OK, what’s wrong with the picture conjured up by these headlines?
U.N. Security Council Condemns ‘Acts’ in Israeli Raid
Israel faces int’l fury over flotilla
I know, I know: the phrases “U.N. Security Council condemns” and “Israel” go together like ham and eggs, tea and crumpets, Arab politics and mendacity.
But, really, why should Israel face “international fury” for . . . for what? For acting in self-defense. For that is what happened with that risibly described “aid flotilla,” you know. (“Aid? What aid?” you ask, and it is a good question.)
Those six ships set sail from Turkey to breach the Gaza blockade for one reason and one reason only: to provoke violence.
Nine “civilians” (in Palestinian: “activists,” to the rest of the world, that’s “terrorists”) are dead, shot or otherwise dispatched by Israeli forces. Why? This clip shows why:
One news account of the incident noted that “Israeli ambassadors around the world were called by their host governments to explain the incident.” This being a full-service column, I can save those ambassadors the labor. Here’s the explanation, in brief:
- Israel (and Egypt) decided some time ago to blockade the Gaza Strip because the Palestinians could not break their unfortunate habit of launching rocket attacks against Israel.
- On May 31, the six-ship “freedom flotilla” approaches the Gaza blockade. The Israeli Navy repeatedly warns the ships to turn back or divert to the port of Ashod where their cargo can be inspected.
- Those commanding the ships ignore the order.
- After further warnings, Israeli commandos board the ships from helicopters. The commandos are instantly set upon by Palestinian “peace activists” who beat them with metal clubs and other objects.
- The Israelis, in self-defense, shoot several of those threatening them.
- The firefight being over, the Israelis arrest nearly 600 “peace activists” who refuse to identify themselves.
It never fails to amaze me how often the liberal internationalists and the Left (but I repeat myself) preach about the sanctity and primacy of international law, but, let a nation defend itself in accord with that same international law and they scream about atrocities and war crimes.
Then I remember the first rule of (their) international law: whatever works against Israel and America is correct.
May G-d Bless Israel and the Israelis.
The weapons cache on that vessel were small potatoes, but there was no way for the Israelis to know what kind of weapons it might be carrying. Having said that, slingshots, stones, clubs and knives are hardly the stuff of “relief supplies” are they?
Well, they were intended for the relief of Hamas.
Not that Israel needs to justify itself in enforcing a blockade against ships that could very well deliver arms to the Hamas terrorists in Gaza (by int’l law Israel is required to defend against terrorism & could easily have just shot at the ship from afar & sunk it, like North Korea did 2wks ago,)but the soldiers were set up for a lynching w/ the jihadists on board shooting live ammo & firebombs at the soldiers, not just using metal rods or knives. The IDF’s failure was placating the world community by risking its soldiers lives by not arming them adequately to truly defeat the Turkish-backed provocateurs.
Knowing that there was a very high probability that Israel would intercept the shipment, it wouldn’t have been very bright (not that the Jihadists are often all that bright) to ship much in the way of actual weaponry in this shipment.
Israel on the other hand, had no choice but to stop the shipment. They couldn’t take the chance that there were no heavy weapons on those ships, and they couldn’t permit the precedence of letting some ships through uninspected.
Spin this any way you want, but Israel once again is guilty of an atrocity, which this time won’t go away like its murder of 34 Americans and wounding of another 172 aboard the USS Liberty.
The atrocity of defending itself. How horrible is it that Israelis should expect not to be slaughtered. The chutzpah of it all!
Give it up, fool. Multiple investigations by the US Congress, NSA and Defense Department all concluded that the attack was a “fog of war” accident in which the Liberty was not recognized to be a US vessel. (Once it was, the attack halted immediately.) Declassified voice recordings from Israeli pilots confirmed this fact.Israel apologized, and paid compensation for their mistake. But folks like you won’t let this go.
Or perhaps you think the US attack on the Chinese embassy in Serbia was deliberate, not to mention the US attack on Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Or our own troops lost to friendly fire. (Does the name Kevin Tillman mean anything to you?)
Wasn’t that Pat Tillman..?
