Salaam
Beware wall of text incoming but its worth the read
Another day, another atrocity, Israel truly does deserves its label ‘Rogue State’ a state not bound by international laws or norms, but it needn’t worry to much, its main backer (USA )knows a thing or two about how irrelevant International law becomes when it interferes with its goals so after some mild protests it will turn (as per usual) a blind eye to its thuggery.
First off we have to remember that Israel has been attacking shipping for many years prior to this event. Israel has been hijacking Lebanese boats and kidnapping Lebanese fisherman for years notwithstanding the daily harassment Palestinian fisherman suffer, (if they can get out to sea at all) but since these people are deemed little better than ‘two legged beasts’ nobody took much notice.
However last year, there was a confrontation between International peace activists and the Israeli navy. Very similar though far less deadly to the one we have just witnessed (before the Gaza massacre took place). A small boat named the Dignity was travelling from Cyprus to Lebanon. There were doctors, human rights activists on board. Their goal was to bypass Israel’s blockade of the Gaza strip and bring much needed food and supplies to the trapped population. The boat was intercepted by the Israeli navy far out at sea in International waters. The Israeli ship rammed it without warning severely damaging the boat but thankfully it managed to limp to a Lebanese harbor.
Israel provided the routine lies, terrorists, Iranian agents, Al Qaida etc etc and even had the gall to claim they didn’t ram the boat! Unluckily for the Western propaganda systems there were respected journalists on board for example CNN correspondent Karl who reported what happened but this incident was dismissed and quickly forgotten.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008...-gaza-aid-ship
Another aspect was that Israeli had their Hasbra operation (propaganda operation) well prepared. Check out this report which was filed before the incident took place
It’s a public relation blitz we haven’t seen in years. As a flotilla of boats attempts to sale to Gaza to deliver aid and to break the siege Israel is busy with its own good will campaign. At this impromptu press conference given by the army department responsible for transporting goods into Gaza the message was simple. The flotilla is unnecessary because there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Reporter
According to the UN 80% of the population of Gaza is poor, 60% are unemployed. 75% are insecure, every major international organisation from Amnesty International to the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, I could go on, has called it a humanitarian crises.
Col Moshe Levi
We know the data base you introduce, this is not an indication of a crises in the strip. . . . .
Reporter
Lie? 80%. . . . .
Col Moshe Levi
No no, its not a lie we know more than 70% of population is under the poor rate but this is part of area. . . .
Next journalists were taken for a tour around Kabin Abi Salem one of the few terminals into Gaza that Israel hasn’t shut down.
The part of all this is to show us all the goods that enter the Gaza through Israel. The authorities has also given us the fact sheet dazzling us with the hundreds of thousands of tons that enter Gaza almost every day from Israel. Problem is nowhere on the sheet of paper does it tell us or compare how much Gaza gets to much Gaza needs.
So lets do the missing math’s, according to the army 156000 tones of food has been delivered in the last 6 months, that means around 4kg of food per Gazan per week.
But the point is not the volume of food, but the type being allowed in say the UN, especially the lack of fresh vegetables and protein causing malnourishment.
The army claimed that they allowed 6000 people to leave Gaza for medical reasons but what about those who are denied exits. According to the UN since the start of the siege 40% who apply for medical permits aren’t granted them.
I put that to the army who conceded that 1000 patients had been prevented from leaving this year, he also didn’t refute the claim that 4 Palestinians died last year waiting for permits to exit Gaza for medical reasons and it goes on. Government press office recently sent journalist the menu of a restraint in Gaza in a tongue and cheek effort to prove that there is no food shortage.
But according to the restraints owner 70% of his food is smuggled from Egypt via the tunnels which also means that its expensive and out of reach for the vast majority of the population. To press the point further the media office also provided video of Gazans eating at the restraint but one of the diners is Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas who hasn’t set foot in Gaza since the siege began 3 years ago.
Away from the statistics, shows and spin lies the real Gaza strip. 1.7 million people trapped inside a 40km long ghetto, if the flotilla arrives this is the Gaza activist will see and when they go this is what they will leave behind.
Here’s two reaction to the incident. First of Norman Finkelstein being interviewed by RT
Reporter
We have had widespread condemnation from Europe of the actions of the Israeli defence force who boarded the aid ship flotilla, what has been the reaction in America?
Norman Finkelstein
So far there has been a mild statement by President Obama, regretting what happened, saying it should be investigated but not going beyond that. I would call that a mild display of concern.
Reporter
So just a mild display of concern but Jerusalem was saying it was trying to protect its borders and its citizens and the flotilla was on a mission to discredit the State of Israel. What do you say to that?
