I have to admit to a certain degree of hypocrisy by saying that if it were just about anyone besides 9/11 truther and terrorist sympathizing Cynthia McKinney involved in this incident, I might be upset. Interdicting a ship carrying medical supplies in war - especially the small amount of supplies they were taking to Gaza - was unnecessary. Let the world see who supports terrorists. Making an international incident out of the confrontation was a mistake.
That said, the idea that the Israeli naval patrol boat deliberately rammed the peace boat is probably untrue. I doubt whether the captain of that Israeli ship would have placed his vessel in deliberate danger as McKinney and the "peace" activists are claiming:
Palmor said there was no response to a radio warning to the Dignity, and the vessel then tried to out-maneuver the Israeli patrol boat, leading to the collision.
Cyprus state radio said the Cypriot government would seek explanations from Israel over the incident.
McKinney called on President-elect Obama to address the Gaza crisis, saying the weapons being used by Israel were supplied by the United States.
McKinney denied that the incident was an accident. “What the Israelis are saying is outright disinformation,” she said. “What happened to us last night was a direct threat to our mission, but not our cause.”
Palmor called those allegations “absurd.”
“There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody,” Palmor said.
In a press release, the Free Gaza movement stated, “Contrary to international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to Cyprus — despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do so.”
McKinney is a high-profile member of a boatload of activists that set sail Monday from Cyprus to deliver medicine to war-torn Gaza.
McKinney, who ran as the Green Party candidate for president, sees the voyage as a humanitarian mission, said her father, former Georgia state Rep. Billy McKinney.
“Her mother did not want her to go,” he said, referring to concerns at home for her safety. “But I think that certain people have missions in life and you can’t deter them.”
No doubt that McKinney's mission in life is to act like an idiot. She has done a fine job of accomplishing that both when she was in the US House of Representatives and running for president as a candidate for the Green Party.
But intercepting an unarmed ship in international waters carrying medical supplies is not a way to win friends and influence people. They could have at least waited until the ship was within the three mile territorial limit before intercepting them. Now the Israelis are seen as clearly in the wrong as they have violated long established laws of the sea as well as making too much of a deal out of one ship of terrorist sympathizers who are now running to their respective governments weeping about Israeli brutality.
In short, a bad trade off for Israel in the PR war.
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