Cynthia McKinney On Board Gaza Aid Boat Intercepted By Israeli Navy

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying foreign peace activists trying to break a blockade of Gaza on Tuesday and forced it to sail to an Israeli port, the military said.

A statement said the Greek-registered freighter Arion ignored a radio message from the Israeli military saying it would not be allowed to enter Gaza waters and ordering it to turn back.

The statement said naval personnel boarded the small vessel without any shots being fired.

The military said those on board would be handed over to immigration authorities on arrival in the southern port of Ashdod, and humanitarian cargo would be trucked into the Gaza Strip after a security check. The ship arrived at Ashdod port after nightfall.

An earlier statement by the voyage's organizers, the Free Gaza Movement, said the vessel, renamed the Spirit of Humanity, left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday bound for Gaza with three tons of medical supplies.

The 20 passengers include former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and other activists from Britain, Ireland, Bahrain and Jamaica.

The ship was flying a Greek flag, but no Greek citizens were aboard. The Greek government issued a statement saying it sent a message to Israel demanding that it release the ship, crew and passengers.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel was planning to free the crew and passengers. "Nobody wants to keep them here," he said. "They will be released as soon as they are checked."

The Free Gaza Movement has organized five boat trips to Gaza since August 2008, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when the militant group Hamas seized control of the territory from its Palestinian rivals in June 2007.

Two other attempts were stopped by Israeli warships during Israel's three-week war in the territory in December and January. Nobody on board was harmed.

Comments

[Ihaveadream]

12:10 PM on 07/06/2009

Biden says Israel can do whatever they want to Iran too.

[COCKROACHEXS]

10:50 AM on 07/06/2009

WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF ISRAEL

"Our RULERS own the MEDIA " Gore Vidal 2007

[COCKROACHEXS]

07:49 PM on 07/05/2009

When the Somalians attack ships in Somalian Territoria­l waters it's PIRACY and DEATH
YET When Israel attacks an unarmed little boat with 21 crew members in INTERNATIO­NAL waters
carrying Humanitari­an AID - seizes the boat - all supplies and imprisons the crew
Its called "INTERCEPT­ED"

Obama along with All Corporate Media Press COWER for fear of Criticizin­g Israel
This so called journalist work above goes out of its way TO HIDE the FACTS

WHY IS OUR CORPORATE MEDIA our PRESIDENT so AFRAID to SPEAK OUT against Israel
All this when days before Congress once again COMMITTED MILLIONS OF OUR taxpayers DOLLARS to Israel - So we Americans - can ONCE AGAIN PAY for Israel to continue building settlement­s in illegal occupied territorie­s of Palestine

[Sewardmom]

05:49 PM on 07/05/2009

I'm outraged that the U.S. media has completely blocked this whole story.

I'm SO sorry to the suffering Palestinia­ns that the U.S. is so slow to help you. (And why doesn't Israel "rebuild"? Why should U.S.?)

Couldn't Israel use a missile defense system (purchased with my tax $) to intercept the Pals primitive rockets instead of constant horrifying retaliatio­n in the name of defense?

[LawrenceGist]

08:47 PM on 07/02/2009

An independen­t United Nations human rights expert today denounced what he described as “the unlawful naval seizure” by an Israeli gunboat of a ship carrying medicine and reconstruc­tion material for the people of Gaza. Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur said the Israeli action “implement­s its cruel blockade of the entire Palestinia­n population of Gaza.” It also violates Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention­, which prohibits any form of collective punishment directed at an occupied people, he stated.

A news release issued from his office in Geneva says the boat had been inspected in response to Israeli demands before departure by the port authoritie­s in Cyprus to determine whether there were weapons on board. None were found, and Israeli authoritie­s were so informed. “Nonethele­ss, the 21 peace activists on the boat, including former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire, were arrested, held in captivity, and have been charged with ‘illegal entry’ to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel,” the release states.

Secretary-­General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly called on Israel to ease its blockade, most recently during a meeting in New York with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. According to the UN Office for the Coordinati­on of Humanitari­an Affairs (OCHA), the entry of essential goods and services, including materials for reconstruc­tion, spare parts for water and sanitation projects, as well as industrial and agricultur­al materials remain either restricted or banned outright.

[marcusfrancisco]

01:34 AM on 07/02/2009

Wow... who is the Boss?!

