Once again, this morning, I opened the copy delivered to my front door of the Washington Post looking for coverage of the Israelis' seizure Tuesday of the relief boat Spirit of Humanity 24 miles off the coast of Gaza and their detention since then of the peace activists on board the boat, including former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, and once again I found nothing in the two sections (main section and Outlook) where I thought it could possibly be.
The Washington Post does, however, have an article on a parking lot dispute in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, a Parking Lot War.
While the U.S. media studiously ignore the Spirit of Humanity and the probable violations of international law in its capture, the Irish media have been covering the story thoroughly ever since Tuesday.
Thus, we learn that this morning, Sunday July 5, the 21 activists were still being held, according to RTE (Irish radio and TV): Gaza activists are still detained:
21 foreign activists are still in detention in Israel, five days after their boat was intercepted attempting to bring aid into Gaza.
And, in a story in the Irish Times from the afternoon of July 5 (by Irish time), we learn that Gerry Adams has called for the release of the 21: Adams calls for Maguire release:
Mr Adams added: "I call on the Irish government and on other EU states to demand the release of Irish and other citizens illegally arrested in international waters, that the confiscated humanitarian aid on board, which had been cleared by the customs of another EU country, Cyprus, be returned and that the boat be released and allowed proceed on its way."
Adams is in no doubt that the seizure was in international waters, in violation of international law.
And note that the story makes clear that the facility where the activists are being held is a prison:
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has also called for the freeing of the detained pair by Israel. They are being held in prison in Tel Aviv along with former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.