(Image source: The New York Times)

BY TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR JENNIFER MECKLES

You're watching multisource world video news analysis from Newsy. 

A series of setbacks has some analysts saying - the latest aid flotilla attempting to challenge Israel’s blockage of the Gaza Strip - might not make it out of the gate.

PHIL BLACK, CNN: “Greek authorities have refused to give the flotilla vessels permission to sail, to this U.S.-registered boat was making a break for it. …But a Greek coastguard patrol boat was already in pursuit, quickly catching up and forcing the protest boat to stop.”

And on Saturday -- The Associated Press reported Greek authorities arrested the captain of that ship on charges related to the attempted breakaway.

Adding to that - activists say two other flotilla ships - like this one docked in Turkey - claim their boats were sabotaged - blaming Israeli activists.

“This damage is almost certainly man-made.” (YouTube/irelandjohnny)

That claim is under investigation -- though initial reports say Turkish officials don’t believe it was sabotage.

A spokesperson for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the issue, saying...

“These activists are not renowned for being an objective source of information... These people have a tendency to blame Israel, to see Israel’s hand behind every calamity. And of course that cannot be true.” (The New York Times)

Activists say – Greece is playing puppet for Israel.

And the senior editor of Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz writes in The Huffington Post -- even if the flotilla never sets sail -- Israel will still come out of the incident with a bad rap.

“The flotilla is ... a statement about Israel, a judgment of its policies, and, in the end, the verdict will come directly from you. The cargo of the flotilla consists of this message: Israel is callous, brutal, insensitive to civilians, heedless of human rights, wholly in the wrong. Last year, from start to finish, all the proof of this that the flotilla organizers and participants needed, was supplied by you.”

But a writer for U.S. conservative website Hot Air argues -- a blockade is a blockade, and it’s dangerous waters to question that rule.

“If for no other reason, our concern about order in the unforgiving environment of the seas should prompt us to exercise our prerogative as flag states. There exists no ‘right’ to attempt to break a blockade under the flag of any nation; rather, the authority of a flag state to prevent such an attempt is absolute.”

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has been under blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007 – though Egypt recently opened a land crossing into the area. 

Transcript by Newsy.