The Israeli raid on a flotilla bound for Gaza, which left at least nine dead, was a disaster. It was poorly conceived, incompetently executed and entirely counter-productive.
Israel has a right to defend its borders, but also a responsibility towards its citizens and friends to remain a beacon of civilised conduct in the Middle East. When it fails in this responsibility, the problem is not its alone. Israel’s friends believe in Israel because they believe in the ideals that it represents. On Monday morning, Israel fell short of these ideals.
Such a betrayal invites a roar of disapproval, all the more damaging to Israel’s interests because of that which it drowns out. Just as the intransigence of the blockade around Gaza has allowed the vile regime of Hamas to escape the scrutiny that it deserves, so has Israel’s blundering savagery on the high seas allowed those on board the flotilla to appear unimpeachable. This is inaccurate and also dangerous.
How sad that the media is so easily swayed by this. Consider the Cuban Missile crisis in the US. We were prepared to engage Russia and Cuba in global war for simply PLACING missiles in Cuba. The Hamas run Gaza is a source of relatively constant rocket attacks on Israel. No other country would tolerate what Israel does. If the ships had truly been ‘humanitarian’ there would have been no reason not to undergo search for weapons. The rockets being fired into Israel are smuggled in, usually through tunnels, or constructed with smuggled parts. The Israelis have every right to prevent that from happening if they can.
As for ‘blundering savagery’, not sure how any normal human would respond to half a dozen men with iron pipes beating on you or your friends. Given the stark nature of the ‘humanitarian’ response to the Israeli boarding of their ships, it is clear that the only reason they were not using ‘real’ weapons is their clear intent to embarrass Israel, which this article has completely fallen for…. Reminds me of the Nazi’s putting children and families on their supply trains to prevent local partisans from attacking them.
For a very frightening analysis see this: http://article.nationalreview.com/435436/a-fine-recipe-for-war/mario-loyola
Obama in throwing Israel under the bus and, in general, floundering in this very real crisis may be creating a situation in which Israel will be forced to war to survive and that war may go nuclear. The more Israel is forced into a corner the more likely this is to happen.
Evidently, Israel has a much testosterone as Saudi Arabia has oil reserves.
Good article. I hear constant noise about Israel’s rights to this and that but almost never any discussion of Israel’s responsibilities to treat people humanely. There is a reason why people would want to send rockets into Israel. Israel could benefit by trying to understand why it is their neighbors hate them so much that they would do that and then work to become a good citizen in the region.
Re #4
Their neighbors hate Israel because it exists. No other reason is necessary for Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc. Trying to excuse the deliberate targeting of civilians through indiscriminate rocketing and suicide attacks on the basis of what Israel does or doesn’t do is simply repulsive.