Nine Jews are participating in the mission. Amongst them is Rami Elhanan, an Israeli peace activist whose daughter Smadar was killed in a suicide bombing in 1997. Elhanan maintained that it was his moral duty to act in support of the Palestinians in Gaza because reconciliation was the surest path to peace. "Those 1.5 million people in Gaza are victims exactly as I am," he said.
Refusnik Israel Air Force pilot Jonathan Shapira, another passenger aboard the ship, told Haaretz: "We hope that the soldiers and officers of the Israeli Navy will think twice before they obey orders to stop us."
Shapira also reflected on recent Jewish history: "Let them remember the history of our people and those who followed orders and later said we were only following orders.”
Richard Kuper, an organizer with the UK group, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said: “One goal is to show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians.”
