Israel

Captain Arrested by Greek Authorities as U.S. Boat to Gaza Attempts to Leave Athens

By Steven Thrasher Sat., Jul. 2 2011 at 10:54 AM
Categories: Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Steven Thrasher


The journey of The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat which was going to join an international flotilla attempting to break the blockade of Gaza this weekend, appears to have been very short lived. Not long after attempting to launch from Athens, the Hope's captain has been arrested by Greek authorities, according to the U.S. Boat to Gaza campaign. "Passengers remain on the ship in solidarity with the jailed captain and detained crew on boat," the campaign says, which also supplied the above dramatic video.

A similar flotilla last year resulted in the death of nine people, and a subsequent protest the next day in Israel led to Cooper Union student Emily Henochowicz losing an eye. The Hope launched today with both passengers who'd been part of last year's incident, like retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, as well as newcomers like The Color Purple novelist Alice Walker. Live tweets from the boat are  here and an audio feed from the boat (which seems to only be working in fits and starts) is here. 

sthrasher@villagevoice.com | @steven_thrasher


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markjsunz
markjsunz

I forgot about the s**t disturbor who lost an eye. For all you do good save the world types who will rush to the aid of a beached Whale by pushing away a metally ill homeless person Israel is in a state of war. You enter Israels terrriories with your right to protest you shold expect to get hurt or get killed. Maybe an IDF soldiers thinks you are going to detonate a gernade better to shoot first then ask questions later. You choose to do this what happens to you is no longer your business. You are an enemy combatant and will be dealt with as needed.

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Gee, so you're saying that if a bunch of people come to you, claiming an authority to do so that you don't recognize, you have a right to kill them? Can't think of any parallels to that, no sir.

Next time just break out the racial epithets instead of wearing out "enemy combatant". Please educate yourself, in all respects, before resuming internets.

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"A similar flotilla last year resulted in the death of nine people" -- gee, that's a passive way to put it. How about: "As a direct result of the protest, a large number of bullets became inside some people"?

jonolan
jonolan

How about mentioning the fact that the "activists" attacked the Israelis would boarded their vessel and the resulting battle between a small number of soldiers and the mob resulted in some deaths among the "activists" and some injuries among the Israelis.

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"This just in: Defenseless IDF soldiers were positively forced to zipline right into the middle of a boat in international waters today, resulting in the deaths of nine vile terrorists and--please brace yourself, this is disturbing news--several IDF boo boos."

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