U.S Congressman: Put American Aid Activists in Jail
To follow up on Phil’s disheartening post on the treatment of former U.S Ambassador Peck, who was one of a still- unknown number of Americans on the aid flotilla, the overall reaction to the abuse of our citizens has been strangely muted and flaccid — whether at the White House, Capitol Hill or in the corporate media. As the interviews start coming in through alternative sources, we hear so far that at least two Americans were beaten, and one female U.S military veteran, retired Col. Ann Wright, has first-hand knowledge of the physical attack on unarmed journalists and female activists around her on the ship Marmara. She told Democracy Now! yesterday that her fellow passengers were also stripped of their laptops, cameras, cell phones and the entirety of their luggage. After being “deported” from Israel, they were dumped in Jordan with the shirts on their backs. They found their luggage awaiting them — empty.
Yet instead of demanding an accounting — you know, like Turkey is doing for its own citizens — we have elected leaders trying to put Americans on that flotilla in jail.
On a press call hosted by a pro-Israel organization, Rep. Brad Sherman, Democrat of California, told reporters that he intends seek the prosecution of any U.S. citizens who were aboard or involved with the Freedom Flotilla.
“The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 [PDF] makes it absolutely illegal for any American to give food, money, school supplies, paper clips, concrete or weapons to Hamas or any of its officials,” Sherman said on the Israel Project call, conflating Hamas and Gaza’s civilian population. “And so I will be asking the Attorney General to prosecute any American involved in what was clearly an effort to give items of value to a terrorist organization.”
Sherman also said that he plans on working with the Department of Homeland Security to make sure that any non-U.S. citizen involved with or aboard the Flotilla are excluded from entering the U.S ….
The Congressman, known as a pro-Israel stalwart who has, in the past, joined as the sole Democrat on Republican criticisms of Obama’s foreign policy toward Israel, denied that there was a “hunger crisis” or “humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip. “The health circumstances in Gaza are better than they are in many American cities,” he added later.
Questions about the legality of the Israeli blockade and its enforcement in international waters were quickly dismissed by Sherman, who said that the U.S. had itself blockaded Germany in both World Wars, Japan in the Second, Cuba during the missile crisis, and, curiously, the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Sherman can kiss his Congressional seat goodbye. This event has stirred the ire of both D’s and R’s.
Our elected government officials are afraid of Israel, they will not speak out against the tyrannical zealots who makeup the Israeli coailition government,,,,,, yet they speakout against our own congress/executive/judicial….
I want to know who the religious zealots running Israel are,,,, the only difference between a muslim fanatic and a Jewish fanatic,,, is the make beleive god they cherish
Perhaps our gutless pols (and media) should take a lead from the Irish Foreign Minister, Michael Martin. Earlier this week he summoned the Israeli ambassador to his office, and before dismissing him 5 minutes later, told him that if any Irish citizen was harmed, or any Irish property damaged or stolen by the Israelis, he would move to have any Israelis involved who could be identified, and their military or political masters, made the subject of International Arrest (Pinochet) Warrants.
The ambassador, media commentators outside Martin’s office observed, appeared shaken and ashen-faced after his brief dressing-down.
I sense that, in spite of Israel’s North Korean size armed forces may find the feisty Irish a rather tougher nut diplomatically than the people whom they are more used to kicking around.
The Irish may also be onto something here as a way of dealing with the Israelis and the other unpleasant third world despotisms and tribal thugocracies. Their elites like to be able to travel to Europe. Confine ‘em to base and leave them cowering there. Talking sweet and giving them billions of our tax-dollars sure ain’t working in the interests of the US.
Incidentally, the best our supine media could manage in the aftermath of an act of armed piracy on the high seas which left 9 persons dead (including one American – all going about their lawful business) for resisting the thugs who were attempting to deprive them of their liberty, was that it was “counterproductive” and a “PR disarter for Israel”. What happened to the words “wrong” and “crime”. Israel seems to be the only foreign country which can murder US citizens with apparant impunity.
peterwise wrote:
“Israel seems to be the only foreign country which can murder US citizens with apparant impunity.”
Yeah this is the thing I can’t get over. Seems a dispiriting click of the ratchet in the wrong direction. All the supposed uber-patriots out there, and unlike with the USS Liberty there’s not even any pretense that any mistakes were made. Just that an American in int’l waters was blown away, period, with what can even seem a “confirming” shot to the head, and yet where’s even the flag-waving “honor” pimps on the RIght about this? Granted, from what I’ve seen the MSM hasn’t exactly highlighted that an American was killed, but the stock-in-trade of so many of those pimps has precisely *been* that the MSM is hopelessly engaged in “managing” our news and omitting things we ought to hear.
