MCKINNEY RELIEF BOAT REPORTEDLY ATTACKED BY ISRAEL
CRAIG SCHNEIDER
Regardless of your personal opinions about Rep. McKinney, this action is unconscionable. When will the U.S. learn that the Israelis aren't the good guys?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, December 29, 2008
A relief ship carrying former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has been attacked by the Israeli navy, according to a pro-Palestinian organization.
The international humanitarian aid boat Dignity, filled with medical supplies and surgeons, was rammed by an Israeli gunship, and live rounds were fired around the boat Tuesday morning, according to the group, the Free Gaza Movement. There was no independent confirmation.
The group’s media spokesperson said that she had been in contact with the passengers on the boat, which was carrying McKinney and a Cyprian Member of Parliament, but just before cell phone contact was cut off, heavy gunfire was heard in the background. No one had been injured at the time.
In a press release, the Free Gaza movement stated, “Contrary to international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to Cyprus — despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do so.”
McKinney is a high-profile member of a boatload of activists that set sail Monday from Cyprus to deliver medicine to war-torn Gaza.
McKinney, who ran as the Green Party candidate for president, sees the voyage as a humanitarian mission, said her father, former Georgia state Rep. Billy McKinney.
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