The Madness Continues: Ann Wright Disinvited to Sail
Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: The adorable solidarity activist Ann Wright, former US Army Colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War and support of Palestinian rights, is now also subject to Palestinian solidarity internal war.
On her way to meet up with the Swedish Estelle, the next boat to challenge the Israeli blockade, Colonel Wright was called by a board member of the Estelle who ask her to abort the journey. She was disinvited. The explanation was embarrassingly lame - Ann Wright is a member of the new Free Gaza Movement’s Board. She supports Greta Berlin.
It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to find out that the leader of the current attempt to sail to Gaza is Israeli Jewish activist named Dror Feiler. Feiler is the chairman of the Jews-Only Swedish organization Jews For Israeli Palestinian Peace (JIPF) and the European Jews for Just Peace (EJJP). Once again it is the Jewish activist who decides who should be on board in the Palestinian Solidarity movement. I can’t make up my mind whether this is funny or tragic. It is certainly very bad news.
Update: Electronic Intifada's Benjamin Doherty congratulated the Estelle's crew and passengers for cleansing Ann Wright (via Twitter):
Benjamin Doherty @bangpound
.@shiptogazase please transmit my respect to your crew and passengers for holding true to standards and principles. http://j.mp/RxtKkU
I guess that if you really want to grasp what is going on here, you will have to readThe Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics, Jewish political interest and Jewish hegemony within the Palestinian Solidarity Movement...
The book can be ordered on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
Read Ann Wright's statement:
Ann Wright Disinvited to Sail
Statement by Ann Wright on the "Dis-Invitation" of her by the Swedish Boat to Gaza "Estelle" steering committee to be on the boat
Two days ago, on October 13, three hours before I was to board a flight to Europe to meet up with the Swedish boat to Gaza, the “Estelle,” the next boat to challenge the Israeli blockade, I was called by a board member of the Estelle who said that because of the furor around Greta Berlin’s posting and because I am a member of the new, 2 week old board of the Free Gaza Movement, I was no longer invited to be a passenger on the “Estelle.”
The board representative acknowledged that the reason for their invitation to me to be on the “Estelle” was that I am a retired US Army Colonel and former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war, that I am a vocal critic of Israeli and United States policies on Palestinians and that I have been to Gaza 4 times in the past 3 years, assisted 7 groups to go to Gaza in 2009, helped organize the December, 2009 Gaza Freedom March, was a passenger on the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, helped organize the 2011 US Boat to Gaza and am an organizer for one of the latest initiatives, Gaza’s Ark.
