Jailed for Sailing to Gaza, Challenging the Blockade

Two boats full of courageous passengers were on their way to Gaza when they were intercepted on Friday, November 4, by the Israeli military in international waters. We call the passengers courageous because they sailed from Turkey on November 2 with the knowledge that at any moment they might be boarded by Israeli commandos intent … Continue reading “Jailed for Sailing to Gaza, Challenging the Blockade”

Baksheesh for the Doorkeeper

A riddle: Which fleet did not reach its destination but fulfilled its mission? Well, it’s this year’s Gaza solidarity flotilla. It could be said, of course, that last year’s “little fleet” — that’s what the word means in Spanish, much as “guerrilla” means “little war” —  is also a reasonable candidate. It never reached Gaza, … Continue reading “Baksheesh for the Doorkeeper”

Neocons Fume Over US Boat to Gaza

My co-passengers and I of the U.S. boat to Gaza have now gone from “High-Seas Hippies,” according to the right-wing Washington Times, to participants in a flotilla full of “fools, knaves, hypocrites, bigots, and supporters of terrorism,” says Alan Dershowitz in his usual measured prose. Poor Alan, he seems upset at our audacity not only … Continue reading “Neocons Fume Over US Boat to Gaza”

‘Flytilla’ Debacle Another PR Nightmare For Israel

BEN GURION AIRPORT, Tel Aviv — Confused foreign tourists arriving at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Friday would be forgiven for thinking that a terrorist attack was about to take place. Hundreds of armed Israeli soldiers and police spread throughout the airport as Israeli police surrounded six Israeli pro-Palestinian peace activists who were arrested … Continue reading “‘Flytilla’ Debacle Another PR Nightmare For Israel”

By Torpedoing the Gaza Flotilla, Israel Sank Its Own Ship

Instead of high-fiving each other for their success in thwarting the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Israeli officials should be throwing overboard the propaganda hacks who catapulted the flotilla into headline news for weeks and left Israel smelling like rotten fish. Last year, when the Israeli military killed nine aboard the Turkish ship, the incident made waves … Continue reading “By Torpedoing the Gaza Flotilla, Israel Sank Its Own Ship”

Start of the Season

It looked like a scene from an opera.  Massed in the doorway and second floor balconies of a quaint building in Athens, facing a magnificent view of the Parthenon, Spanish activists hung banners and flashed peace signs and proclaimed that they wouldn’t leave the building, the Embassy of Spain, until their government assured them that … Continue reading “Start of the Season”

A July Fourth Shame on the Founders

Yes, that was I standing before the U.S. Embassy in Athens on the eve of the July Fourth weekend holding the American flag in the distress mode — upside down. Indignities experienced by me and my co-guests on The Audacity of Hope, the American boat to Gaza, over the past 10 days in Athens leave … Continue reading “A July Fourth Shame on the Founders”