State Department Officials Have an Obligation to Speak Out
Against Israeli Threats to Attack U.S. Boat to Gaza
Athens, June 24, 2011 – U.S. peace activists preparing to set sail on the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope, expressed profound disappointment over a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Instead of calling on the Israeli government to let a flotilla of unarmed civilians sail to Gaza, the United States government is pressuring its own citizens to refrain from legal acts[...]
We started out this morning with a political briefing from our intrepid retired Colonel Ann Wright, who has been busting her butt on this project for the past year! Ann told us that the Greek Foreign Ministry came out with a statement that the flotilla is “not helpful” and encouraged Greek citizens as well as [...]
It’s nice that we now start out our training sessions with song. I love how it changes the energy in the room and puts a smile on our faces. Instead of doing our training at the hotel, where the room is cramped, we went to a gym nearby. It was actually a boxing workout room, [...]
We started the day with a media training where we broke into groups and practiced answering some of the hardest media questions. Many of them involved the issue of Hamas (we don't support any party; we don't support the targeting of civilians; we are doing this to support the civilian population, most of whom are under 18); others were questions about why we were willing to put ourselves at risk to go on the boat. People spoke from the heart about their reasons for going, which is quite compelling. Many have been to the West Bank and/or Gaza and seen the abuses by the Israeli military firsthand. Others are Jewish and feel a particular responsibility. Almost 30% of the group is Jewish, which is amazing given that Jews are less than 2 % of the U.S. population![...]
Just arrived in Athens tonight. We had an orientation meeting at 8pm at our hotel. It was so exciting to be in a room with such terrific people. Some are amazing support people who are helping to pull everything together; others are the passengers who have all made a commitment to take this risk. We went around the room saying how we felt. Scared. Excited. Honored. Energized (me). Hopeful. Col. Ann Wright gave us a political orientation, including some of the pressure that has been put on the Turkish and Greek governments by the Israelis, and about the difficult situation Greece is going through financially (and how that makes Greece more vulnerable to pressure)[...]
by Medea Benjamin “I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him,” said Dr. Martin Luther King as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. These words will guide me and other passengers aboard the Gaza [...]
Saturday, June 25, 2011
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