Of course the anti-semites won’t let it go. They are more interested in pushing their ideology than they are in pushing the facts.
BULL..
Israel’s position from here forward should be this; when we draw lines in the sand/water/wherever you had better respect them. Test us and you run a strong risk of getting your @$$ handed to you on a platter.
For those of you reading this in the LA area, there is a Pro-Israel rally in front of the the Turkish consulate, Crescent Heights and Wilshire, at 5:00 pm. Please join us if you can.
Nothing at all “wrong” with the picture. Much of the world has yet to recover from the twin shocks of ’67 and ’73, and have been trying to reverse the results ever since. Israel committed the gravest of all sins in demonstrating that it had little need of the European left or for European guilt to survive, and in doing so had the effect of freeing many of recent history’s yoke to follow their hearts and a millennium and more of history.
It is amazing how Western and American liberals are always at the forefront defending and enabling the mad killers of the world. Back in the twenties and thirties many Western liberals George Bernard Shaw for example were great supporters of Mussolini and Hitler; they saw them as misunderstood individuals who really did not mean to hurt anyone. Millions of Western liberals embraced Stalin and the Soviet butchers before and during the Cold War; they felt that the rumors of death camps were propoganda put out by the evil consevatives. If there is a next world then the Western liberal should be condemned to live in a society full of communists secret police, palestenian terrorists, nazi camp guards etc. and barbaric killers. But then they might just like it.
So much for the myth of ‘peace activist’. Axe handles and 2′ pipes can send one to the promised land as easily as a bullet.
I recall my first thoughts after Rachel Corrie got mowed flat by that IDF bulldozer – mommy might have warned you about playing with cars on the freeway but she never thought to warn you about playing with bulldozers.
Same for the 8-10 dead ‘peace activists’. Never bring a knife to a gun fight.
Israel has every right to defend themselves – moreover they have a responsibility to each of their citizens to do so. If I weren’t so old I’d move to Israel and join the IDF. I pray for them daily.
Having the orphaned ‘Palestinians’ left on their doorstep has been a handy propaganda tool for the arab nations since the inception of the Jewish state. I see this as akin to having your neighbors push their unwanted out of their house and made to camp in the back yard of the neighbor they most disliked – leaving the put-upon to make room for and feed the belligerent outcasts.
Israel should begin the process of weeding Gaza. Remove the bad actors – arrest the wanted – and begin integrating those who wish into Israel proper.
I had a small ‘argument’ with a somewhat liberal friend on the golf course this morning. He was livid that Israel could intercept a peaceful bunch of peaceniks. I called him a little while ago to ask if he’d seen the videos of the taking of these ships – he had and was rethinking his position given the facts of the video which didn’t put ‘peaceful’ protesters in a very good light. I had given him a homework assignment before continuing the discussion – to look up the complicity of Egypt in the lock-down of Gaza. I sent him a few links to look at.
He was surprised at that fact. “Why haven’t I ever heard of this before now”? he asked. Because Jim, you don’t get your news where I get mine. Even Fox News doesn’t cover these things – at least not very well.
Question to all you lefties that read/post here: How long have there been arabs who have been called palestinian? But first how about this one: Where is the ‘P’ in the arabic alphabet? Which leads to – how could they have ever called themselves palestinian not having a ‘P’ in their alphabet?
Maybe they’ve adopted a lie?
The IDF had to stop the Jihadi ships but failed in physically engaging the Islamic gangsters. In the past, ships were stopped cold in the middle of the ocean without making contact with the crew. Either use heavy force or no force, There is no in between. The young Navy Seals were thrown into a lions’ den due to a disgraceful intel cockup. What did the Mossad brainnies think was on the Turkish ship? Islamic boy scouts?
“Why Should Israel Face ‘International Fury’ for Acting in Self-Defense?”
Actually, the fury is coming from the international elite — at least in the West. And these people are infuriated because, a) they have taught themselves to hate the Jewish nation; and b) they are utterly terrified of the Islamic asps they have cuddled to their breast.
