Tuesday, June 01, 2010

The fatal flotilla

The loss of life in the incident of the Gaza flotilla is regrettable, but predictable. Even though there were no doubt some peaceful dissidents aboard who are "useful idiots," nevertheless the whole affair was a calculated PR campaign organized by pro-Hamas supporters. One should remember that Hamas is an Islamist terrorist organization, recognized as such by the US and UN, that seeks to destroy Israel and they can hardly be said to be concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Gaza is full of food and medicine and all sorts of goods both trucked in from Israel and smuggled under the Egyptian border in tunnels. There was no rational need for this flotilla, and its intentions were certainly not peaceful, but rather political. If Israel allowed them to go thru the blockade that would have been a victory and if Israel stopped them and there is loss of life that too is a victory for Hamas.

It is easy to see that the IDF was not primarily responsible for the violence since there were 6 ships in the flotilla, and all were boarded by the IDF naval commandos, whose orders were to shoot only if attacked. Only on one of the vessels did this happen, the MV Marmara that was specifically sponsored by the IHH, an extremist Turkish Islamic aid organization, that supports Hamas. Only on this boat were there violent extremists that attacked the Israeli commandos, who then shot back. Unfortunately the IDF did not have enough commandos on this big boat and they were surprised by the level of deliberate provocation. There was a running battle and the commandos were nearly overrun and several were stabbed and injured. This can be seen in videos (released after 24 hrs) that show the commandos being attacked by men with metal poles, with Molotov cocktails and also being shot at. These were not innocent civilians, but trained thugs. There are reports of 9 dead and seven commandos injured. Notably, even though there were Israeli commandos aboard the other 5 ships there was no violence on them. So the Arab PR machine is now in full swing, accusing Israel of breaking international law and there is a UN security council meeting.

The role of Turkey in this operation is highly suspect. Although the Turkish Government spokesmen said that they were not officially reponsible, this seems like a lie. Turkish operatives visited the ships, including a Turkish Government Minister who broadcast a supportive message, the ships were strung with Turkish flags and the MV Marmara is a Turkish-registered ship. In response, Israel has warned Israelis not to visit Turkey, both as a safety measure and a punishment to Turkey, involving huge loss of tourist income, and as a political gesture, as a result of the Turkish Government's open support for the "flotilla." The Turkish Ambassador to Israel has been recalled and Turkey is attacking Israel at the UN. This incident will no doubt be the nail in the coffin of Israeli-Turkish relations.

As I said, all loss of life is regrettable, but maybe it will serve as a warning to the extremists and other fellow-travellers, that Israeli means business. When the Israeli Government warned them not to do this they should have listened.

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