A seasonal Sitka worker is breathing easier today. Her brother has been released by Israel after the humanitarian aid flotilla he was part of was intercepted by the military earlier this week.
33-year-old Logan Hollarsmith, captain of the L’arq, was sailing with more than 400 activists from southern Turkey to Gaza to deliver aid when they were intercepted by Israeli troops in the eastern Mediterranean.
Video footage from Global Sumud Flotilla, which organized the fleet, showed Israeli soldiers firing shots at two of the boats. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that they fired nonlethal rounds “as a warning” and that “no protesters were injured during these events.”
“He has been doing this kind of stuff his whole life. This is what he does,” said Camryn Hollarsmith, Logan’s younger sister, who works seasonally in Sitka’s tourism industry. “This is something he’s always led with. [He’s] led with his heart.”
Camryn said this was the second time her brother was detained by Israel for attempting to sail through the Gaza blockade.
“Last year, it was maybe September, October time, he went on the flotilla,” she said. “He started out in Barcelona, went down towards Gaza, carrying humanitarian aid on his sailboat. He was illegally intercepted there by the Israeli government.”
Logan was then held in Ktzi’ot Prison, a maximum security detention center in Israel, for five days before being released. At the time, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi issued a statement urging Israel to release him along with the hundreds of other activists who were detained.
“The right of U.S. citizens to due process and fair treatment under international law must be protected. I stand with the family of Logan Hollarsmith in demanding clarity, accountability, and the safe return of all detainees to their homes,” Pelosi said in her statement.
Camryn said her family thought they would be more prepared this time around.
“I think we thought that going through these motions we’d have a little bit of thicker skin,” she said. “But on the flip side, knowing what actually happened at the end of it, that there was a lot of abuse and neglect and poor conditions [and] a lot of physical violence — I think knowing that that’s what’s happening this time, and not actually being able to do anything, is hitting a lot harder, a lot closer to home.”
Camryn said friends and family from all over have been calling and emailing their representatives this week to push for Logan’s release. Her family got word Thursday morning that Logan had safely arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, along with more than 400 others.
The activists are being checked out by a medical team and meeting with lawyers. The Turkish public news broadcaster TRT World reported activists claimed mistreatment by Israeli forces while in detention — allegations that were denied by Israeli prison officials — and that at least three activists were hospitalized. The news organization also reported international outcry after Israel’s national security minister posted a provocative video showing him taunting detained flotilla activists who were handcuffed and kneeling.
Camryn said despite being scared, this has been a proud sister moment for her.
“As important as my brother is to me — obviously, he’s my older brother and I care so much about him — he’s doing this on behalf of the genocide that’s happening in Gaza and Palestine,” she said. “If you remove the politics from it, there are people being bombed, there are children being bombed. We need to get aid to them. At the very base of the morality of this is that this is not okay, and why are we accepting that this is okay?”
Camryn said it could still be a few days before her brother gets back to his home in Arizona. She said she’s feeling a “massive sense of relief,” but understands that Logan and others need to continue the fight.
