A day after Israelis raided the Gaza Strip, even ramming the boat occupied by former Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney, the African Union Israel’s actions, calling on the United Nations Security Council to force the Jewish state to back down. “The (AU) Commission strongly condemns the ongoing air raids on the Gaza Strip by Israel since 27 December,” the union said in a statement. “This massive and disproportionate attack constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law and will further aggravate the suffering of the civilian population, which, as a result of the siege imposed by Israel, has been faced by shortages of food, medicine and fuel.” The African Union urged the Security Council and members of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet “to fully assume their responsibilities toward the civilians in the Gaza Strip by compelling Israel to an immediate ceasefire.” It also pleaded with the nations of the world to increase medical and humanitarian aid to victims of the attacks. On Monday, McKinney, the 2008 Green Party candidate and the first African-American woman elected to Congress from the state of Georgia, joined more than a dozen high-profile leaders who headed to the region aboard a medical supply ship on a humanitarian mission. The yacht, owned by the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement, collided with an Israeli gunboat, which had fired machine guns into the water to stop the vessel’s progress, FOX News reported. At least 360 Palestinians, including more than 50 civilians, have been killed in the raids, according to officials.

A member of the famed Alvin Ailey dance troupe, he has a Muslim name.

Abdur-Rahim Jackson, a performer with the famed Alvin Ailey dance troupe, says that security officers at the Israeli airport forced him to dance to prove who he was before allowing him into the country. Israel’s security forces, which are notoriously strict, reacted to his Muslim name, Jackson told The Associated Press. He described the situation as degrading and embarrassing. The officers even suggested he change his name, he said. “To be greeted like this because of my name, it took me back a little bit,” said Jackson, who is Black. The Harlem-based Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, which Congress designated a “vital American cultural ambassador to the world” earlier this year, made Israel its first stop on a six-nation tour. The tour is part of the troupe’s 50^th anniversary celebration. Jackson said that when his plane arrived at Israel’s international airport he was singled out and taken to a room where he was questioned about the origins of his name. When he told them he was a performer, they told him to dance. “I stood up. I asked what type of dance?” he told AP. “He said, “Just do anything.’ I just moved around.” Shortly afterward, a woman officer made him do a jig all over again. “The only time I’m really expected to dance is when I’m performing,” he said. Jackson got his name from his father, a convert to Islam, he told AP. He is not religious and, in fact, is engaged to a Jewish woman, who is in the troupe and has relatives in Israel. He said that Israeli officials and U.S. dignitaries have apologized profusely since the unfortunate episode, and he has gotten over it. “We’re only here to bring positive light to our lives and the people here,” he said, calling the group’s multicultural appeal “an amazing bind you can’t touch, you can only experience.”