Gaza Relief Boat Damaged in Encounter with Israeli Naval Vessel

by Blue Crush | December 30, 2008 at 10:51 am

603 views | 62 Recommendations | 17 comments

An Israeli navel vessel rammed a boat carrying medical volunteers, relief supplies and journalists to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel denies intentionally hitting it, although The Dignity's crew insists they did.

CNN Correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot, Gibraltar-registered pleasure boat Dignity when the contact occurred. When the boat later docked in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, severe damage was visible to the forward port side of the boat, and the front left window and part of the roof had collapsed.

The Dignity was carrying crew and 16 passengers -- physicians from Britain, Germany and Cyprus and human rights activists, including former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney -- who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said there was no response to a radio message warning them not to proceed to Gaza because it was a closed military area.

Penhaul said at least two Israeli patrol boats had shadowed the Dignity for about half an hour before the collision, moving around the vessel on all sides. One of the patrol boats then shined its spotlight on the Dignity while the other, with its lights off, "very severely rammed" the boat.

The captain of the Dignity told Penhaul he received no priror warning. Only after the collision did the Israelis come on the radio saying they struck the boat because they believed it to be involved in terrorist activities.

The captain and crew said their vessel was struck intentionally, Penhaul said, but Palmor called those allegations "absurd."

"There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody," Palmor said.

"I would call it ramming. Let's just call it as it is," McKinney said. "Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side. Watch Cynthia McKinney discuss the collision »

"Our mission was a peaceful mission to deliver medical supplies and our mission was thwarted by the Israelis - the aggressiveness of the Israeli military," said McKinney.

The incident occurred in international waters about 90 miles off Gaza. Israel controls the waters off Gaza's coast and routinely blocks ships from coming into the Palestinian territory as part of an ongoing blockade that also applies to the Israel-Gaza border. Human rights groups have expressed concern about the blockade on Gaza, which has restricted the delivery of emergency aid and fuel supplies.

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politisite

at 15:03 on December 31st, 2008

Why would McKinney be on Board? Free GAZA planned a stunt to draw attention and provoke an incident. Of all the passengers she had little or now skills for the trip. They asked for no clearance or alerted the authorities of their wishes. You don't think our CG doesn't question Vessels 90 miles off our shores? Will they send a shot across a bow if not acknowledged? Will they ram if not complied with? Our CG does this every day. The CNNi and Al Jezeera reporters were on board to provide one thing. Propaganda for Anti-Semitics.

One only needs to read the Manifest of the Boat and do a bit of research to see.

A group calling itself "Free Gaza" set sail from Cyprus Monday evening on boat dubbed the "SS DIGNITY," a 66-foot yacht carrying 3.5 tons of Cypriot-donated medical supplies and 16 radical activists, including recent Green Party presidential candidate McKinney. In the wee hours of this morning, Israelis diverted the boat en route to Gaza. Reuters reports that the activists claim the yacht "was rammed and shot at," though Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, denies any shooting took place. He adds that the DIGNITY failed to respond to Israeli radio contact, provoking the confrontation.

early this morning, the Olmert government denied an international collection of far-leftists - including former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, radicals who support suicide bombers, multiple Al Jazeera "journalists," and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee - the opportunity to deliver supplies to the terrorist stronghold of Gaza.

Just to be clear, The same ship made a run in November, was approached, contacted by radio, the crew answered and were given free passage. Why would a relief boat go into hostile waters at NIGHT!

truthcaster

at 13:27 on December 30th, 2008

Are these the same people we cried for when we see images of the holocaust?

For shame.

politisite

at 14:46 on December 30th, 2008

Good Job, I just got a confirm from my radio traffic last night. I will delete me story

eyewistness (not verified)

at 17:34 on December 30th, 2008

Why Isreal is reacting this way? are they feeling the hit of international community in their nek.? hopeless war criminals- just get ready fro crime against humanity

matte

at 18:32 on December 30th, 2008

why not? Are not the Palestinians being subjected to a slow death by an oppressive regime?

Not forgetting that Israel is the invading force since 1948.

