Friday, August 1, 2008
Say, maybe there's something to the International Solidarity Movement's worry about the government interfering with their little Gaza boat expedition after all:
The Israeli civil rights group, Shurat HaDin, has sent an urgent letter to United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey, warning him that the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and others, have conspired to violate the U.S. Neutrality Act, 18 U.S.C. section 960, in their efforts to organize a boatlift to the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip.
In the letter sent by Shurat HaDin director, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, it is alleged that the organizers of the "Gaza Ship" illegally solicited and raised donations in California to fund the purchase of several boats, which they plan to sail into Gaza on August 5th. The boats are reportedly set to travel from Greece with ISM members on August 1st.
Since the Hamas terrorist organization seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Israel has initiated a blockade to prevent the smuggling of illegal weapons to the terrorists. The letter expresses concern that the boats will be carrying weapons, explosives and other contraband to Hamas officials...
The press release goes on to quote the relevant portion of the Neutrality Act. It all seems to assign a bit more importance to these freakazoids than they deserve, but who knows. I'd rather find out they got named as terror sponsors than they got their boat trip ruined. Then again, you could probably make an argument their every day operations violate the act anyway.
