bobdina
07-14-2010, 09:36 AM
The truth about the Gaza Flotilla
National Post editorial board July 13, 2010 – 3:09 pm
When Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish jihadis on board the lead ship of a Gaza-bound flotilla six weeks ago, Israel’s enemies exhibited unusually fervid spasms of agitation. Never mind that about half the victims already had declared their aspiration to die at Israeli hands as violent “martyrs”; or that the organizers were part of an NGO that Western prosecutors and researchers have linked to terrorism. As with the Gaza war in late 2008, the case was presented as a black-and-white morality play, with Israel in the role of vicious marauder. Indeed, left-wing commentators could barely contain their glee at how these “martyrs” had passive-aggressively engineered an epochal shift in the balance of Middle Eastern power. “Israel’s ill-fated boarding operation of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara has become a nightmare for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but a dream come true for the leaders of Hamas,” reported The Globe & Mail’s Patrick Martin. “It took the deaths of nine international activists, most of them Turkish, to make a difference.”
Sorry, Patrick, but this “dream come true” now appears to have been short-lived. Though tarnished in the court of global opinion, Israel’s embargo remains intact (though the Israeli government has decided to expand the list of permitted humanitarian imports). A copycat Iranian flotilla operation was scrapped in the face of Israel’s proven resolve. And this week, the captain of a Libyan ship chickened out in similar fashion — sailing his cargo to Egypt instead of Gaza. Turkey is still sulking, and has demanded an official Israeli apology. But as The New York Times reported earlier this month, “in most other respects, it is still business as usual between the longtime allies.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s economy continues to outperform other Western economies: As Robert Fulford reported in Saturday’s edition of the National Post, the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” campaign (which, Mr. Martin and other left-wing pundits tell us, is poised to bring the Jewish state to its knees) remains a fantasy of union activists and student street marchers.
For the sake of those observers who actually do care about the truth of the Gaza flotilla operation, Israel has just released unclassified elements of an expert military investigation into the episode. While the authors criticize intelligence failures leading up to the confrontation, they conclude that the Israeli commandos’ use of deadly force was justified by circumstances. When the first team of helicopter-borne commandos arrived on the deck of the flotilla’s lead vessel, they were immediately set upon by dozens of knife- and axe-wielding attackers. Some soldiers were thrown off the ship’s main deck. One was shot in the abdomen. Three were taken prisoner inside the ship (where they overheard heated arguments between the boat’s martyrdom-minded activists and the more pacifistic variety). It was the “activists,” not the commandos, who initiated the use of deadly force.
More flotillas are no doubt on their way. This week in Toronto, in fact, a coalition of tiny, overlapping radical anti-Israeli groups announced, with great fanfare, a project called “Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Help Launch a Canadian Boat to Gaza.”
Here at home, these organizers may ultimately be prosecuted for breaking laws that prohibit Canadians from giving material support to terrorists. But off Gaza’s shores, the mission likely will end in failure: The Jewish state now knows what to expect the next time it confronts “humanitarian” activists operating in league with Hamas.
National Post
Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/13/national-post-editorial-board-the-truth-about-the-gaza-flotilla/#ixzz0tfCjdxTF
National Post editorial board July 13, 2010 – 3:09 pm
When Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish jihadis on board the lead ship of a Gaza-bound flotilla six weeks ago, Israel’s enemies exhibited unusually fervid spasms of agitation. Never mind that about half the victims already had declared their aspiration to die at Israeli hands as violent “martyrs”; or that the organizers were part of an NGO that Western prosecutors and researchers have linked to terrorism. As with the Gaza war in late 2008, the case was presented as a black-and-white morality play, with Israel in the role of vicious marauder. Indeed, left-wing commentators could barely contain their glee at how these “martyrs” had passive-aggressively engineered an epochal shift in the balance of Middle Eastern power. “Israel’s ill-fated boarding operation of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara has become a nightmare for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but a dream come true for the leaders of Hamas,” reported The Globe & Mail’s Patrick Martin. “It took the deaths of nine international activists, most of them Turkish, to make a difference.”
Sorry, Patrick, but this “dream come true” now appears to have been short-lived. Though tarnished in the court of global opinion, Israel’s embargo remains intact (though the Israeli government has decided to expand the list of permitted humanitarian imports). A copycat Iranian flotilla operation was scrapped in the face of Israel’s proven resolve. And this week, the captain of a Libyan ship chickened out in similar fashion — sailing his cargo to Egypt instead of Gaza. Turkey is still sulking, and has demanded an official Israeli apology. But as The New York Times reported earlier this month, “in most other respects, it is still business as usual between the longtime allies.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s economy continues to outperform other Western economies: As Robert Fulford reported in Saturday’s edition of the National Post, the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” campaign (which, Mr. Martin and other left-wing pundits tell us, is poised to bring the Jewish state to its knees) remains a fantasy of union activists and student street marchers.
For the sake of those observers who actually do care about the truth of the Gaza flotilla operation, Israel has just released unclassified elements of an expert military investigation into the episode. While the authors criticize intelligence failures leading up to the confrontation, they conclude that the Israeli commandos’ use of deadly force was justified by circumstances. When the first team of helicopter-borne commandos arrived on the deck of the flotilla’s lead vessel, they were immediately set upon by dozens of knife- and axe-wielding attackers. Some soldiers were thrown off the ship’s main deck. One was shot in the abdomen. Three were taken prisoner inside the ship (where they overheard heated arguments between the boat’s martyrdom-minded activists and the more pacifistic variety). It was the “activists,” not the commandos, who initiated the use of deadly force.
More flotillas are no doubt on their way. This week in Toronto, in fact, a coalition of tiny, overlapping radical anti-Israeli groups announced, with great fanfare, a project called “Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Help Launch a Canadian Boat to Gaza.”
Here at home, these organizers may ultimately be prosecuted for breaking laws that prohibit Canadians from giving material support to terrorists. But off Gaza’s shores, the mission likely will end in failure: The Jewish state now knows what to expect the next time it confronts “humanitarian” activists operating in league with Hamas.
National Post
Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/13/national-post-editorial-board-the-truth-about-the-gaza-flotilla/#ixzz0tfCjdxTF