In a telephone message posted on YouTube, Cynthia McKinney and eighteen others have been imprisoned in Israel because of a humanitarian mission in Gaza.
In a telephone interview with WBAIX posted online, former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is imprisoned in an Israeli jail. Ms. McKinney as well as eighteen others are jailed and were arrested for trying to run through a blockade to deliver supplies to Gaza.
The former 2008 Green Party Presidential Candidate said in her statement that was posted on YouTube, “The Israelis hijacked us because we wanted to give crayons to the children of Gaza.”
Cynthia McKinney and others, part of the Free Gaza Movement, left Cyprus on Tuesday on a Greek-registered ship Arion. Their ship was stopped when they tried to pass through Israel’s Navy security blockade at Ashdod. The ship was seized and the members of the movement were taken into custody.
Billy McKinney, her father and former state legislator, said, “[my daughter] was only trying to show the devastation in Gaza… Anybody who has a humanitarian spirit would not want to see those people live in those conditions.”
Civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, head of the Atlanta-based coalition for the People’s Agenda, spoke to the Consulate General of Israel was told that Ms. McKinney was receiving “VIP treatment” and that there has been no harm whatsoever to her and others in the movement. Rev. Lowery further added, “She was not carry munitions, but medicine. We hope Israel will show compassion and release her and let her go on to deliver the much-needed medicine to the Gaza Strip. … If she were carrying guns, that would be a different thing. [But] she was carrying humanitarian aid.”
However, Israeli officials blame McKinney and her group for the recent controversy by saying that she was looking for trouble to attract the publicity. The officials also concur that the blockade was an agreement between Palestine and Israel to prevent arms smuggling in the region.
Leola McKinney said that her daughter sounded okay when she spoke to her over the phone, “It’s just the stress of being there. I’m anxious and concerned because, until she gets back on U.S. soil, I won’t be contented. I really don’t know what she’s going through over there.”
