US Boat to Gaza: why is US ignoring its legal obligation to protect citizens?

US Boat to Gaza press release:

Athens, June 24, 2011 - U.S. peace activists preparing to set sail on the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope, expressed profound disappointment over a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Instead of calling on the Israeli government to let a flotilla of unarmed civilians sail to Gaza, the United States government is pressuring its own citizens to refrain from legal acts.

On Wednesday, the State Department sent out a "travel advisory" urging Americans not to participate in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. According to the statement, U.S. citizens are advised against traveling to Gaza by any means, including via sea, noting that previous attempts to enter Gaza by sea "have been stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of U.S. citizens."

"Apparently, the State Department subscribes to the view that Israel's anticipated violence against unarmed protesters is an immutable act of nature," said Hagit Borer, a professor of Linguistics at the University of Southern California and a passenger on the U.S. boat. "This is a remarkable attitude, coming from a government that provides the Israeli government with billions of dollars in military aid and routinely uses its veto to protect the Israeli government from censure of its occupation policies by the UN Security Council."

Passengers on the boat noted that the U.S. State Department has a legal obligation to act to protect U.S. citizens when they are traveling abroad. "So far, U.S. government officials have failed to use their influence to discourage Israeli authorities from ordering a physical assault on us," said Just Foreign Policy policy director Robert Naiman, another passenger on the U.S. boat. "Of course, State Department officials have an obligation to speak out against threats to attack us. It is deeply disappointing that they have so far failed to do so."

For regular updates follow the US Boat to Gaza on Twitter: http://twitter.com/usboattogaza and visit the US Boat to Gaza website.

Hillary Clinton has outrageously accused the flotilla of trying to provoke Israel, which could be construed as pre-emptive justification for an attack by Israel on non-violent activists.

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