The #Flotilla And The Issue Of Piracy

Over at Opinio Jurus, Julian Ku addresses the issue--raised by some--that Israel's actions against the flotilla amount to piracy:

But whatever can be said about the legality of the raid, it was not, as a legal matter, piracy. Let’s go to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 101:

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(emphasis added).  I don’t think even the Gaza flotilla defenders claim that the IDF raid was “committed for private ends.” (Just the opposite, actually).  And, in general, piracy cannot be committed by a national ship, only by private ships or by national ships that have been taken over by their crews. 

Read the whole thing.

There are key issues that need to be addressed (when will the media note that one of the sponsors, IHH, has strong terrorist associations?), but the issue of piracy is not one of them.

Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and Piracy.