese and Wong were continuing to be selective in their compassion, as over the past 48 hours, while they were both shifting their positions in an effort to show some compassion to the now estimated 2.1 million Palestinians starving in Gaza, there didn’t appear any left for them to empathise with or even register the plight of the two fellow countrypeople.