Norman Finkelstein
I think there are many things that need to be said and there has to be serious thought given to what has happened. Lets start with the basics
1
Israel is imposing an illegal blockade on Gaza, what was called by Amnesty International last week a flagrant violation of International Law. The United Nations committee of elders, people like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu just distributed a statement today in which they called the blockade of Gaza
‘one of the worst human rights violations in the world today’
2
Number 2 Israel attacked a humanitarian convoy in International waters. They used armed commandoes to attack an international or should I say humanitarian convoy in International waters. I think everyone agree that there is no possible way to justify using armed force against what were clearly unarmed humanitarians trying to relive an illegal siege of Gaza.
To me the more important question is this, namely Israel’s massacre in Gaza in December 2008/January 2009, afterwards Israeli officials were saying that they wanted to show the Arab world that they were capable of acting like a lunatic state and like mad dogs, they wanted to restore the Arab worlds fear of Israel and that’s why they acted like a lunatic state and mad dogs in Gaza.
But after yesterdays events we really have to ask the question, is Israel acting like a lunatic state or has it become a lunatic state and that’s not rhetoric, it’s a very serious issue.
Reporter
The UN are meeting today, it’s held an emergency meeting to discuss the raid and to react to what Israel has done. What conclusions do you think they will come to? Do you think their findings will make any difference?
Norman Finkelstein
Well I think the important issue is what happened in Gaza, excuse me,
what happened with the Gaza flotilla was not an accident, you have to remember the Israeli cabinet met for fully a week, all the cabinet ministers discussed, deliberated, how they would handle the flotilla. There were numerous reports in the Israeli press, numerous suggestions, words, and recommendations on what to do. They decided on a night time armed Commando raid on an International convoy.
Israel now is a lunatic state; it’s a lunatic state with between 200 and 300 nuclear devices, its threatening war daily against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah in Lebanon has already stated in several occasions, if Israel attacks it will retaliate in kind, things are getting out of control.
We have to ask ourselves a basic fundamental question. Can a lunatic state like Israel be trusted with 200 to 300 nuclear devices when it is threatening its neighbors and Lebanon with attack.
These are serious issues
A response from George Galloway
This is George Galloway, Viva Palestina I’m calling from Houston Texas in the United States of America
News has just broken of this barbarous act of piracy conducted by the so called state of Israel in which innocent humanitarian aid workers have been cold bloodily murdered and dozens wounded, maybe more deaths to come in the hours that will follow.
This crime is one of the most dastardly attacks on humanitarian aid workers in recent times and amidst the wreckage of the freedom flotilla is what remains of Israel’s reputation as a member of the International community.
Israel has grown used to killing people as an answer to their political problems, but now they have moved from killing those Palestinians who have the misfortune to live under their occupation or behind the walls of their siege, now International citizens of 40 countries have come under a hail of gunfire from the Israeli defence force.
This crime will not go unanswered by the government of Turkey which has invested heavily in the International diplomacy to try to come to the aid of the Palestinians under siege but the International community as a whole must respond.
Ambassadors must be recalled, Israeli ambassadors should be asked to leave and a whole review of the international community’s relationship with this criminal pirate state if Israel should now be launched
I will be giving a press conference in Houston in the morning and we will decide then what to do about the rest of the tour of the United States.
People should stay in touch with Viva Palestina, Viva Palestina Arabia was a partner in the flotilla and we send our condolences to the families of the dead, our sympathies to the wounded, our disappointment to the poor Palestinians under siege in Gaza who will not now receive the 20 million dollars worth of charitable aid given from all over the world to try to make their lives just a little bit easier.
This disaster cannot go unanswered, for the International community to stand up and be counted and to stop treating the law breaking rogue state as if it were a respectable member of the United Nations
This is George Galloway from Houston Texas sending my most sincere condolences to all those gravely affected by this crime.
Now after the incident took place there was a flurry of activity. This Israeli statement would put satirists out of a job, satire incarnated as Mark Twain would say.
DEPUTY FM AYALON:
Good morning, everyone.
]I want to report this morning that the armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organization was a premeditated and outrageous provocation. The organizers are well-known for their ties to Global Jihad, Al-Qaeda and Hamas. They have a history of arms smuggling and deadly terror. On board the ship we found weapons that were prepared in advance and used against our forces. The organizers’ intent was violent, their method was violent, and unfortunately, the results were violent.
Israel regrets any loss of life and did everything to avoid this outcome. We repeatedly called upon the organizers and all those who were associated with them, through diplomatic channels and any other means we could, to stop this provocation.
The so-called humanitarian aid was not for a humanitarian purpose. Had it been for a humanitarian purpose, they would have accepted our offer to deliver all humanitarian supply through the appropriate channels which are used on a daily basis, as we make sure that Gaza will not be in short of humanitarian supplies. On a daily basis, we do that. We ask them to send this through the appropriate channels, whether it’s the U.N., whether it’s the Red Cross, whether it’s our people, but to no avail.
In fact, what they said was that it’s a humanitarian campaign, but they said repeatedly that their intent and purpose was to break the blockade, the maritime blockade, on Gaza. The maritime blockade on Gaza is very legal and justified by the terror that Hamas is applying in Gaza. Allowing these ships to go in an illegal way to Gaza would have opened in fact a corridor of smuggling arms and terrorists to Gaza, with the results, inevitable results, of many, many thousands of civilian deaths and violence all over the area.
After these repeated calls where not heeded by the organizers, we told them that they will not be allowed to break the blockade, as according to maritime law we have the right to do that. Unfortunately, they also, people, the organizers upon the ship, did not heed the calls of our forces this morning to peacefully follow them and bring a closure, a peaceful closure, to this event.
No sovereign country would tolerate such violence against its civilian population, against its sovereignty, against international law. And we in Israel call today upon all relevant parties and all relevant countries to work together on calming the situation. Thank you very much. [/QUOTE]
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/no-words/
For example Israeli commandos claiming they didn’t attack them they attacked us, or the outrageous behaviour of the activists as they dared to defend themselves from attack. No doubt the Israeli media will describe them as ‘lynch mob’ ‘thugs’, ‘Iranian agents,’ ‘Al Qaida’, ‘terrorists’. I also wonder if the Israelis will sink as low as trying and plant weapons on the ships to discredit the humanitarian convoy.
However During the day Israeli propaganda did improve. We had our good friend Mark Regev heroically defending the indefensible. I was particularly impressed with his lie that if only the flotilla docked at an Israeli port, the Israelis would kindly transport all goods to the Gazans, I’m sure Goebbels would be impressed. The subtle racism is also worth drawing attention to. Note how Israeli is entitled to do whatever it takes to ‘defend’ itself by ‘whatever’ means yet the Palestinians are not permitted to do the same and the existential threat they face is far far worse, they are trying to prevent their people becoming a victim of politicide.
However they maybe some glimmers of hope. Many of Israeli backers are becoming unhappy at Israelis two bit thuggery, check out this comment piece from the Financial Times not exactly a radical outfit
Attack on blockade-busters damages its legitimacy
With yesterday’s brazen act of piracy, Israel dealt a blow to the legitimacy of its own struggle. The killing of activists aboard the captured ships sent Israel’s way of defending its security, which it was already imperative to return within the bounds of international law, hurtling into lawlessness.
Israel claims the activists had links with extremist groups and that some attacked Israeli soldiers with knives and sticks (and in some accounts the odd light firearm). Even if true, this would not justify the illegal capture of civilian ships carrying humanitarian aid in international waters, let alone the use of deadly force.
Outrageous as this behaviour was, the true outrage is the illegal blockade of Gaza that it enforced. Since the January 2009 Gaza war, which exposed Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas’s capabilities regardless of the cost to innocent Palestinians, Israel and Egypt have colluded to prevent the enclave’s reconstruction. According to the United Nations, three-quarters of the damage has not been repaired and 60 per cent of homes do not have enough food.
The ostensible goal is to weaken Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot that rules Gaza (and whose Egyptian incarnation is Hosni Mubarak’s only real opposition ). But the blockade aimed at crushing it, besides the illegal collective punishment it implies, only shores up Hamas’s support. If Israel and Egypt wanted to turn Gaza into a mafia-run statelet, they could hardly do better than sever any alternatives to Hamas’s smuggling network, leaving the population even more at its mercy.
Hamas engages in terrorism and fires occasional rockets into Israel, but it is an example of that rarest of Middle Eastern species: a popularly elected government. It has also signed up to the 2002 comprehensive peace offer by the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. If this is a bluff, it is one Israel has yet to call. That is what this is ultimately about. Israel’s government has been pretending it is ready to negotiate for peace, but that there is no one to negotiate with on the other side. The attack on the blockade-busters lays bare the country’s slide into contempt for international law, intolerance of dissent and wilful sabotage of viable representation for Palestinians.
Israel has always known the importance of its conduct being judged legal by the world’s leading powers. Those powers – in the body of the Quartet and the UN Security Council – must now make clear it has gone too far.
and even Israel papers are despondent
State of insanity
Gaza flotilla drives Israel into a sea of stupidity
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.
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/state-of-insanity/