Posts Tagged ‘Israel’

Israel to deport Cynthia McKinney, others Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

From: Green Party Watch
by Gregg Jocoy

Fox News is reporting that the authorities in Israel plan to deport Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney after taking the ship she and 20 others were using in an attempt to deliver humanitarian air to the people of Gaza. The article implies that Israel intends to keep the ship, registered in Greece.

The article quotes Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

“Nobody wants to the keep them here. They will be released as soon as they are checked.”

The article says that McKinney and the others, including 1977 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, are being held at Ben Gurion International Airport and will be deported from there. McKinney and the others were on board the Spirit of Humanity, operated by the Free Gaza Movement. Referring to their captivity, Free Gaza Movement founding member Greta Berlin told Ynet news, an online publication based in Israel:

They simply kidnapped the passengers. I call on the Israeli occupation forces to release our people immediately. It’s funny. What are they going to do? Deport us? The last place we wanted to reach was Israel.

In an earlier report Fox News reported that Congresswoman McKinney was demanding the immediate release of the the crew of the seized ship.

“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us,” said McKinney. “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.”

More on McKinney Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

[From Green Party Watch]

by Gregg Jocoy

First, I got a return call from the Israeli consulate in Atlanta and the consulate employee told me that the Israeli Defense Force and Israeli Foreign Affairs office has released information he read which says that Cynthia McKinney is not being detained by the Israeli government. He said that she “had done this sort of thing before” and that she does so “to get in the papers”.

He said that the humanitarian aid onboard the ship will be delivered to Gaza via a land route. He explained that delivery via water was forbidden but land routes have been authorized. He said the ships were boarded without any shots fired and taken to an Israeli port.

Continue reading More on McKinney at Green Party Watch