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The difficulties, which we on "The Audacity of Hope" have encountered at the hands of the Greek government, are clearly a result of Israeli pressure with a likely assist from Obama's diplomats.
In my own writings, I have highlighted what I have learned about the extraordinary power of joint U.S.-Israeli influence. But it is something quite different to watch that influence be brought to bear on the government of Greece, a seafaring nation normally devoted to unfettered navigation.
And for what purpose? To prevent our "ally" Israel from being exposed for its brutish behavior vis-a-vis the people of Gaza.
I thought I'd seen everything. But the Israeli accusation that our Gaza flotilla is carrying sulfur to pour on Israeli commandos attempting to board our boats ... well, that one takes the cake. Plus, the accusation by an Israeli official that we had vowed to shed the blood of Israeli Defense Forces. Amazing.
On the U.S. side, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears as unconcerned about what might happen to us at the hands of Israeli (or Greek) commandos as she was on Feb. 15 as she watched me brutalized just 12 yards in front of her during a speech she was giving at George Washington University.
My offense then? Standing quietly -- motionless, actually -- with my back turned toward her, as a way of showing that not everyone in that audience was oblivious to the killing, maiming and other suffering inflicted on millions of people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen ... and the list goes on.
Last week, Clinton charged the international flotilla, of which "The Audacity of Hope" is a part, with planning to enter "Israeli waters" and warned of the consequences -- in effect, giving Israel carte blanche to have its way with us.
Meanwhile, descriptions of last year's violence, in which Israeli commandos staged a night-time boarding raid on the Turkish ship Mari Marmara in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea and killed nine passengers including one American, get expressed in the passive voice. Violence by whom, a Martian might ask.
In any event, we have long since made it abundantly clear that we had no intention to enter "Israeli waters." Is it conceivable that Madame Secretary still doesn't know that or is she simply spreading a falsehood meant to discredit our mission? Gazan waters are not Israeli waters. Neither, we thought, is the Aegean Sea.
Adding transparent insult to injury, eight days ago the State Department spokeswoman obfuscated when asked directly, twice, whether the U.S. government considered the Israeli blockade of Gaza legal. This determination to fudge on this key issue (the blockade is, on the face of it, against international law) has not stopped U.S. government functionaries from speaking as if the Israelis are well within their rights.
Worse still, we have learned that some U.S. officials wouldn't shed a tear if we got our comeuppance at the hands of the Israelis.
Before leaving the United States, I was cautioned by a source with access to very senior staffers at the National Security Council that not only does the White House plan to do absolutely nothing to protect our boat from Israeli attack or illegal boarding, but that White House officials "would be happy if something happened to us."
They are, I am reliably told, "perfectly willing to have the cold corpses of activists shown on American TV."
So here we are, passengers and crew of "The Audacity of Hope," awaiting further instructions from the local Greek authorities, some of whom have been quite candid in expressing their embarrassment and resentment at being manipulated by Washington/Tel Aviv in this new Great Game.
The instructions, of course, come from a weak Greek government unable to stand on principle because of the economic damage that can be done to Greece by the U.S.-dominated IMF, the European Union and Israel, a major trading partner.
We await a deus ex machina to extract us from this seemingly intractable situation. We remain determined to sail to Gaza at the earliest opportunity. And so do the passengers on the other boats in our international flotilla, at least on those boats that have not been physically sabotaged.
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