Medea Benjamin, Robert Naiman: Jailed for Sailing to Gaza

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. They sailed from Turkey on November 2 with the knowledge that at any moment they might be boarded by Israeli commandos intent on stopping them, perhaps violently, as the Israeli military did in 2o10, when they killed nine humanitarian aid workers on the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara. The boats, one from Canada and one from Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia and Palestine. They were unarmed, and the Israeli military knew that. They were simply peace activists wanting to connect with civilians in Gaza, and the Israeli military knew that. Yet naked aggression was used on them in international waters, which is normally considered an act of "piracy". The passengers on the boats were sailing to Gaza to challenge the US supported Israeli blockade that is crippling the lives of 1.6 million Palestinians that live outside of the 1.6 million Palestinians that live inside Israel's pre-1967 borders or in the "occupied territories. They were sailing to stand up against the power of the Israeli government, that has been violating the basic rights of the 5.5 million Palestinians that live inside Israel's pre-1967 borders, or in the "occupied" Territories. They were sailing for those of us who believe in human rights, and the rule of law!