BREAKING: MV Rachel Corrie approached rapidly by Israeli navy

[Whaler]

http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/06/bre ... raeli-nav/

I was interviewing Mairead Maguire, Irish Nobel Peace Laureate, when the MV Rachel Corrie was rapidly approached by the Israeli Navy, 65 miles from Gaza. We ended the call to keep the line clear. Hopefully the whole world really is watching.

[Whaler]

http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/

Just spoke with Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM). FGM received direct communication with the boat within the past half hour. Approaching from the south along the Egyptian coast, but outside Egyptian waters it was about 35 miles from Gaza. It was being trailed by two Israeli warships and an fast boat was also approaching it quickly.

[Whaler]

http://twitter.com/freegazaorg

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23flotilla

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23rachelcorrie

[Whaler]

OFFICIAL***THEY ARE TRYING TO BOARD THE VESSEL****OFFICIAL

http://twitter.com/Waterfordsgroup

[Whaler]

Watch Live Stream of Rachel Corrie Ship Here

http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/bl ... e=activity

[Whaler]

RT @PGPOrg: Israeli Radio reporting that all satellite signals have been jammed by the Israeli authorities.
http://twitter.com/Mondoweiss


Confirmed*** SIGNALS ARE JAMMED****Confirmed.
http://twitter.com/Waterfordsgroup

[Whaler]

http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/06/bre ... raeli-nav/

I was interviewing Mairead Maguire, Irish Nobel Peace Laureate, when the MV Rachel Corrie was rapidly approached by the Israeli Navy, 65 miles from Gaza. We ended the call to keep the line clear. Hopefully the whole world really is watching.

[mp3:1l4f2zfn]http://theonlydemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Mariead-Mcguire.mp3[/mp3:1l4f2zfn]

theonlydemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Mariead-Mcguire.mp3

[Whaler]

No struggle or injuries, but the Rachel Corrie has been captured. Communications jammed. Report from Irish radio

http://twitter.com/freegazaorg

NOT CONFIRMED

[Whaler]

Irish people are continuing to blockade the Israeli embassy in Dublin

http://news.ie.msn.com/article.aspx?cp- ... =153647255

About 50 people are continuing to blockade the Israeli embassy in Dublin today in protest at Israel's policies on Gaza.

Members of the Irish Anti-war Movement gathered outside the embassy on Pembroke Road in Ballsbridge last night following a protest and have remained there in an attempt to keep the building closed for the day. The embassy generally closes at lunchtime on Friday.

Richard Boyd Barrett, chair of the movement, said they had undertaken the protest to highlight the "continued inhuman blockade" of Gaza.

"The international community must act now and impose sanctions on Israel. We are calling on the Irish government to break diplomatic ties with Israel now and expel the Israeli ambassador until the siege of Gaza is lifted," he said.

Mr Boyd Barrett, a People Before Profit councillor for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, said no security staff or officials had arrived at the embassy today. "It looks as if they won't try to get in while we're here." He said the protest would wind down in the coming hours and deemed it a success.

Calls to the embassy's reception and press office this morning were not answered.

Mr Boyd Barrett said the protest may resume if the passage of the aid ship MV Rachel Corrie to Gaza was interfered with.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign affairs said the Israeli embassy had been in contact today and that their concerns were passed on to An Garda Síochána.

A Garda spokesman said the protests were peaceful, no arrests had been made and that the situation was being monitored.

[Whaler]

Only reliable info on #RachelCorrie is that Israeli ships wr shadowing. Not definitive it has bn boarded. Waiting.


No contact yet between #RachelCorrie and the Israeli navy according to Shamsoul Kamal in a phone call with @AJArabic

http://twitter.com/Mondoweiss


Mondoweiss
 
RT @IDFSpokesperson: The IDF has not yet made contact with the new ships attempting to breach the naval blockade in Gaza. #Flotilla

 Mondoweiss
 
Just passing along what @IDFSpokesperson tweeted, we clearly have our doubts whether it's accurate.

[Whaler]

WRH_Mike_Rivero  http://twitter.com/WRH_Mike_Rivero
Israel just arrested Nobel Peace Laureate 2 prevent her from giving Gaza aid!