Assuming that your question is not merely rhetorical, the answer to why the international community at large does not accept Israel’s right to self defense is quite simple: The international community at large does not accept Israel’s right to exist.
Everyone knows full well that the mission of these “humanitarian” ships is to re-open the sea rout to Gaza in order that Iran and other rogue nations may continue to ship arms to the palestinian terrorists, but they’re committed to the anti-Israel narrative. The ships had refused Israel and Egypt’s offer of their own ports, precisely because they wanted a showdown with the Israeli navy. If she wishes to remain secure, Israel will have no choice but to accept the reality that with our current POTUS, they stand alone, and the next ships that attempt to run the blockade may not find themselves being boarded by Israeli Commandos, but at the bottom of the sea.
Perhaps it was a ruse…to get a reaction so they will not be so closely watched next time??? Plus they may have trying to get the world attention on Israel as the “bad guys”..
There are too many lard-asses whose attention spans are too short, and they do not want to expend energy to put more details into context.
The boarding was a consequence of the rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Now, if people
don’t want to know, they usually don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Any rebuttals?
Left/liberal types should just admit it and be anti-semitic. You know they envy Nazis and hate Israel.
Israel has announced that the bulk of the ‘peace’ activists will be processed and deported.
Why not hold all of them regardless of nationality until they get their hijacked soldier back?
Surely these people are heroes to hamas? (or more likely useful idiots)
After just watching Greta on Fox interview some hack ex ambassador named Peck I realize just how naive (or deceiving) these libs are. His claim that this shouldn’t have provoked international flak towards Israel no matter how it turned out seems disingenuous at best. This is a guy who spent a career balancing provocations to probable responses.
Re 16 K.T.: I too watched Peck on Fox with Greta. He impressed me as a perfect candidate for the poster-boy for the phrase ‘useful idiot’. From his behavior we must hypothesize that true liberals as a class are so starkly clueless as to constitute a threat to themselves and those around them.
From a psychological perspective Mr. Peck saw his own
motives in his comrades when he should have been able to distinguish their dissimilar motives from his own.
Fox News has a certain amount of Muslim bias:
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=126042
This part-ownership needs to be fully addressed because we are dealing with matters of national security and have to be able to name our enemy.
Roger,
A question… my wife pointed out that the fact that the ship was Turkish and Turkey is in NATO… could Hamas now use the bully pulpit of NATO to condemn Israel???
I’ve heard talk of Turkey realigning itself with the Islamic world. In the bizarro world possibility that Turkey comes to blows with Israel, whose side is NATO on?
Thanks,
Baal
We may soon find out. Turkey is threatening to accompany the next major “aid” flotilla with their own warships, posing a real dilemma for Israel and its navy.
It’s clear today’s Turkey is moving to the dark side. They were the first to welcome a visit from newly elected Hamas in 2006. They’re strengthening their strategic ties with Iran and Syria, even holding military exercises with the latter. They stand in solidarity even with Sudan (still a member in good standing in the Arab League). And Erdogan never misses an opportunity to slam Israel.
It boils down to this:
Any legitimate “aid” for the inhabitance of Gaza can be brought in through the Port of Ashdod. There is no reason to attempt to breach the blockade unless you are attempting to bring in contraband of some kind… like, maybe… rockets? They didn’t find rockets this time because the flotilla was an attempted invasion for the purpose of bringing international pressure on Israel to end the blockade – so that weapons can once again be brought into Gaza for the purpose of killing more Israelis. Therefore, the flotilla’s purpose was the murder on Israelis and Israel should not back down.
Take a look at the video at time 1:03 or so, the IDF guy looks like he is shooting a paint ball gun–an f***ing paint ball gun at these boneheads. That is remarkable restraint, or maybe just desperation. Unbelievable.
“Question to all you lefties that read/post here: How long have there been arabs who have been called palestinian? But first how about this one: Where is the ‘P’ in the arabic alphabet? Which leads to – how could they have ever called themselves palestinian not having a ‘P’ in their alphabet?”
I am not a leftie but do study languages and history….who ever told you Palestinians are / were Arabs to begin with..?? Why would they refer to themselves or by others as Palestinian in Arabic Language when their origin is not Arabic..?
Maybe the education on this board needs to start with Origin of Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, and assorted players on the board. If this is what people believe, no wonder the middle east is such a mess.
Try studying actual History of the region instead of sitting on lard asses, as David Lincoln so eloquently states.
If your argument is that the so-called palestinians aren’t of arab descent then perhaps you need some history lessons.
The BS in this story is so thick that you can cut it with a knife.
This has nothing to do with who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s all about marketing. And let’s face it, Israel sucks in the marketing department.
International condemnation means nothing. It’s all posturing. Nobody cares about this “crisis”. They are just going through the motions to play it safe.
Honestly, who cares about international condemnation? It means less than nothing. As the old saying goes, it’s better to be feared than loved.
Clarification: It’s not Roger Kimball’s story that is BS but the hole media narrative and the reactions from various officials.
Logistics is the real issue here. Weaponry aside, “an army travels on its stomach.” Six shiploads of comestibles, medical goodies, communications equipment, etc., provide great help to the terrorists of Hamas . The solution is to identify and eliminate, with prejudice, the members of terrorist groups. At the same time those already brainwashed into following their murderous, brigand, childmolesting mohammed, need to be re-educated into biblical christianity; not some nutcake, manmade garbage; but just what God says in His bible. He has commanded us, over and over, not to add to or subtract from His word- yet the denominations ignore His commands and do as they feel like doing.
And most of us are so uncaring, so lazy, so irrational, so wicked- that we let them get away with it.
How about this: Lets all agree to live according to the New Testament, nothing more or less, for, say, six months, and see how it works out. For starters, there will be no war, crime or poverty. Is that a good beginning?
Personally, I would have just sunk one of the boats and threatened to the sink the rest. If compliance didn’t follow, there’d be a whole lot of new scrap metal on the bottom of the Med right now.
The “peace” ‘flotilla’ had the opportunity to peacefully have their ships and their “humanitarian aid” cargo inspected and permission to enter Gaza by Israeli IDF but they choose the confrontation instead of “peaceful” interaction.
This was clearly intentional provocation with the classic MO using non combatants, women and children as shields and ‘peace’ as the premise knowing full well the intent was only confrontation.
The international media are fools.
The Turks are turning to the darkside. The US under Obama is a paper tiger and a feckless ally and they know it. Iran and Syria are powerful neighbors and Turkey is moving in their direction.
The flotilla is mostly about the Turkish strategic realignment. The US is losing the midle east quickly under Obama. I dont think they will fight Israel and attempting to run the blockade with their warships could only end in a major regional war. They will wait and see what happens when Hizbolla/Syria/Iran launch their war which will happen the minute the Iranians have their Nukes.
Everything that happened on that ship was as planned by Hamas and its ‘useful idiots’ outside the strip . Only the Israelis were suprised by the cleverness and ferocity of its opponents – again. If they do not start to take things seriously they will lose much much more.
Spindok
“Or will they finally wake up to what is really going on in the Middle East?”
What is going on in the middle east has been as plain as day for many decades now.
Yeah…and…….I back isreal 10000%. But you are not going to get liberal terrorists to ever admit any wrong doing no matter what evidence you find. Every act of bloodshed is perfectly justified. Every innocent isreali is a dragon needing to be slaughtered and every terrorist planting bombs on schoolbuses are the white knights. You have the people with grief and you have the rest with a narrative that cannot be broken. Things like facts are nothing more than evil propaganda or tales of rightious glory. We need to stop caring and appeasing and fight back and wipe them away. They will do no less!
Israel has not been inactive in the political media battle. The Hamas agents must expose the actual goal – breaking the blockade. I see a shift as even some US officials are referring to the blockade itself as “unsustainable”. What the hell does that mean? It means that the Obamas are feeling more heat than they can handle. They cannot accept that fukyamas beautiful thesis is in tatters. This is not the end of history. This is war without end and we are losing against a determined enemy with no illusions. It happens every day in Afghanistan where American troops are fighting a blood and guts war and the public knows much more about who won in ‘ dancing with the stars’, if anything.
