Apparently trying to channel the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney penned a "Letter from an Israeli Jail" over the weekend — after she and 20 other activists from the "Free Gaza" movement were arrested by Israel for attempting to break the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. (McKinney returned to the U.S. on Tuesday.)
McKinney makes her feelings about Israel clear, calling its operation in Lebanon "full-scale outright genocide" and saying Israel has not only "lost its last shred of legitimacy, but Israel must be declared a failed state" if it is threatened by McKinney and her desire to bring Gazan children crayons.
"I am facing deportation from the state that brought me here at gunpoint after commandeering our boat. I was brought to Israel against my will. I am being held in this prison because I had a dream that Gaza’s children could color & paint, that Gaza’s wounded could be healed, and that Gaza’s bombed-out houses could be rebuilt," she writes.
She then goes on to claim that her cellmates — most of whom she says were Ethiopian — were "tricked" by the "marketing campaign" of Israel.
Israel says McKinney and her fellow activists were engaging in a "reckless political stunt" by choosing to disregard the law by entering restricted waters instead of utilizing available and legal means on the ground to deliver its aid. Israel has also said it will deliver the aid that McKinney’s group was carrying.
