McKinney Released, Will Return To The U.S. Tuesday

ATLANTA -- Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is scheduled to return from Israel on a flight from Tel Aviv Tuesday morning.

McKinney had been scheduled to return to the United States Monday, but a family spokesperson tells 11Alive the former congresswoman will now return to New York's J.F.K. Airport early Tuesday morning.

McKinney and a group of 20 were detained last week by the Israeli Navy while they were trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza. They were accused of violating Israel's blockade. McKinney was detained because she refused to sign a document acknowledging it.

David Josue, a close associate of McKinney, told 11Alive News, she refused to sign the document because it was written in Hebrew and she did not know what she was being asked to sign.

It wasn't her first run-in with Israeli authorities, but her father said he hopes it will be her last run-in.

"She's driving her mother crazy," said Billy McKinney, a former state lawmaker. "I'll tell her to please have some regard for her mother. I understand because I had the same inclination during the civil rights movement."