Cynthia McKinney Abducted by israel on 6/30/2009
AMERICA WANTS OUR CYNTHIA BACK! Last night, Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and 2008 U.S. GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Cynthia McKinney. The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.
The seizure of humanitarian supplies and abduction of human rights workers is an act of piracy, a crime under international law. When the boat was attacked, it was not in Israeli waters and was on a human rights mission to Gaza. Israel’s deliberate and premeditated attack on an unarmed boat in international waters is a clear violation of international law. Join us tomorrow from 4 to 6 pm at the Israeli Mission to demand an immediate and unconditional release of the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, all 21 human rights workers, and the humanitarian supplies.
According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are “trapped in despair.” Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel’s December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel’s disruption of medical supplies.
About the israeli MILITARY OCCUPATION of Gaza
Cynthia’s links:
| Cynthia McKinney on FaceBook |
| Cynthia McKinney on Twitter |
| Cynthia McKinney on MySpace |
| FREE GAZA MOVEMENT |
| DIGNITY Live Stream |
| DIGNITY Social Network |
| DIGNITY Twitter |
| DIGNITY MySpace |
Free Cynthia McKinney and
all kidnapped human rights workers!
Let the Humanitarian Aid through!
Israel navy intercepts boat with ex-U.S. Rep. McKinney
CNN World updated 9:24 p.m. EDT, Tue June 30, 2009
JERUSALEM (CNN) — The Israeli navy took control of a boat that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.
The boat’s crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls “Spirit of Humanity” from Cyprus.
Along with McKinney, who served six terms in the House of Representatives from Georgia and was the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2008, Israeli authorities took 20 people into custody, the group said.
Also aboard, the group said, was Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. Maguire and co-founder Betty Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for their work.
IDF said the Israeli navy contacted the boat, which it called the Arion, while it was still at sea and warned the crew they would not be allowed to enter Gazan waters “because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade.”
Disregarding all warnings, the boat entered Gazan coastal waters, IDF said. An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded and took control of the boat, directing it toward Ashdod, Israel, IDF said.
The boat’s crew, the military said, would “be handed over to the proper authorities.”
Without naming individuals on the boat, IDF confirmed the incident it described was the same one detailed by the Free Gaza Movement.
According to the Free Gaza group, McKinney said, “This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” before authorities confiscated cell phones.
“President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey,” McKinney said, according to the group.
McKinney’s father, former Georgia state legislator Billy McKinney of Atlanta, said he received a call from his daughter about 3 a.m. Tuesday. She told him “I’m OK. I’m OK,” then hung up as Israeli military began to board the ship, Billy McKinney said. He added that the U.S. State Department gave his family a contact with the U.S. Embassy in Israel but by Tuesday night the family had not heard anything back from the embassy.
IDF said the aid aboard the boat would be delivered to Gaza ”subject to authorization.”
“Any organization or country that wishes to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip can legally do so via the established crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip with prior coordination,” IDF said.
Free Gaza said the Spirit of Humanity voyage is the eighth such trip the group has launched. Five succeeded, the group said, but the israeli military stopped attempts in January and December 2008.
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 6/25/09:
They Denied Us So They Wouldn’t Have to Ram Us!–UPDATED
by Cynthia McKinney Page 1 of 7 page(s)
The Israelis are hopping mad. And they’re flexing their muscles in all the ugly places. They can’t ram us again without sparking an international uproar, so they’re trying to stop us from leaving the port at all. The Limasol, Cyprus Port Authority which controls the port of Larnaca also, sent their inspector to Larnaca with a letter saying that the boat failed inspection, only thing, the letter was written BEFORE he even arrived in Larnaca to do the inspection! Reuters is doing the story at this very moment saying that we were prevented from leaving due to Cypriot authorities. We just learned from a Cyprus government source that pressure is being applied by Israel to deny us departure credentials. It appears, then, that Israel is putting us into contortions because they don’t want us to take cement into Gaza. After white phosphorus, depleted uranium, DIME, cluster bombs, F16s, death, destruction, and mayhem. All of *this* over a few bags of cement. Can you believe???
1. Read the Haaretz article here, showing Israeli concern about us taking cement to Gaza
2. Hear the interview with Don Debar on the contortions we’re being put through by Cyprus Port Authority
3. Read the Reuters article here (interesting that the story broke in Israel and not Cyprus!!)
4. Individuals have already started to contact the Cyprus UN Mission and their DC Embassy to inquire why they are arbitrarily not allowing the Spirit of Humanity and the Free Gaza to set sail.
CODEPINK Condemns Israeli Abduction of US Congresswoman, 21 Others from Gaza Aid Ship
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: CODEPINK |
WASHINGTON – June 30 – After this morning’s Israel’s abduction of 21 human rights workers, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, from their aid ship to Gaza while in international waters, the women’s peace group CODEPINK calls on the Israeli government to immediately release the passengers on the ship, the Spirit of Humanity, part of the “Free Gaza” movement, as well as for release of the boat and its humanitarian cargo. CODEPINK also calls on the Obama administration to condemn the Israeli action in the strongest terms.
“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us,” said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. “Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip. President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”
UPDATE: Israeli Military Seizes Spirit of Humanity
by gratefulmama3x
UPDATE: here’s your
linky-dink
just for you folks who thought I was making it up, or relying on unreliable sources, or whatever. The boat was boarded and has been seized by the Israeli military. Israel says it was in its waters, the FGM says it was in international waters. Israel’s gov’t is not much of a reliable source, either, ya know, they’ve been complying so well with the Road Map and all, right?
I have no words to counter all the hatred and coldheartedness in the comments. The people in Gaza are suffering horribly, that isn’t a debatable fact. They have no building materials. They’ve been abandoned by the world, and this ship and its supplies mean so much to them. Go ahead, make glib comments, argue about McKinney, and allow innocents to suffer, why should we care about THEM?
I’m Israeli…I’m a human being, first, though. The people of Gaza are human beings, too. For every atrocity the commenters point to, the Israeli government has committed more. And no one bulldozes their homes.
- gratefulmama3x’s diary :: ::
The Free Gaza Movement’s ship Spirit of Humanity (the irony of which is just tragic), en route to Gaza delivering medical and reconstruction aid, was surrounded by Israeli warships and threatened with gunfire if it did not turn back. Former Congresswoman and Green Party Prez candidate Cynthia McKinney is on board the ship. FreeGaza.org has McKinney quoted saying:
“I am extremely angry. We demand that the Israeli government call off their attack dogs. We are unarmed civilians aboard an unarmed boat … Why in God’s name would Israel want to attack us and threaten our safety and welfare? I call on President Obama and the international community to intervene now to prevent this situation from escalating with potentially drastic results to the civilians on board.”
The ship, its radar, GPS and navigation jammed despite its location in international waters (which is against international law) is making its way via compass. The situation is reportedly very tense as well as extemely dangerous to those aboard.
Before 1948, when Palestine was part of the British Empire, ships carrying Jewish refugees were turned away in these very waters by the British, leaving barely-living survivors with nowhere to go. Shame on the Israeli government (my government, by the way, I am Israeli). Shame on the media for not covering this. Is there no end to the insanity?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/29/748253/-Fmr-US-Congresswoman-on-Ship-as-Israeli-Warships-Jam-Radar,-GPS,-Navigation