Rachel Corrie' boarded, no one hurt.

http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=177525


Mondoweiss
 
RT @jmalsin: Just off the phone with Greta Berlin: "We are on the phone with passengers; they have not been boarded"


Mondoweiss
 
RT @freegazaorg: No contact with the Israeli navy who has not contacted them at all. Ship proceeding toward Gaza.


Mondoweiss
 
RT @freegazaorg: SKY NEWS reports they talked to passengers just now. They have NOT been boarded and are on their way to Gaza.

[Whaler]

Mondoweiss
 
Dewey beats Truman? RT @FlotillaGo: Check ths vid out -- israeli Forces Seize New Gaza Aid Ship - Rachel Corrie http://bit.ly/9jXE4u


[youtube:m94q8oxg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrycaoGllWg[/youtube]m94q8oxg]

[Whaler]

Trying to contact passengers on dedicated phone. No answer from them.
http://twitter.com/FreeGazaorg

[Whaler]

Israel tailing new Gaza aid ship

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/midd ... 54213.html

Israeli war ships are "shadowing" a Malaysian-funded Irish aid ship headed towards Gaza, activists on board have said.

The MV Rachel Corrie's radar was reportedly jammed as the ship sailed closer to restricted waters off the Gaza Strip early on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the campaign group supporting the ship said.

Activists aboard Rachel Corrie are attempting to break the siege of Gaza imposed by Israel, five days after Israeli troops violently intercepted a flotilla of aid ships carrying humanitarian aid for the territory, killing nine activists.

Shortly after 5am Israel time, Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza movement that sent the 1,200-tonne Rachel Corrie said the ship was 56km from Gaza's shores.

"There were two warships in the back of them ... and a smaller boat was approaching," Berlin said from the movement's headquarters in Cyprus, citing a passenger on board.

The Malaysian-funded ship is carrying 11 activists, including Mairead Corrigan, a Nobel Peace laureate, Denis Halliday, an Irish former senior official at the United Nations, and eight crew members.

The activists say they are determined to continue sailing to Gaza with their cargo of medical and construction supplies.

But Israel says it will not allow the ship into Gaza, and has urged it to sail to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Those on the ship have said they will offer no resistance if Israeli forces decide to board the vessel.

The Rachel Corrie is funded by Perdana Global Peace Organisation, a Malaysian non-governmental organisation headed by Mahathir Mohamad, the country's former prime minister.


Meanwhile in Washington the US said Israel's blockade on Gaza was unsustainable and urged Rachel Corrie to divert to an Israeli port to reduce the risk of violence.

"We are working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and other international partners to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistance to Gaza," Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said.

"The current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed. For now, we call on all parties to join us in encouraging responsible decisions by all sides to avoid any unnecessary confrontations," Hammer said in a statement.

"It remains a US priority to provide assistance to the people of Gaza," Hammer said.

"In the interest of the safety of all involved, and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza, we strongly encourage those on board the Rachel Corrie and other vessels to sail to Ashdod to deliver their materials to Gaza," Hammer said, referring to the Israeli port.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Activists deny Israel navy boarded Gaza bound aid ship 'Rachel Corrie'
http://www.haaretz.com/

[Ahmed]

Armed Israelis hi-jack Gaza aid vessel, crew on board taken hostage, media blackout imposed.

The good ship 'Rachel Corrie' is being taken to the port of Ashod pending further notice.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri echoed international sentiments and described Israel's attack as "piracy and terror".







"If this hostility, even aversion, had only been shown towards the Jews at one period and in one country, it would be easy to unravel the limited causes of this anger, but this race has been on the contrary an object of hatred to all the peoples among whom it has established itself. It must be therefore, since the enemies of the Jews belonged to the most diverse races, since they lived in countries very distant from each other, since they were ruled by very different laws, governed by opposite principles, since they had neither the same morals, nor the same customs, since they were animated by unlike dispositions which did not permit them to judge of anything in the some way, it must be therefore that the general cause of anti-Semitism has always resided in Israel itself and not in those who have fought against Israel."

Bernard Lazare, 'L'antisémitisme son histoire et ses causes'.