Why did Palau decertify the Gaza-bound ship?

By Ann Wright

Why did Palau take away the certification and flag of the Gaza-bound ship "Conscience" hours before it was bombed by Israeli drones off Malta?

In the afternoon of May 1, 2025, our Gaza flotilla coalition was notified that the captain and owner of our ship, MV Conscience, had been emailed by maritime agents of Palau that the Palau certification of operation and flag for the ship had been cancelled.

No reason was given for the cancellation, nor who had given the order for the decertification of the ship. No inspection of the ship had been made. The ship had sailed from Tunisia with the certification only 48 hours before.

Within 12 hours of notification that the certification had been cancelled by Palau, meaning that the ship could not move without certification, the Israeli military bombed the ship in international waters 17 nm off the European country of Malta.

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According to the Washington Post coverage of the bombing, Palau’s foreign minister, Gustav Aitaro, said Saturday, May 3, 2025, in a message to The Washington Post that, according to preliminary information, the vessel that caught fire had been deregistered “quite some time ago.”

Foreign Minister Aitaro's statement is incorrect as the deregistration/

decertification was communicated to the captain and owner of the ship only on May 1 and was not deregistered "quite some time ago," as alleged by the foreign minister.

Could someone in the government of Palau shed light on how the decision to deregister occurred?

I recognize that Palau is economically and militarily dependent on the U.S. through the Compact of Free Association, but I am dismayed that the government of Palau seems to be complicit, along with the U.S., in the ongoing Israeli genocide of Gaza through the deregistration of our humanitarian, civilian ship.

 I am a member of the Gaza Flotilla coalition and was in Malta when the Israeli attack on the civilian ship "Conscience" occurred.

Ann Wright is a retired U.S. Army colonel based in Honolulu. She also served as a U.S. diplomat and was stationed in the US Embassy in Pohnpei, FSM from 1998 to 2000.