All’s one can hope I guess is that under the surface it’s causing the audience for those uber-patriots to start to see how their heros have gone so wrong given that they are now even willing to wink at the killing of our fellow citizens.
Would make an interesting article in TAC about how this killing has been handled—if at all—by the likes of the Republican Party, Palin, Limbaugh, and etc., etc. Again my distinct sense is at worst some have even somewhat gloated over it, and at best there’s been a distinct embarrassed ignoring of same.
As americans we can expect little in the way of condemnation from our elected representatives. Our politicians have always had a ‘hands off’ attitude towards Israel. Except for american, taxpayers dollars. Even if it means losing american lives. As for the liberal media, one could expect nothing less.
@peterwise:
Do you have sources/links for the reports about Martin’s encounter with the ambassador, please? I hadn’t heard about that, and would love to share it around. Thanks.
@ paul;
Actually, Muslims and Jews believe in the same God.
One pictures an ambulance with an urgent cardiac patient on the gurney, and the driver on the way to the hospital stops to rob a convenience store.
Headline would read, “Evil cops wish to arrest angel hospital worker for transporting heart patient.”
If humanitarisn aid were the point, then why complicate delivery by taking time to attempt to run a blockade? Nobody seems to be disputing the fact that these ships were preparing to attack the blockade. Everyone on this blog wants to ignore the fact that if they had waited until the ships were closer to Gaza, more people would probably have been hurt, as small boats full of Gaza “civilians” went out to meet the ships.
Dick Morris said (paraphrasing), “If Gaza drops it’s weapons, there will be peace. If Israel drops it’s weapons, it will cease to exist.”
I agree with PJB. Let Isreal cease ALL hostilities, and the blockade (but to inject common sense, that would come 90 days AFTER Hamas removed it’s statement that Israel must be destroyed, and 90 days AFTER the last offensive rocket was fired at Israeli civilians and children).
I AM in favor of discontinuing “overseas aid” until the US gets it’s financial house in order, and can afford to take from taxpayers to make politician’s deals around the world. Let’s stop sending money to Palestine, Gaza, and Israel (and eslewhere).
LOL @ peterwise (paraphrasing) “Ireland threatens to attack Israel internationally if any Irish citizen is killed attacking Israel, as we condemn Israeli attacks on it’s enemies internationally as Israeli citizens HAVE been killed…”
Quack.
I see everything is one sided on this site, maybe your people should watch the videos of ax and knife using , pipe swinging assholes that started the shit that went down, put all the assholes in jail.
“The health circumstances in Gaza are better than they are in many American cities,” he added later.
You know, he’s probably right about that. But only because the health circumstances in some US cities are literally worse than 3rd-world refugee-camp conditions.
Mississippi started looking at rural Iranian villages for tips on improving its healthcare outcomes. Let’s hope they find some useful advice from friendly Iranian citizens. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4bai_a5mpTNgaoQLral0iUSh7wQD9G3CCP80
Brian Nichols, on June 6th, 2010 at 2:08 pm Said:
I see everything is one sided on this site, maybe your people should watch the videos of ax and knife using , pipe swinging assholes that started the shit that went down, put all the assholes in jail.
Hey Brian, I found you another site with some information on it, but you might not like it, since it might not be “two-sided” enough for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters
Commandos boarding a legally-registered ship on the open seas, even if they don’t use lethal force at first (and that assertion is debatable), are committing an act of war. The axe-swingers, however much you might dislike them (and they may in fact be scoundrels) were acting in self-defense in response to an illegal action.
Also, foul language tends to be a last-ditch rhetorical technique for people who know they can’t make a decent case for the thing they want to support.
It’s been pointed out by others that the weapons of the flotilla which included slingshots against Israeli weapons like bullets loaded in guns did 2 things:
Showed the Palestinian/Israeli conflict on a small enough scale that anybody can instantly grasp it finally.
Conjures up the nature of the conflict, which is David versus Goliath, and Israel is no David.
I’ve oftened wondered just what happens to those politicians when they take those Israel “familiarization” trips. I suspect they come back with a video reminder of their trip to the wild side of Tel Aviv. Just how do a few control so many so well.
[...] U.S Congressman: Put American Aid Activists in Jail [...]
Looks like Mr Sherman is under considerable pressure from israel. It seems the global reaction to israel’s barbaric and criminal treatment of peace activist is gathering steam. Israel has just introduced a bill that would criminalize all boycotts, divestments, and sanction activies against israel, even foreign groups.
How can the state of israel, which is smaller than the state of New Jersey with no strategic value, have so much power over Mr Sherman?
Keep up the boycotts on all israel products. Hint: look for the bar code “0729″ and keep it on the shelf.