U.S. Citizens Released from Israeli Prison Today Describe Brutal Abuse

U.S. citizens released from the brutal Israeli prison and bussed to Jordan for departure.

"I was in a cage with 57 other women, and someone really, really needed a medic -- we were there for hours, and we said, 'medic, medic, medic,' and a guard came and said, 'If you keep asking for a medic we are going to gas you."

Carsie Blanton, released from an Israeli prison, arrived in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 8.

"I'm a Jewish American, and in Israeli detention, I was really treated like scum, in the way you read about in the holocaust."

"We have to try and understand it, to end the occupation and the genocide."
The way they were dehumanized, she said she can not imagine what it is like to be a Palestinian in detention.

Carsie was among 24 U.S. citizens imprisoned for nearly a week in Israel's torture prison, Ktzi'ot, in the Negev desert. They were illegally kidnapped on international waters aboard the Sumud Global Flotilla while bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Watch video https://x.com/i/status/1976131287799742932

U.S. citizens describe being beaten and abused in prison, upon arrival in Jordan today.

By Brenda Norrell, Oct. 7, 2025

U.S. citizens on the Global Sumud Flotilla described being beaten and abused in prison, upon arrival in Jordan today. Jordan arranged the bus transport that took them to the airport in Jordan after five days of abuse in Israel's torture prison. U.S. citizens said they were abandoned and left to rot by their government.

Speaking now from the airport in Jordan, Tommy Marcus said the flotilla was violently and illegally raided by Israeli Naval forces, while carrying aid to the starving people of Gaza. Their boats and belongings were all stolen.

"We were zip-tied, brutalized and blindfolded on route to an Israeli internment camp in the Negev desert."

Tommy Marcus

Behind the Story: FBI repression of anti-fossil fuel activists

Letter to Censored News

Hi Brenda,

"My name is Sasha, and I am a co-founding moderator of the EF! Newswire.
Last month I published a story through the Defending Dissent Foundation about state repression of anti-fossil fuel activists in Cascadia:

http://www.defendingdissent.org/now/news/why-is-the-fbi-harassing-activists-in-cascadia/

The story was immediately posted in The Ecologist, CounterPunch, the

Global Justice Ecology Project, Green Is the New Red, and Earth Island

Journal, among other publications.

Then it was picked up on by Becky Kramer, writing for the Idaho

Spokesman-Review:

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2015/jan/23/fbi-contact-unwarranted-environmental-activists/

Then it made its way to AP, through which it was disseminated to Oregon

Public Broadcasting, Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, and other

national newspapers:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/23/some-megaload-protesters-report-contact-from-fbi/?page=all

And just today the story was recast by the Canadian Press, where it made

its way to the Globe and Mail, and other international sites:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/anti-oil-sands-activists-in-the-us-are-getting-visits-from-the-fbi/article22851903/

The story behind the story is actually quite interesting. The

Idaho-based anti-megaloads group Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) has 

been fighting megaloads since 2011, and I got the scoop about megaloads

coming through Oregon from a WIRT activist, Helen Yost. I put up an

article about the megaloads in Oregon, headlined "Be the First Line of

Defense Against Megaloads," and a meeting was organized among

environmentalists around the area here in Portland. I had varying

degrees of involvement with the campaign as both a journalist and

activist, and have also been marginally involved in the same capacity

with Portland Rising Tide. I submitted a story idea about state

repression of anti-fossil fuel movements here to Brenda last year after

my pal Arun Gupta gave me the reference, and we were working on the

story for about a month when it seemed as though it had gone cold. There

just wasn't enough about FBI visits, and I frustratedly put down my pen

for a day or two when suddenly my friend Helen received the pomo

equivalent of a knock on the door — three texts from the FBI. I quickly

interviewed her about it, banged the article into shape, Udry and

Wishnia at Defending Dissent made a few editorial suggestions, and it

went live. Within a few days, the story was all over the place, and a

month later it is everywhere!"

Thanks very much,

Sasha

Three Native Youths Ready to Walk Across America -- Again!

Three Native American Youths ready to walk across America -- again!

Starting point Monday, Feb. 14, 2011: Gresham, Oregon, Red Sunset Park, walk 9 am to noon; after lunch runners run till sundown.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
It is a great honor to share the news that these three Native American youths are ready to walk across America -- again! Carl 'Bad Bear' Sampson, Western Shoshone from Nevada, Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo from Turtle Island, and Craig Luther, Navajo, from Utah.
Bad Bear is already in Portland, Oregon, getting ready for the Longest Walk 3 northern route for diabetes, along with coordinator Chris Francisco, Navajo from Shiprock, N.M.
Lisa Peake, shown as she was honored in DC for making it all the way across America on the Longest Walk 2 in 2008, is ready to walk across America again.
Craig Luther, Navajo, from Sanders, Arizona, joins his fellow walkers, along with Craig's father. Luther's family now lives in Richfield, Utah.
It was an honor to make the journey with these three Native American youth walkers on the Longest Walk 2 northern route. As cohost of the Longest Walk Talk Radio, along with Govinda from Earthcycles, we shared their stories.
Each of these walkers manifest beautiful qualities under very difficult conditions, walking and running in cold and rain, through times of little food and often sleeping on the ground in wet tents. They walked up to 16 miles a day across America in 2008.

Now, crossing America again, they face severe weather in Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas in the first months. The walk brings awareness to Indian country about diabetes, and the need for wholesome foods and exercise.
Update:
With few funds and supplies, the walkers on the northern route are ready to begin.

The Longest Walk northern route Honorarium Dinner is potluck style in Portland, on Sunday, February 13, from 6 pm - 9 pm, at 4737 NE Couch Street. The ceremony to begin the walk is in Gresham, Oregon, on Monday, February 14, at 8 am. It is at Red Sunset Park, 2403 NE Red Sunset Drive. More information is available from Chris Francisco at (503) 515-6239 or Christina 'qui-qui' at (360) 241-6562
Longest Walk Northern Route for Diabetes:
http://earthbornproductions.com/LWNR3.html

Coordinator: Chris Francisco
indigenouswalkabout@yahoo.com
(503) 515-6239
Photo copyrights: Bad Bear Sampson by Quiqui of De La Luna Photography; Lisa Peake by Brenda Norrell; Craig Luther by Brita Brookes.