Israel incited worldwide condemnation on Monday after its commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on their flotilla about 72 miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
The majority of those killed were Turkish citizens. This prompted Turkey, Israel’s most important ally in the Muslim world, to call it a “bloody massacre” that could damage their relations irreparably.
Reports confirm that the activists were merely delivering humanitarian supplies to the Hamas-controlled Strip. But Israel insists that it was merely attempting to ensure that the flotilla (of six ships) was not delivering arms and munitions in contravention of its blockade of this area. After all, it considers Gaza a haven for Palestinian terrorists just as the U.S. considers the Northwest region of Pakistan a haven for al Qaeda terrorists.
Of course, Israel has just cause to be concerned since, despite its blockade, Hamas has managed to acquire thousands of rockets which it continues to fire into Israeli territories. Frankly, the only thing this blockade, which was imposed in 2007, seems to be doing is consigning 1.5 innocent Palestinians to an apartheid-like existence.
This is why Israel is caught in a veritable catch 22:
On the one hand, the leaders of Hamas are quite happy to see their people remain mired in poverty for the propaganda benefit of being able to blame Israel for their plight. On the other hand, the leaders of Israel are continually hard pressed to justify this impoverishing blockade; notwithstanding that it routinely allows tons of humanitarian and other non-military supplies to go into the Strip on a daily basis.
Yet Israel seems determined not only to maintain its blockade (with some politically correct modifications) but also to continue interdicting ships approaching the Gaza Strip. And no doubt it is (mis)guided in this by the way its one indispensable ally, the United States, did essentially the same to Cuba for over 50 years … and counting.
In fact, just as the American embargo was / is intended to demonstrate to the supporters of Fidel Castro that without U.S.’s support Cuba will perish, this Israeli blockade is intended to demonstrate to the supporters of Hamas that without Israel’s support the Gaza Strip will perish. Never mind that this Cuban precedent suggests that, with only three years down, Israel will have to maintain this patently flawed policy for another 47 years to arrive at the futility that is the U.S. policy towards Cuba today…
Apropos this, it is noteworthy that Hamas is considered such a pariah group that Egypt joined Israel in imposing this blockade; notwithstanding this inconvenient truth:
I’m not sure who was more shocked (and disappointed) by the outcome of Wednesday’s free and fair Palestinian elections: The victorious Hamas Islamic group (branded a terrorist organization by governments around the world) and their “wipe-Israel-off-the-map” Islamic sympathizers – led by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; or the defeated Fatah Party and their “you’re-either-with-us-or-against-us” democracy crusaders – led by U.S. President George W. Bush. Frankly, the only appropriate reaction to these elections is to embrace them as a profound and instructive triumph of democracy.
(“Hamas ‘terrorists’ wins legitimate state power,” The iPINIONS Journal, January 26, 2006)
That said, it behooves Israel to at least wait until these ships enter its territorial waters (i.e. 12 miles off the coast) before interdicting the flotillas that are bound to come. This will limit the PR fallout from any casualties that result from its legitimate state actions.
Likewise, though, it behooves these pro-Palestinian activists to behave like the non-violent humanitarians they claim to be. In point of fact, it hardly inspires sympathy for them to attack Israel commandos with metal rods, knives and other make-shift weapons, and then feign self-righteous indignation when a few of them get shot.
Meanwhile, the facts about who shot or struck first will be forever clouded in political spin. There’s no denying, though, that much of the condemnation of Israel is every bit as politically motivated as the activists’ deliberate attempt to provoke this international outrage. And nothing demonstrates this quite like some in the international community comparing Israel’s raid on Monday to al Qaeda’s attacks on 9/11.
Indeed, it’s only a matter of time before even Turkey reveals the disingenuous nature of this criticism by resuming bilateral relations with Israel.
NOTE: Reports are that Turkey plans to dispatch its navy to escort the next flotilla into Gaza. If true, this would constitute an act of war and Israel would be well within its rights to sink any naval vessel that enters its territorial waters under these circumstances.
But only North Korea is stupid and irresponsible enough to provoke such a war. Turkey will fire all kinds of hostile rhetoric but it will not even risk a military confrontation with Israel over this.
Related commentaries:
Israel escalates war in Gaza
Never-ending war between Israelis and Palestinians
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