U.S. Communist Leading 'Non-Partisan' Gaza Flotilla Aboard 'The Audacity of Hope'

Seriously, there's a boat called The Audacity of Hope? Well, it's flying under the United States flag, is filled with assorted human debris (naturally) and is being led by a hardcore Communist in an attempt to break the Gaza blockade.

Memo to the Israelis: Feel free to do whatever necessary to stop these goons.

Passengers on a US-flagged boat, The Audacity of Hope, spoke at a press conference Monday to discuss their plans and reasons for joining the “International Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human,” a flotilla intended to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.

It is estimated that people from more than 20 countries will participate in the eight to ten boat flotilla, which will sail the last week of June, in part from Greece. One quarter of the participants on the US boat, which will have 36 passengers, are American Jews.

According to a letter the Audacity of Hope group sent to US President Barack Obama, in addition to 36 passengers, 4 crew members, and 10 members of the press, the US-flagged boat “will carry thousands of letters of support and friendship from people throughout the US to the women, children and men of Gaza. There will be no weapons of any sort on board."

Ten members of the press? Even more reason to consider them hostile enemies.

"We will carry no goods of any kind for delivery in Gaza," the group's letter read. "Our mission is from American civil society to the civil society of Gaza. We do not serve the agenda of any political leadership, government or group. We are engaged solely in non-violent action in support of the Palestinian people and their human rights.”

Oh no, they don't have any agenda? Really?

Leslie Cagan, the US boat coordinator leading Monday’s press conference, said the Israeli government acted with extreme violence against Freedom Flotilla I in 2010, killing nine passengers and injuring more than 50, and has threatened the use of attack dogs and snipers against this Freedom Flotilla II.

Cagan said, “Following the example of years of non-violent Palestinian protests, everyone participating in this project is deeply committed to non-violence. We hope and plan to arrive in Gaza City safely by the beginning of July. Any other outcome is the responsibility of the US and Israeli government's decision to maintain the illegal and unjustifiable imprisonment of 1.5 million people in the Gaza strip.”

I guess Cagan is a non-partisan or something.

Cagan cheered a January 2003 "peace" rally in Washington, sponsored by International A.N.S.W.E.R., which is closely allied with the Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party. "This is A.N.S.W.E.R.’s dance, and they get to call the tune," Cagan said. "We are at a point where it is really, really critical that many, many groups come out and voice their opposition to this war. Some in the hard-core Left have taken the lead on that, and I applaud those groups for that."

Cagan strongly opposed the 2003 U.S. military strike against Iraq, which she characterized as nothing more than a thinly veiled oil grab. "Oil is not worth war!" read Cagan's UFPJ Website. "How much is the Bush administration's push for war with Iraq motivated by its desire to gain control of Iraq's oil fields?"

In 2004 Cagan co-founded -- along with Global Exchange founder Medea Benjamin -- the organization Iraq Occupation Watch (IOW), whose express mission is to encourage widespread desertion by "conscientious objectors" in the U.S. military.

It's not difficult to understand how "non-partisan" this group is.

"It's important that Jews are in this boat... The Jewish lobby in this country is so powerful," said New York labor attorney Richard Levy, himself Jewish.

"We cannot support an Israeli blockade which is morally and juridically unsupportable... No more people should be slaughtered in the name of the Jews."