FLASHPOINTS

With a bloody raid on the “Freedom Flotilla,” Israel has demonstrated, once again, its willingness to kill innocents in order to sustain its punishing blockade on the Gaza strip, even when doing so raises more and more questions about nuclear-armed Israel’s national sanity.

Scholar Norman Finkelstein, author of a new book on Israel’s 2008-09 assault on Gaza entitled “This Time We’ve Gone Too Far,” deemed the attack on the six ships in international waters that left nine people dead Monday the actions of a  “demented… lunatic state.” Read the rest of this entry →

Huwaida Arraf

Early on Monday, Israeli commandos descended on a convoy of humanitarian aid vessels in international waters, dubbed the Freedom Flotilla. Filled with over 700 activists and 10,000 tons of aid destined for Gaza, the boats were captured and their passengers either killed or seized and taken to Israel’s port in Ashdod.

Huwaida Arraf was one of those kidnapped activists, on board a US-flagged vessel called Challenger 1. In the following interview from Wednesday, June 2nd, Arraf recounted her experience during the commando attack, in Israeli detention, and her brutal release. It was the first extended interview that any of the Flotilla activists gave. Read the rest of this entry →

Israeli Commandos on Board the Freedom Flotilla

An in-depth interview with Gaza Freedom Flotilla organizer Huwaida Arraf from occupied Palestine; Arraf was on one of the seized boats and was then left after being interrogated in Israel on the side of the road, semi-conscious; we’ll also speak with Cindy Corrie, whose daughter was run over by an Israeli bulldozer and murdered in the Gaza Strip; one of the flotilla boats now on the way is named the Rachel Corrie, after her daughter; we’ll also speak with Allan Nairn about the legalization of murder by US and Israeli forces; and we’ll speak to the wife of a Bay Area resident who was also seized and beaten by Israeli commandos; finally, we’ll present a daily short news feature called ‘Up Front with Jesse Strauss’.

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Guests:

Huwaida Arraf, long time anti-occupation activist who was on one of the Freedom Flotilla vessels

Jan St. Onge, partner of Gene St. Onge, a Bay Area activist on board one of the Freedom Flotilla vessels

Allan Nairn, investigative reporter with News and Commentary

Cindy Corrie, mother of Rachel Corrie, an activist killed in 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer