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Gaza flotilla drives Israel into a sea of stupidity

05.30.2010 | Haaretz

Of course the peace flotilla will not bring peace, and it won’t even manage to reach the Gaza shore. The action plan has included dragging the ships to Ashdod port, but it has again dragged us to the shores of stupidity and wrongdoing
By Gideon Levy

The Israeli propaganda machine has reached new highs its hopeless frenzy. It has distributed menus from Gaza restaurants, along with false information. It embarrassed itself by entering a futile public relations battle, which it might have been better off never starting. They want to maintain the ineffective, illegal and unethical siege on Gaza and not let the “peace flotilla” dock off the Gaza coast? There is nothing to explain, certainly not to a world that will never buy the web of explanations, lies and tactics.

Only in Israel do people still accept these tainted goods. Reminiscent of a pre-battle ritual from ancient times, the chorus cheered without asking questions. White uniformed soldiers got ready in our name. Spokesmen delivered their deceptive explanations in our name. The grotesque scene is at our expense. And virtually none of us have disturbed the performance.

The chorus has been singing songs of falsehood and lies. We are all in the chorus saying there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We are all part of the chorus claiming the occupation of Gaza has ended, and that the flotilla is a violent attack on Israeli sovereignty - the cement is for building bunkers and the convoy is being funded by the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood. The Israeli siege of Gaza will topple Hamas and free Gilad Shalit. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy, one of the most ridiculous of the propagandists, outdid himself when he unblinkingly proclaimed that the aid convoy headed toward Gaza was a violation of international law. Right. Exactly.

It’s not the siege that is illegal, but rather the flotilla. It wasn’t enough to distribute menus from Gaza restaurants through the Prime Minister’s Office, (including the highly recommended beef Stroganoff and cream of spinach soup ) and flaunt the quantities of fuel that the Israeli army spokesman says Israel is shipping in. The propaganda operation has tried to sell us and the world the idea that the occupation of Gaza is over, but in any case, Israel has legal authority to bar humanitarian aid. All one pack of lies.

Only one voice spoiled the illusory celebration a little: an Amnesty International report on the situation in Gaza. Four out of five Gaza residents need humanitarian assistance. Hundreds are waiting to the point of embarrassment to be allowed out for medical treatment, and 28 already have died. This is despite all the Israeli army spokesman’s briefings on the absence of a siege and the presence of assistance, but who cares?

And the preparations for the operation are also reminiscent of a particularly amusing farce: the feverish debate among the septet of ministers; the deployment of the Masada unit, the prison service’s commando unit that specializes in penetrating prison cells; naval commando fighters with backup from the special police anti-terror unit and the army’s Oketz canine unit; a special detention facility set up at the Ashdod port; and the electronic shield that was supposed to block broadcast of the ship’s capture and the detention of those on board.

And all of this in the face of what? A few hundred international activists, mostly people of conscience whose reputation Israeli propaganda has sought to besmirch. They are really mostly people who care, which is their right and obligation, even if the siege doesn’t concern us at all. Yes, this flotilla is indeed a political provocation, and what is protest action if not political provocation?

And facing them on the seas has been the Israeli ship of fools, floating but not knowing where or why. Why detain people? That’s how it is. Why a siege? That’s how it is. It’s like the Noam Chomsky affair all over again, but big time this time. Of course the peace flotilla will not bring peace, and it won’t even manage to reach the Gaza shore. The action plan has included dragging the ships to Ashdod port, but it has again dragged us to the shores of stupidity and wrongdoing. Again we will be portrayed not only as the ones that have blocked assistance, but also as fools who do everything to even further undermine our own standing. If that was one of the goals of the peace flotilla’s organizers, they won big yesterday.

Five years ago, the noted Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, who is a Jerusalem Prize laureate, after concluding his visit to Israel, said the Israeli occupation was approaching its grotesque phase. Over the weekend Vargas Llosa, who considers himself a friend of Israel, was present to see that that phase has since reached new heights of absurdity.

Flying Dutchman wrote:..instead the peace activists opened fire.

Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel's actions were disproportionate.

"We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."

She said there was "absolutely no evidence of live fire".

Humbleman wrote:Flying Dutchman, I sense your bias, but you know what - you are not a real Jew – because a real Jewish would never approve such Apartheid Zionist regime. My best friend is a real Jewish, and I know what he thinks of what’s happening to the Palestinian people

You are nothing but a miserable, sad and a bigot human being who knows the truth of what is happening to those poor Palestinians people, but yet chose to look the other way because of sheer ignorance and bias. As a human being, you must promote peace and fairness because that’s what differentiae you from animal

Flying Dutchman wrote:The aid fleed could bring their stuff via Ashdod into Gaza. This is what Israel proposed. Israeli navy warned the peace activists numerous times, instead the peace activists opened fire.

Flying Dutchman wrote:

Humbleman wrote:Flying Dutchman, I sense your bias, but you know what - you are not a real Jew – because a real Jewish would never approve such Apartheid Zionist regime. My best friend is a real Jewish, and I know what he thinks of what’s happening to the Palestinian people

You are nothing but a miserable, sad and a bigot human being who knows the truth of what is happening to those poor Palestinians people, but yet chose to look the other way because of sheer ignorance and bias. As a human being, you must promote peace and fairness because that’s what differentiae you from animal

Lets focus on the story and how it develops.

but Israel on the other hands, said no to every peace initiative.

event horizon wrote:

but Israel on the other hands, said no to every peace initiative.

Contrary to the spin fed to us by the Western and Islamic/Arab media, respectively, it was the Pal-Arabs who rejected the UN partition plan of '47 whereas the Jews accepted the UN plan.

RobbyG wrote:Israel behaved prosperly.

desertdudeshj wrote:Your missing the point compadre. Attack and murder in international waters equals to piracy. Illegal, no two ways about it.

What would you say a bunch of somali pirates boared a vessel and the crew attacked these pirates ? Would you say the pirates were in their full rights to open fire at the crew or passengers ?

Lets take it step by step
1- Was the boarding of the vessel even legal ?

14. Neutral waters consist of the internal waters, territorial sea, and, where applicable, the archipelagic waters, of neutral States. Neutral airspace consists of the airspace over neutral waters and the land territory of neutral States.

118. In exercising their legal rights in an international armed conflict at sea, belligerent warships and military aircraft have a right to visit and search merchant vessels outside neutral waters where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that they are subject to capture.

119. As an alternative to visit and search, a neutral merchant vessel may, with its consent, be diverted from its declared destination.

event horizon wrote:Contrary to the spin fed to us by the Western and Islamic/Arab media, respectively, it was the Pal-Arabs who rejected the UN partition plan of '47 whereas the Jews accepted the UN plan.