Cynthia McKinney Returns to U.S. After Ordeal on High Seas and Israeli Prison | Black Agenda Report

Cynthia McKinney Returns to U.S. After Ordeal on High Seas and Israeli Prison

Bill Quigley

02 Jul 2009

🖨️ Print Article

The Editors

Former Georgia Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney arrives at JFK Airport early Tuesday morning. McKinney, known as prisoner #88794 during her confinement at Ramle prison since Tuesday, was arrested along wih 20 other activists of the Free Gaza Movment when the Israeli Navy seized their vessel, Human Spirit, on the high seas. The boat was enroute from Cyprus to Gaza bearing humanitarian aid to Palestinian victims of the two-year-old Israeli blockade and military assault on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million people.

McKinney and other Free Gaza members had refused to sign documents that were written in Hebrew and were said to be admissions to having entered Israel illegally. McKinney points out that she and here colleagues had no intention of entering Israel – their mission was to deliver humanitarian supplies, including cement and toys for children.

In a call from Ramle prison on Friday, Ms. McKinney reported: “The Israeli authorities tried to get us to confess to committing a crime. Israel,” she declared, “must be declared a failed state.”

Among her cellmates were Ethiopian female would-be immigrants to Israel who “thought Israel held promise for them – but it wasn’t true.”

Demonstrations in support of McKinney and the “Free Gaza 21”were held in several U.S. cities, including at the Israeli consulate in New York City. City Councilman Charles Barron led the crowd in chants of, “Hands of Cynthia McKinney.” Other actions were scheduled in New York, Washington, Atlanta and Chicago, this weekend.

The continuing blockade of Gaza, in which Israel and the U.S. collectively punish 1.5 million people is a crime under international law, and one of many stories not covered in the corporate news. Here are a few places where you can find out more about the situation in Israel-Palestine and the blockade.

The Free Gaza Project --ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS; CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES

the blockade

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
International Solidarity with Venezuela's Fight Against Coercive Measures
04 Aug 2023
Booker Ngesa Omole is the National Vice-Chairperson and National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya, and a member of its National Central Committee.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Belief in American Exceptionalism is a Bipartisan Affair
04 Aug 2023
Glen Ford analyzed a 2019 Democratic Party presidential debate and points out that support for U.S. aggression towards Venezuela and other nations is a bipartisan project.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's Remarks to Vladimir Putin
04 Aug 2023
On July 28 Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki spoke to Vladimir Putin at a summit with other African leaders. Afwerki explained why African nations see Russia as an ally, and why they are mistrustful…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Migration and Other Lies About Eritrea
04 Aug 2023
In a 2015 interview on the Real News Network Glen Ford explained why the west is so hostile to Eritrea and tells lies about migration from that country.
Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
The Dems and Repubs are Moneypots, Not Real Political Parties
02 Aug 2023
If the Democrats were a real, mass based party, they would never consider Joe Biden as their nominee because he has no support among the people that energize parties: the youth.