Click here to download a “Ten facts” flyer for distribution.
1. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is an international aid project whose objective is to end the three-year-long Israeli blockade that has created a vast humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Palestine. It is made up of 750 individuals from more than 40 countries traveling on 7 ships and carrying 10,000 tons of relief supplies.
2. On the night of May 31, a coordinated naval and air attack by Israeli military forces killed at least 9 and possibly as many as 20 international aid activists and wounded as many as 50 others.
3. The main attack was on the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship carrying 600 people.
4. The attack was an act of piracy that took place in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 40 miles off the coast of Gaza, in clear violation of international law.
5. In a classic propaganda ploy, the Israeli government is outrageously attempting to portray its commandos who carried out the murderous attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as “victims” who were “attacked” rather than perpetrators of the massacre. This ludicrous version of what happened is being dutifully reported by the corporate media in the U.S. and Israel.
6. Israel’s latest massacre and blatant act of piracy has created a wave of international outrage and protest which is spreading around the world, including in the U.S. where many demonstrations are happening.
7. The U.S. government continues to send billions of dollars annually to fund Israel’s occupation, settlements and murderous acts against the Palestinian people and their international supporters. The Obama administration recently promised to send Israel $30 billion in military aid over the next 10 years.
8. The U.S. government has given its full backing to the criminal blockade of Gaza, which it could break unilaterally if it chose to do so.
9. The convoy was carrying, along with other forms of aid, construction materials. More than 6,400 homes in Gaza, which were destroyed or severely damaged by Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza 17 months ago, have yet to be rebuilt.
10. Because of the blockade that strangles Gaza’s economy, 71 percent of Palestinians there receive food aid.
Compiled by the ANSWER Coalition. Free Palestine! End the seige of Gaza! We demand justice for the victims of Israeli massacres and crimes! Stop U.S. aid to Israel now!
