By now you are aware that the 27 passengers and crew on the Saoirse and the Tahrir have been kidnapped by Israeli forces and taken to Givon prison. They will be held there at least overnight if not longer. Please take these actions immediately and pass this on to your lists and contacts:
- Organize support actions in your local area if possible. If you email the info to bio190d@gmail.com (our webmaster) we will post it to the “Support Actions” page of the US to Gaza website.
- Check these websites for updates: Irish Ship to Gaza and Canadian Boat to Gaza, watch or listen to Democracy Now for live coverage and check their archives for coverage from the boats themselves. Search tweets using hashtag #Freedomwaves.
- Call the State Department and the White House- demand that they take immediate action to free the passengers and the boats and to put an end to the siege of Gaza.
Call the State Department:
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 202-647-5291
- U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro 011-972-3-519-7575
- Office of Israel/Palestinian Affairs Paul Sutphin 202-647-3672
- Office of Consular Affairs, Kim Richter 202-647-8308
- and the White House: 202-456-1414
- email President Obama at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Here are some talking points or suggested messaging:
Gaza has been under siege since mid-2006, depriving 1.6 million people of their liberty and basic human rights. Although the siege has been condemned by the United Nations, the Red Cross, and many national governments, nothing has been done to ease the plight of these civilians. Civil society has had to act where governments would not. Two ships with 27 passengers from 5 countries sailed to Gaza to confront the Israeli naval blockade, and to bring medical supplies and letters of support. They were seized in international waters by Israeli gunboats, and the passengers kidnapped and taken to Israeli prisons.
As Americans we insist that our government (which sends Israel $3 billion in military aid every year), demands that Israel immediately free the kidnapped passengers and boats and ends its illegal blockade of Gaza. There is absolutely no excuse to subject 1.6 million people to collective punishment. Ask your local press to cover this story. Up-to-date information and press releases will be available at www.ustogaza.org, www.irishshiptogaza.org and www.tahrir.ca