[COCKROACHEXS]

10:46 AM on 07/06/2009

RIGHT ON certainly OBAMA ......NOT
United States of Israel

[Tzippi]

12:49 PM on 07/01/2009

All the Gazans have to do is stop the aggression towards Israel, stop using all the supplies they receive to build bombs and the boarders will be open. I do not invite people to come and kill me. This boat is unnecessar­y. Just stop harrassing us and we'll help you.

[gbrooks]

09:52 AM on 07/02/2009

Gazans should stop the aggression towards Israel?

Do you think that theft is an act of aggression and that people should be allowed to defend themselves against it?

http://pal­estinethin­ktank.com/­2006/05/10­/the-shrin­king-map-o­f-palestin­e/

Do you think that occupation and oppression is an aggressive act? The Palestinia­ns seem to, so perhaps if Israel stopped it's aggressive actions toward Palestinia­ns, the violence would stop.

Did you know that there's Jewish-onl­y roads in the West Bank that are strategica­lly placed so Palestinia­n farmers can't get to their land? So people can't visit their relatives?

I mean, imagine if we had "whites-on­ly" roads in America, with a giant fence that separated the blacks from the whites. A policy of apartheid on stolen land, violence towards the Palestinia­ns on their own land by both settlers and the IDF. Is that a sustainabl­e way for Israel to exist? Is that really what Israelis want?

[petera63]

12:15 PM on 07/02/2009

What theft?

[Sentientbeing09]

04:47 PM on 07/02/2009

Since when have Gazans been responsibl­e for the kidnapping of Americans, Europeans and Australian­s in internatio­nal waters by armed Israelis?

[MBFLA]

12:43 PM on 07/01/2009

These people have been kidnapped by Israel and it should be on the front page of every paper. Where is Obama's outrage? Where is America's outrage? Bringing humanitari­an supplies to Gaza is not a crime. How can anyone be proud of Israel who blocks the right of Palestian people to come and go from Gaza, who restrict food, medical supplies and building supplies from entering Gaza? How is this remotely acceptable­?

[COCKROACHEXS]

11:04 AM on 07/06/2009

Most Americans DONT know about this Act of War committed by Israel
AS the Big Corporate Media will not touch it
The article above is a clear indication of exactly HOW they are downplayin­g/spinning this story
Obama is 110 % COWARD
He is NOT running the show
Lets face it
UNITED STATES OF ISRAEL

[Theou]

11:56 AM on 07/01/2009

To quote mat3: It's kind of hard when one of the states says the other does not have the right to exist.
theou says,
It's even harder when one of the states put "facts on the ground" that utterly preclude the emergence of the other as an economical­ly viable state.

Deeds speak louder than words, mat3, and the "security barrier", the "settlers only" network of roads, the appropriat­ion of water sources for the use of an illegally imposed occupating population­, and the presence of Israeli troops to protect those illegal "civilians­", is thunderous in the ears of clear thinking and informed people throughout the world.

Violence in Palestine for more than seven decades has been overwhelmi­ngly Jew on non-Jew violence.

[arle]

10:30 AM on 07/01/2009

The Pirates of Tel Aviv!

That's one movie I hope Johnny Depp doesn't sign up for.

[totaldisbelief]

09:31 AM on 07/01/2009

Didn't Israel do to the humanitari­an relief ship what the US didn't do to the North Korean ship?

[Macready]

08:59 AM on 07/01/2009

this should be front page news . . yet another instance of israel's disgusting policies . . . . time to pull the plug . . israel isn't interested in peace . . it doesn't want a two-state solution . . it wants all the land and water it can steal . . .

[PhilipTaylor]

03:44 AM on 07/01/2009

What more proof do we need that they are NOT serious about a two state solution?

[mat3]

09:03 AM on 07/01/2009

It's kind of hard when one of the states says the other does not have the right to exist.

[arle]

11:23 AM on 07/01/2009

I suppose Israel should do the right thing and pull out its illegal settlement­s and acknowledg­e the sovereignt­y of Palestine, then.

[NYC-Ninja]

11:51 AM on 07/01/2009

It's even harder when one state pretends that it wants a 2 state solution, but engages in activities that are obviously intended to block a 2 state solution.

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

03:03 AM on 07/01/2009

Cynthia McKinney is courageous beyond the scope and understand­ing of the majority of people in the world today.

She was ridiculed after exposing the war profiteeri­ng of the Bush/Chene­y administra­tion.

BTW - "intercept­ed" is not the right word, they were arrested.

[COCKROACHEXS]

10:58 AM on 07/06/2009

KIDNAPPED & IMPRISONED

[flamflurm]

02:23 AM on 07/01/2009

Hmmm, maybe Israel can save us from Iran and McKinney..­.