Photo: Malta Ship RegistryĠustizzja għall-Palestina has expressed grave concerns about a Malta-flagged vessel which it believes is delivering military-grade steel to Israeli arms manufacturers, insisting that Malta could not remain silent in the face of ships flying its flag carrying military or dual-use cargo to Israel.
The activist group which advocates for Palestinian rights has regularly expressed concerns about the involvement of Malta-flagged vessels delivering such cargo to Israel and appealed for government intervention, appeals which have to date appeared to have fallen on deaf ears.
Its latest alert concerns the Malta-flagged Valor, a freighter built in 2013 whose last port of call was Civitavecchia in Italy. It has been heading eastward since, and the group said that its ultimate destination was the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
Ġustizzja għall-Palestina said that it informed the appropriate Maltese authorities on the matter, including prime minister Robert Abela and foreign minister Ian Borg, stating that its concerns “are founded on detailed research that shows a high probability that the Valor is commissioned to deliver military grade steel to arms manufacturers in Israel to produce more ammunition, tank and artillery shells.”
It highlighted that the ship could be carrying up to 600 tonnes of steel bars and rods that could produce 13,000 155mm artillery shells, of the type used indiscriminately by Israel in Gaza over the past 30 months.
The group, speaking in the name of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Malta’s Neutrality and Peace and Front Maltin Inqumu, said that it strongly objected to Malta’s silence on the issue, which it said meant de facto approval to shipping activities “which clearly aid Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its illegal occupations of Palestine.”
“ In the context of Israel’s escalating war in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon and Iran, and the worldwide condemnation of its cessation of peace talks in its bloodthirsty pursuit of a Greater Israel, we believe Malta should take immediate action to prevent this illegal transfer,” it said.
The group confirmed that it has not received any response since alerting the authorities on Sunday, and said that their failure to act “would constitute direct and active complicity in Israel’s unlawful occupations, the commission of the crime of apartheid, and genocide.”
Malta, they pointed out, was being shown up by other European countries, highlighting how Italy was holding three related shipments for investigation due to the suspected nature of the cargo.
In line with Malta’s obligations as a flag state, it insisted that the government take immediate action “to investigate, assess risks and prevent the illegal transfer of military (or dual-use) cargo that increases the commission of international crimes on a vessel carrying Malta’s flag.”
“Failure to do so would constitute a breach of international law and our government’s knowing complicity in the ongoing genocide and Israel’s egregious attacks on Iran and Lebanon,” it said.
