McKinney to Obama: "Say Something" About Gaza Humanitarian Crisis
by BAR staff
Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has called
upon President-Elect Barack Obama to "please, say something about the
humanitarian crisis that is being experienced by the Palestinian people, by the
people of Gaza." McKinney spoke
to CNN news from the Lebanese city of Tyre, where she had debarked from the
relief vessel Dignity after it was rammed
on the high seas by an Israeli patrol boat, early Tuesday morning.
Passengers also report the Israelis fired machine guns into the water near
their ship.
McKinney was among the passengers on an attempted voyage
from the island of Cyprus to Gaza, where Israeli bombs and missiles have killed
hundreds of Palestinians, including many civilians, since Saturday. The Dignity
carried three tons of medical supplies and a number of doctors prepared to
treat the more than 1,000 Gazans wounded in the Israeli attacks. The 66-foot
craft had made two previous humanitarian relief trips to Gaza since the summer.
Israel has blocked food, medicines and other essentials from entering Gaza in a
campaign of collective punishment against the 1.5 million Palestinians that
live there under a Hamas Party administration.
President-Elect Obama has been silent on the Israeli
attacks, while President George Bush has supported Israel's actions.
"I would like to ask my former colleagues in the United
States Congress to stop sending weapons of mass destruction around the world,"
said McKinney, who was the Green Party's presidential candidate in November.
"As we are about to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, let us
remember what he said. He said that the United States is the greatest purveyor
of violence on the planet. And guess what: we experienced a little bit of that
violence, because the weapons that are being used by Israel are weapons that
were supplied by the United States government."
A CNN reporter who accompanied the passengers and crew of
the Dignity confirmed that the boat "was sailing with full lights" when "one of
the Israeli patrol boats, with no lights on, rammed the Dignity, hard."
Israel blames the collision on the relief vessel.
Said McKinney: "Our boat was rammed three times, twice in
the front, once on the side.... What the Israelis are saying is outright
disinformation."
McKinney compared the Israeli action against the
Dignity to the attack
on a U.S. naval vessel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. "I recall that
there was another boat that was attacked by Israelis, and it was the U.S.S
Liberty." Thirty-four crewmen died and 170 were wounded by fire from Israeli
planes and torpedo boats. The Israelis claim it was a case of mistaken
identity. "People would like to forget about the U.S.S. Liberty," said
McKinney, "but I haven't forgotten about it and the people who were on that
ship have not forgotten what happened to them."
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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of Pan-African News Wire, an international electronic press service.
Mary Hooks is National Field Secretary with the Movement 4 Black Lives based in Atlanta.
Brooke Floyd is co-director of the Jackson People’s Assembly at the People's Advocacy Institute.
