The 2008 Green Party candidate for president and the first African-American woman to represent Georgia in The House of Representatives, Cynthia McKinney, was captured by the Israeli navy this week. The navy stopped a boat containing McKinney and nineteen other passengers. They were on their way to Gaza but were stopped after reportedly ignoring a blockade and radio message saying that they would not be allowed to enter the city and to turn around. A statement said that military personnel boarded the ship without firing shots and took the passengers into custody. McKinney says her boat, The Spirit of Humanity, was carrying medical supplies, cement and children’s toys to Gaza and is outraged about her capture.
“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. 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!”
Israeli Foreign Minister Spokesman Yigil Palmor said that Israel is planning to free the crew and passengers.
“Nobody wants to keep them here. They will be released as soon as they are checked.”
McKinney can expect to be returned to the U.S. in about a day.
