Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, standing beside a damaged yacht in
the Lebanese seaport of Tyre, Tuesday accused the Israeli navy of ramming the vessel to halt the delivery of medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip.
"Our mission was a peaceful mission," McKinney told CNN. The recent Green Party candidate for U.S. president and frequent center of controversy is the most prominent political figure to join the relief voyages sponsored by the Free Gaza Movement.
McKinney was slated to travel by car to Beirut where she was expected to conducted media interviews and meet with Lebanese government officials, said Paul Larudee, a co-founder of the California-based Free Gaza group.
Larudee said the organization was determined to continue the relief mission, the sixth such trip to Gaza and the first to be interrupted.
"We're going to get it repaired," Larudee said of the "Dignity," the cabin cruiser which he said sustained some damage to the hull, the bridge and the engine room.
In a news release Tuesday afternoon, one of the 16-member mission, Caoimhe Butterfly offered a conflicting version. The Israeli gunboats "gave us no warning" and "rammed us three times," she said.
"We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives," she said of the early morning incident.
These brave souls should be on DEADLIEST CATCH. At least there I can understand it. In this case reckless stupidity, naively conceived ideas about right and wrong, and moronitude on display renders these people into caricature CLOWNS of the progressive self delusional.