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Captured and detained by Israel, an American tells his story - - - After two days in an Israeli jail, 64-year-old Paul Larudee speaks out BY ANIKA ANAND - THURSDAY, JUN 3, 2010 17:55 ET Sixty-four-year-old Paul Larudee, an American citizen and longtime pro-Palestinian activist, was on board one of the ships carrying humanitarian relief to Gaza that was raided by the Israeli navy on Monday. He dove into the Mediterranean Sea, only to be captured and held in an Israeli prison for two days. This was not Larudee's first brush with Israeli authorities, but it was easily his most dramatic. He spoke with Salon about the raid and his captivity this afternoon from Greece, where he arrived after being released by Israel. At around 4 a.m. on Monday, Larudee's ship was boarded by as many as 500 Israeli soldiers. After the ship's captain called an alert, Larudee immediately walked out onto the deck and found that Israeli soldiers had broken the windows of the wheelhouse (the area wh...

A news item in the Express Tribune today: UNITED NATIONS :  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret after at least nine people died when troops stormed ships carrying aid for Gaza . Netanyahu claimed that the soldiers had been defending themselves after they were “ clubbed, beaten and stabbed ”. . . . . . . . . . Oh, what an excuse Mr. Netanyahu?  Though it is garbage-shit of nonsense for the free world to believe yet, if we accept this claim, how do you suggest the people on Freedom Flotilla should have reacted to the assault by your butchers, I mean soldiers?  They are trained to fight good, to assault good but also to kill innocent people, children and women like butchers too. Now, accepting your claim that the soldiers had been defending themselves, will a unified attack, on Israel, by the neighbouring Islamic countries be justified on the pretext of defending their citizens, their Palestinian brothers and sisters who are suffering ha...

By AMY TEIBEL and TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press Writers Amy Teibel And Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press Writers – 25 mins ago JERUSALEM – Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing nine passengers in a botched raid that provoked international outrage and a diplomatic crisis. Dozens of activists and six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody predawn confrontation in international waters. The violent takeover dealt yet another blow to Israel 's international image, already tarnished by war crimes accusations in Gaza and its 3-year-old blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu canceled a much-anticipated meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday in a sign of just how gravely Israel viewed the international uproar. In Canada , Netanyahu announced he was rushing home . Israel said it opened f...