AMP condemns Israel’s attack on Jewish Boat to Gaza

The American Muslims for Palestine stand in solidarity with the nine passengers of the Jewish Boat to Gaza that Israel forcefully commandeered today. The Israeli Navy arrested all nine passengers aboard and blocked the ship’s entry into Gaza.

AMP urges followers to support next US Boat to Gaza

(CHICAGO 09/28/2010) - The American Muslims for Palestine stand in solidarity with the nine passengers of the Jewish Boat to Gaza that Israel forcefully commandeered today. The Israeli Navy arrested all nine passengers aboard and blocked the ship’s entry into Gaza.

The Jewish Boat to Gaza was the latest effort to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza by sea. Contrary to a statement put out by the propaganda arm of the Israeli military that said the boat was boarded peacefully, passengers told of being hit, attacked with taser stun guns and otherwise harassed. These statements were cooberated by an embedded journalist from Israel Channel 10, according to Haaretz.  The boat was flying under the British flag and contained citizens of Great Britain, the United States, Germany and Israel.

Organizers launched the boat “to protest against and challenge the continuing blockade of Gaza, on the basis that it constitutes an illegal, collective punishment of the whole population and is a grossly immoral act,” according to its website, jewishboatotgaza.org.

AMP condemns the continuing Israeli aggression in the strongest possible terms and urges its supporters to keep continued pressure Israel to life the siege on Gaza by supporting the next US Boat to Gaza.

Social justice activists have been trying to break the siege of Gaza by sea since the Free Gaza Movement first launched two vessels in 2008. Since then, the movement has continued to grow stronger. This past spring, the largest flotilla to date, comprised of nine vessels, came under Israeli military attack. Nine passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara  – including one American citizen –were killed.

AMP urges supporters to combat Israel’s continued aggression by fully and strongly supporting the next US Boat to Gaza (hyperlink: ustogaza.org), scheduled to set sail later this year. The next fundraisers are scheduled in October in Chicago and Boston. For more information, click here (http://ustogaza.org/events/).

“Israel’s brutality against the innocent humanitarian volunteers of last spring’s Freedom Flotilla, in which nine unarmed, innocent people were killed, woke up the world to Israel’s unjust, inhumane and illegal siege on Gaza. It is paramount that we keep this worldwide momentum up and support the next humanitarian ship due to set sail later this year,” said Dr. Hatem Bazian, AMP chairman and professor of Near East and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Israeli soldier turned peace activist Itamar Shapira is among the eight Jewish activists on board the Irene [AFP]