Mainstream media plays catch-up on Free Gaza 21 story
Fox News, the first of the corporate media to begin covering the saga of the Spirit of Humanity, carries a piece by David Lewkowict titled “Cynthia Mckinney Does it Again”. Fox News is also carrying a legitimate news piece which points out, as reported here earlier today, that McKinney and the rest are free to leave if they sign a statement that they violated Israeli territorial waters.
Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney and several other human rights activists remain in an Israeli prison after refusing to sign a deportation form that they claim is self-incriminating.
An article by Kent A. Miles at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quotes a Washington DC based Israeli spokesman Jonathan Peled saying that preparations are being made to deport the activists.
“It is taking slightly longer. Former congresswoman McKinney is not cooperating with the authorities” and refusing to sign a document acknowledging deportation, he said.
“It’ll take a couple more days before she is put on a plane and flown out of Israel,”
McKinney is correct. The humaitarian ship Spirit of Humanity was seized by Israeli gunships whilst in Palestinian waters and was bound for Gaza. It was never within Israeli waters until after it had been pirated by the Israelis and taken against the crews’ will to the port of Ashdod. Cynthia McKinney is being criminalised for trying to take medical aid, childrens’ toys and olive trees to Gaza. The activists were attempting to break the blockade on Gaza which prevents International Aid reaching the stricken people of Gaza – the aid which we, people all around the world, reached into their pockets to give to the people of Gaza, following the terrible Israeli bombardment. Israeli blockade is a shameful collective punishment against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which is against International Law, and President Obama has spoken out against it.