[Marxism] McKinney to Obama: "Say Something" About Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

[Dbachmozart@xxxxxxx]

McKinney to Obama: 
 
"Say Something" About Gaza  Humanitarian Crisis  
By BAR staff 
January "01, 2009  --"_BAR_ 
(http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=948&Itemid=1)
 "  -- 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_ 
(http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/12/30/am.lebanon.aid.b)  news from 
the 
Lebanese city of Tyre, where she had debarked from the  relief vessel Dignity 
after 
it was _rammed on the high seas_ (http://www.freegaza.org/index.php)  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_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident)  dur
ing 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." 
 
_http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21593.htm_ 
(http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21593.htm)  

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