June 30, 2009

Cynthia McKinney & Human Rights Activists Abducted

Okay, I've been leary of false death rumors & news lately (thanks to Twitter) but I'm betting positive this is true & frightening (also thanks to Twitter). Without comment:

From Salon

Israeli forces boarded a ship carrying Cynthia McKinney and 20 others and took them all into custody. The ship was in international waters. It was on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

In 2008, the ship carrying Cynthia was rammed by Israeli forces.

Her boat was carrying crayons, paint, coloring books, pencils and paint brushes.


And Mathaba.net

In a test of Obama's ability to stand up to Israel and protect his own members of Congress, the boat "Spirit of Humanity" which was bound for Gaza to deliver some humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave, was boarded by armed soldiers from Israeli war ships who have abducted its crew of 21 including the 6 term U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

This came after the Israeli navy had disabled navigation systems and communications on board the ship, and then threatened to fire upon it. This took place about 4 hours ago on Wednesday afternoon local time, with a crew member managing to get a message out "They're about to come on board, they're about to come on board" before the line went dead.

...

This is being seen as a test of the United States to stand up for its citizens engaged in humanitarian missions that even fall in line with U.S. policy, and there are concerns for the safety of the people on board the ship due to the history of Israeli state terrorism.

The 21 human rights advocates have been abducted from the boat by Israel against their will and taken to Israel, a country they had not wanted to enter, since they wanted to reach the Palestinian coastal region of Gaza which has been under siege blockaded by Israel for years now.

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