Cynthia McKinney and 20 others still in Israeli jail
“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,” said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate, on behalf of her and 20 human rights workers and journalists from 11 countries.
If any other country did this, it would be called “piracy.”
The Spirit of Humanity was not even in Israeli waters and posed no military threat to Israel. The 21 people aboard were on a human rights mission to bring desperately needed supplies to the thousands of Palestinians living in Gaza.
According to a newly released report from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Palestinians living in Gaza are “trapped in despair.” Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed 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.
[...] week, Israeli forces detained a group of foreign activists, including former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and a Nobel Prize laureate, as they were heading to Gaza on a humanitarian mission and confiscated [...]
More activists challenge crippling Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip « Moral Outrage - July 6, 2009 at 6:43 pm |