Last year Barack Obama’s good friend Rashid Khalidi raised cash for a ship named “The Audacity of Hope” to smash through the Israel’s Gaza Blockade. After months of fundraising his group finally raised enough cash for the mission. The Obama-inspired ship set out to join this year’s Gaza-bound “Freedom Flotilla 2″ with several prominent leftists and Obama supporters on board.
The passengers of the “Audacity of Hope” will join other Islamists and Leftists in Gaza Flotilla II.
Greek officials intercepted the Islamo-leftist Audacity of Hope flotilla ship today.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
The Greek coastguard intercepted a boat carrying US activists soon after they set sail from Greece on Friday to join a pro-Palestinian flotilla to Gaza, one of the activists said.
The boat, dubbed The Audacity of Hope, had just left Perama port, near Piraeus, for the open seas, a Reuters witness said.
Minutes earlier, organizers said that the ship’s passengers were preparing to “non-violently resist any efforts to stop the boat,” saying moments later that the boat “is about to set sail,” followed by a message saying that the ship had departed. Through the boat’s twitter feed, organizers said that a Greek Coast Guard vessel approached The Audacity of Hope as it was pulling away from the dock but then sped away.
A flotilla of boats planning to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is expected to sail next week, after repeated delays that activists blame on Israeli sabotage. Israel has denied the accusations.
UPDATE: From the US to Gaza website:
A second Greek Coast Guard boat with more heavily armed forces arrived. There were more discussions between the Greeks and the captain of our boat, and in the end the decision was made to return to shore. We are not certain which dock they will be going to. Please keep the pressure on the Greek government!