The israeli message must be declared over and over in the loudest possible way and using the fast moving communication tools of the day. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook…these should be tools very familiar to a nation as tech savvy and creative as Israel.
This conflict is a direct result of the weakness of the US government.
Spin
So had the Israelis let the ship through, would their neighbors no longer want to kill them? Would the world care any more about dead jews?
“I insist that our fathers did not make this nation half slave and half free, or part slave and part free.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1858)
The aid they where bringing were those items banned by Israel in it’s collective punishment of the people of Gaza.
Gaza has been under severe Israeli restrictions, preventing all exports and confining imports to a limited supply of humanitarian goods.
There are delays facing the delivery of even the most basic aid. On average, it takes 85 days to get shelter kits into Gaza, 68 days to deliver health and paediatric hygiene kits, and 39 days for household items such as bedding and kitchen utensils.
Among the many items delayed are notebooks and textbooks for children returning to school. As many as 120 truckloads of stationery were “stranded” in the West Bank and Israel due to “ongoing delays in approval”.
Government schools were reported to lack paper and chalk, while the UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees and runs many schools in Gaza, was still waiting to import 4,000 desks and 5,000
items considered a “security threat”.
Other items banned from entering Gaza, coriander, pasta, fruit juice, toilet paper, chocolate, cigarettes, seedlings, school books and uniforms ,wood for construction, cement ,musical instruments,size A4 paper
writing implements,notebooks ,newspapers,toys.
Pasta, which had been forbidden in the past, is now allowed.
Hospitals and primary care facilities, damaged during operation ‘Cast Lead’, have not been rebuilt because construction materials are not allowed into Gaza.
Roughly 90 percent of Gaza’s factories are closed or are functioning at less than 10 percent capacity because of the inability to obtain raw materials and the inability to export finished products .
Rather than targeting armed groups, the blockade mainly hits the most vulnerable, such as children (who make up more than half of the population in Gaza), the elderly, the sick and the Gaza Strip’s large refugee population.
World Health Organization (WHO) trucks of medical equipment bound for Gazan hospitals have repeatedly been turned away, without explanation, by Israeli border officials.
Goldstone said his central criticism of Israel is that its strategy intentionally applied disproportionate force in Gaza to inflict widespread damage on the civilian population.
His report found that the Israeli air and ground attacks destroyed 5,000 homes; put 200 factories out of operation, including the only flour factory in the country; systematically destroyed egg-producing chicken farms; and bombed sewage and water systems. “If that isn’t collective punishment, what is?’’ Goldstone asked.’
All Hamas has to do to get the blockade removed, is agree to stop killing Israeli’s at every opportunity.
Oh bullshit. Tons and tons hundreds of trucks full of supplies and aid enter Gaza each day.
The Palestinians have a much higher standard of living than most of their Arab brethren. If they would cease their terroristic acts they would not be subjected to the restrictions.
all the palestinians , hamas and islamic jihad, have to do is renounce violence and recognize israel then all of this violence vanishes
Personally I don’t care if the ship was carrying rainbows and unicorns. The terrorists on board were determined to start a fight and so they did. Unfortunately for them the Israeli’s ended it. With all the hubbub about the Israeli blockade why has there been virtually no mention of the Egyptian blockade. Oh, I forgot, there aren’t any Jews in Egypt.
The UN lost its credibility when it started appointing countries like Libya and China to “human rights commissions.” It’s long past time we got the US out of the UN, and the UN out of the US. Let them set up shop somewhere like Nairobi where they’re still relevant.
As for the situation in Israel, in my mind the Palestinians in Israel are exactly like the Catholics in northern Ireland: yes, they were the original victims, but they’ve long since thrown away that moral high ground by attacking noncombatants, and the only “road map” that either place needs is for someone to compel a complete and permanent stop to the fighting, NOW, even if it means preserving an unfair division of land.
I am not yet sure whether some Muslims can still be trusted to make a peace treaty and keep it, but there are certainly quite a few who can’t, and the world needs to take that fact into account when assigning blame for any incidents like this one.