Barbara McPherson

at 18:53 on December 30th, 2008

It's just getting worse and worse. Nobody has clean hands here.

wbsfr8 (not verified)

at 05:15 on December 31st, 2008

~ why should Israel let these radical activists in? They say they're transporting medical and humanitarian aid, but who really knows? - and why should this faux nation of terrorists be given any aid whatsoever anyway? Israel has bent over backwards for these terrorists and what has it gotten them? Bombs cast at them during a cease-fire aimed at schools, hospitals and the general populace, even Hussian Obama has defended Israel's reaction to these terrorist acts.

Israel is waging a struggle, but this struggle is not Israel’s alone. Israel is standing on the frontlines of the Western world’s war against terror, and we expect support for doing the right thing and fighting the war of the entire free world.

"It is true: the pictures broadcast on television all over the world are provoking harsh public opinion against Israel. Unfortunately, some of the world’s decision makers are swayed by public opinion and the media, even though they know what is true and what is not, and how they would act in a similar situation.

yippie_revival (not verified)

at 15:58 on December 31st, 2008

on the other hand, let these racist, white supremacist, zionist comments stand, just so the world knows, eh?

poor oligarch (not verified)

at 12:00 on December 30th, 2008

If this happened as reported in International Waters it wil be interesting to read the report the English captain of this Gibraltan-registered motor yacht will be required to file. If indeed he was approached from both sides he would have had little room for manouvre to take any avoiding action.

Emilio Lizardo

at 13:18 on December 30th, 2008

Out of 535 members of Congress, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was the first to break the consensus of silence and point to the obvious - that the Bush administration had received advance warnings of an attack, and that this called for a full investigation, without limitson what line of questioning is acceptable. After saying so in March, she was vilified without mercy in the press, until it became clear that many more people were believing her and supporting her than the pundits and spin managers imagined.

Cynthia McKinney prevented from leaving US
Today, November 23rd, I was slated to give remarks in Damascus, Syria at a Conference being held to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, sadly, the 60th year that the Palestinian people have been denied their Right of Return enshrined in that Universal Declaration. But a funny thing happened to me while at the Atlanta airport on my way to the Conference: I was not allowed to exit the country.

photohappi

at 13:30 on December 30th, 2008

Demonstration in downtown Chicago on Dec. 28th

photohappi has contributed a photo to this story.

poor oligarch (not verified)

at 15:44 on December 30th, 2008

Uncorroborated allegations that the Israeli Navy vessels fired shots around the motor yacht Dignity prior to the ramming, plus full passenger list details and mission statement, vessel searched on their own request prior to departing Cyprus.

dunkelberg

at 16:13 on December 30th, 2008

The two can, and should not, be compared.

harry ormond

at 15:52 on December 31st, 2008

Hi wbsfr8

To quoat you "who really knows" well dude I know, I was on the second trip with them. A better more kind hearted bunch of people you could not ask to meet. The contents of the boat were checked and certified by the port authorities in Cyprus before each and every voyage.

Heritage

at 09:52 on January 1st, 2009

Dunkelberg,

I respectfully disagree with you on this. "The Holocaust" was a form of genocide. A massive crime against humanity. What is occurring now is also a form of genocide. A holocaust.

18 months ago Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, wrote of his pain as he was "compelled to portray the ongoing and intensifying abuse of the Palestinian people by Israel through a reliance on such an inflammatory metaphor as 'holocaust.'

Slouching Toward A Palestinian Holocaust

07 July, 2007

...Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity? I think not. The recent developments in Gaza are especially disturbing because they express so vividly a deliberate intention on the part of Israel and its allies to subject an entire human community to life-endangering conditions of utmost cruelty. The suggestion that this pattern of conduct is a holocaust-in-the-making represents a rather desperate appeal to the governments of the world and to international public opinion to act urgently to prevent these current genocidal tendencies from culminating in a collective tragedy. If ever the ethos of 'a responsibility to protect,' recently adopted by the UN Security Council as the basis of 'humanitarian intervention' is applicable, it would be to act now to start protecting the people of Gaza from further pain and suffering.

Unfortunately, the genocidal tendencies have now culminated in a massive crime against humanity. A modern day holocaust, fuelled with US tax dollars.

The two can, and must be compared. Lets learn from the horrors of the past.

Respectfully,

Heritage