ISRAEL'S NAVY ARREST HUMAN RIGHT ACTIVISTS ON SPIRIT OF HUMANITY BOAT
30. Jun, 2009
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Edited: Elias Farhud
WHAT YOU CAN DO ?
Call your Congressperson and your Senators today. Ask them to call the Israeli Embassy and to call the U.S. State Department demanding that the boat and its occupants be released, together with their humanitarian cargo, and that they be allowed to dock in Gaza.
Ask them what crime is being committed by giving the people in Gaza medicines, toys, and pencils?
Attorney Kathleen D. Kirwin, Esq. has emailed Mark Regev:
Dear Mr. Regev:
I am writing to demand that your naval personnel immediately disembark from the Spirit of Humanity, release all passengers and crew unharmed, leave all of the ships cargo unharmed, cease all threats of violence against the boat and its passengers, and stop interfering with its passage to Gaza by any and all means.
Your govenment’s actions in this regard are blatant and intentional violations of international law and I, for one, as will multitudes in the international community, take every action to hold the Israeli government legally accountable for these unlawful acts.
You have committed these acts with legal impunity for the last time.
Kathleen D. Kirwin, Esq.
Attorney at Law
___________________________
KATHLEEN D. KIRWIN, ESQ.
ATTORNEY AT LAW
634 Ohio Place
Sarasota, Florida 34236 US
Press Release by Free Gaza . org.:
Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.
“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. “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.”
According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are “trapped in despair.” Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier 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.
“The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of “Cast Lead”. Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone” said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland.
Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza .Org chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: “No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel.
We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children’s toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters.”
Kidnapped Passengers from the Spirit of Humanity include:
Arraf continued, “Israel’s deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release.”
Kidnapped Passengers from the Spirit of Humanity include:
Khalad Abdelkader, Bahrain
Khalad is an engineer representing the Islamic Charitable Association of Bahrain.
Othman Abufalah, Jordan
Othman is a world-renowned journalist with al-Jazeera TV.
Khaled Al-Shenoo, Bahrain
Khaled is a lecturer with the University of Bahrain.
Mansour Al-Abi, Yemen
Mansour is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera TV.
Fatima Al-Attawi, Bahrain
Fatima is a relief worker and community activist from Bahrain.
Juhaina Alqaed, Bahrain
Juhaina is a journalist & human rights activist.
Huwaida Arraf, US
Huwaida is the Chair of the Free Gaza Movement and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.
Ishmahil Blagrove, UK
Ishmahil is a Jamaican-born journalist, documentary film maker and founder of the Rice & Peas film production company. His documentaries focus on international struggles for social justice.
Kaltham Ghloom, Bahrain
Kaltham is a community activist.
Derek Graham, Ireland
Derek Graham is an electrician, Free Gaza organizer, and first mate aboard the Spirit of Humanity.
Alex Harrison, UK
Alex is a solidarity worker from Britain. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.
Denis Healey, UK
Denis is Captain of the Spirit of Humanity. This will be his fifth voyage to Gaza.
Fathi Jaouadi, UK
Fathi is a British journalist, Free Gaza organizer, and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.
Mairead Maguire, Ireland
Mairead is a Nobel laureate and renowned peace activist.
Lubna Masarwa, Palestine/Israel
Lubna is a Palestinian human rights activist and Free Gaza organizer.
Theresa McDermott, Scotland
Theresa is a solidarity worker from Scotland. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.
Cynthia McKinney, US
Cynthia McKinney is an outspoken advocate for human rights and social justice issues, as well as a former U.S. congressperson and presidential candidate.
Adnan Mormesh, UK
Adnan is a solidarity worker from Britain. He is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.
Adam Qvist, Denmark
Adam is a solidarity worker from Denmark. He is traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.
Adam Shapiro, US
Adam is an American documentary film maker and human rights activist.
Kathy Sheetz, US
Kathy is a nurse and film maker, traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.
Source: www.freegaza.org
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Shades of the USS Liberty, has the Mare Impirium, which once belonged to the Roman Empire, now become the Mare Zionistium, the private lake of the emerging Zionist Empire, Eretz Israel that they can have their will with any ship, which sails on it with impunity?
This is a Greek vessel. Greece is a NATO member. Is not the boarding and arrest of an unarmed vessel proceeding peacefully on the open sea an act of war? It used to be at one time when states and political leaders stood up for their countries, and protected their citizens!
A number of the people onboard were US Citizens, including a former United States Congresswoman. Where was the President of the United States on this one? Doing a Lyndon Johnson with the family puppy? Will he follow the lead which Lyndon Johnson took in the USS Liberty attack?
Where are the national leaders of the rest of the various Citizens of the World who have been illegally arrested while sailing peacefully in International waters? Relaxing in their baths, while snacking on kosher lox and bagels, while sipping good Israeli wine, made from stolen Palestinian grapes?
Israel has bombed, burned and blasted the Palestine Gaza into a cinder, imprisoning its people in the burned out, blasted ruins of what used to be their homes, while denying them the medicines, energy, food care and basic sustenance goods necessary to stay alive,
They have turned the Gaza into a Twenty First Century version of a Twentieth Century Warsaw Ghetto, a modern Auschwitz with improvements of which the Nazis never dreamed.
You want to see Holocaust? Take a look at some of the many photos and videos of the made-in-America, delivered by Israel, white phosphorus as it rains down on Palestinian schools and hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
Now they commit piracy on the High Seas to prevent others from coming in Peace to deliver aid with a token of relief goods!
All Hail the New Impirium! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil, Caesar Nutsandyahoo!
[Reply]
Americans donot care about 2 million starving Gazans. why should they ?
American media for the fourth day is celebrating the death of a freak…there
are no wars happening and nobody else is dying.
The Israeli Prime Minister thumbs his nose at the US President.
American Humanitarian aid workers were arrested last evening by Israel’s Navy
and not a word from the US President or the Congress or the Media.
Americans have sold their souls to the devil.
The US Congressmen and Senators are all compromised, The neo-zions in America
own the US Media,AP, Reuters and Google, they dictate the Headlines and manipulate
the News and Comments made by the US President and the Iranian President to suit their
own agendas.
The American journalists dared not utter the word AIPAC until recently.
Americans need to grow balls to confront the neo-Zions that have hyjacked their Media, their Government, their Educational Institutions, their Economy, you name it.
Even the Iranians mobilized and took to the streets, but the American public, sadly they will go down just like their heroes.
Debbie
[Reply]
Welcome to the United States of Israel where all our politicians are compromised and blackmailable through Amdocs and Converse SYS, two Israeli companies that monitor all calls of our DC elite public servants. Besides, the Zionist press has programmed us well that to criticize Israel is an anathema and you will immediately wear the “scarlet letter” on your forehead of “Anti-semitism or “Holocaust denier”, even if you speak truth to power!
Remember, Jacob who became Israel, took advantage of his own twin brother at a moment of weakness and with the help of his mother, Rebekkah, conspired to steal the birthright by deceiving a debilitated Isaac into bestowing Jacob with the Patriarchal blessing that was meant for Esau, the older of the two. The theft continues to this day.
The fact that Khazarian Zionist Israel is still stealing the birthright of the Palestinians to this day and that the genocide they commit(I guess the slogan never again only pertains to the self-proclaimed Chosen)continues is that the leaders of the world are beholden to the criminal usury ridden cabal (the Federal Reserve, World Bank, IMF, etc.) that is choking the life out of humanity. So why would they be concerned for any humanitarian efforts to help the needy.
[Reply]