False Flag?

Christian Right news-site OneNewsNow carries a quote from Brigitte Gabriel (emphasis added):

An Arab-Christian woman and Middle East expert believes the Israeli navy was completely justified in stopping a boat en route to deliver medical supplies to terrorists in Gaza.

…The Christian activist points out that [Cynthia] McKinney’s ship was not displaying a Red Cross or Red Crescent flag to indicate it was a humanitarian vessel.

All I saw was a Hezbollah flag, a Palestinian flag, and a Lebanese flag. And if you are Israel seeing this ship coming from the waters in Lebanon, do you think the Israelis are thinking, ‘Oh how wonderful, humanitarian aid, we should let it go’? You bet they wouldn’t let it go,” she notes. “I am surprised they only dinged it. If I was Israel, I would bomb the darn thing.”

This is curious; I’ve scanned various reports about McKinney and the Dignity on YouTube, and I can’t see any sign of the very distinctive gun-fetishizing yellow and green Hezbollah flag. Gabriel’s observation has also passed unnoticed by everyone else, including news-sites and blogs intensely hostile to McKinney  – sites that one would imagine would be all over such a detail. Indeed, there’s not even a mention of it on Gabriel’s website.

Am I missing something – or is Gabriel perhaps making something up?

Gabriel was repudiated by the United Jewish Communities for her anti-Obama rhetoric back in February.

UPDATE: I’ve looked through much of the Free Gaza Movement‘s Flickr photo album, and I’ve tracked down other photos of the boat on Flickr, taken at various dates between October and December. The Dignity is shown festooned with a number of flags on different occasions (including the rainbow “Peace” flag), but I cannot see even a hint of the Hezbollah flag anywhere.

4 Responses

  1. Here

    The 66-foot yacht Dignity was clearly flying the flag of Gibraltar flying the flag of Gibraltar and was in international waters when it was intercepted.

    For whatever it’s worth.

  2. What struck me about the Christian far-right’s coverage of the Gaza assault is how abidingly similar it is to mainstream conservative and liberal media coverage. Their main concern is with defending the Israeli attack. http://vulgarmarxism.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-are-christian-zionists-saying.html

  3. Of course we were not flying the Hezbolla flag, or the Hamas flag or any other political flag. We were in international waters, and Israel’s action was an act of piracy. Our boat is even now being repaired, and we have already obtained another boat which will return to international water enroute to Gaza in a few days. The only way Israel can stop us is to kill us, and if they kill us there are hundreds more waiting to take our place.

    When we left Gaza we promised them we would never abandon them, and we never will. All the lies and propaganda that the zionists and their apologists (such as Brigette Gabriel) continue to spew will never convince people of conscience that Israel is not committing war crimes against the people of Gaza, or that zionism is not racism.

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