Brutal violence is all too commonplace. But usually it is not public, as was the Israeli Navy's attack on the flotilla bringing aid to Gaza. The flotilla was designed to bring public attention to the plight of civilians of Gaza, and it has done so.
Israel's action, indisputably in international waters, was an ill conceived act of piracy condemned by essentially every nation other than the United States. The seizure of the flotilla of civilian ships is the consequence of a government committed to defending the siege of Gaza at all costs rather than defending Israel itself.
The United States is Israel's primary friend. But when our friend does something so clearly wrong, it is our obligation to come to the aid of the victim and demonstrate that another path is not only possible but the right approach. To do otherwise serves neither the United States nor Israel.
There is no set of facts which justifies the deaths of the flotilla civilians. Instead, faced with near universal revulsion and condemnation, Israel is trying very hard to change the subject away from the humanitarian consequences of the siege, or away from its clearly illegal boarding of a ship far out in international waters, to instead focus on the resistance of a small number of people on the attacked ship. To illustrate even the inadequacy of this defense, just imagine if the ships had been American ships delivering aid to victims of a Pakistani earthquake which were attacked by Al Qaeda.
I recognize that it is early in the news cycle, and that much more will be unveiled. But the unavoidable truth is that the flotilla was in international waters. Israel has no jurisdiction in those waters.
Today, the civilians of Gaza need support. Withholding food, medicine and building supplies from the million and a half civilians of Gaza because of the indefensible thuggery of Hamas is collective punishment that is appropriately illegal under the Geneva Conventions. It is not only unethical but does not work.
Israel's unprovoked attack on the flotilla has brought unprecedented international attention to the blockade and its humanitarian consequences. The United States stands alone on this issue.
There is only one international voice that has influence in Israel and that is the United States. The same ships that brought relief to Haiti can bring food and medical supplies to Gaza. The United States should set a very short deadline for ending the blockage. If the siege is not ended, then American ships should set sail. Rep. Brian Baird of Washington has called for a modern Berlin airlift for Gaza. Much of the naval might of the United States is in the Middle East.
What better symbol of American honor and integrity than to divert a handful of those ships to delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Would Israel dare stop and board American relief ships?
Brad Hirschfield: Mourning, Not Politicizing, Gaza Flotilla's Dead and Wounded
What matters today, at least in any conversation which claims to be driven by spiritual or religious sensibilities, is the sadness at the loss of life and continued suffering on both sides of this conflict.
Ahmed Rehab: Israel Gaza Attack: Do Actions of the 'Jewish State' Represent Jewish Values?
Israel's failure is not a failure of Jewish values. If anything, it's a failure to apply Jewish values.
The US President has the Constitution authority to use Navy vessels to escort humanitarian aid without requesting approval from Congress. He even has the authority to wage war for a short period of time without Congress's approval. However, it is unlikely that the President would use American vessels to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza area.
I abhore the Hamas thugs and wish that they would be destroyed by the civilians of Gaza uprising against them. But that is very unlikely. It is not unreasonable that some privately or corporate owned American vessels will participate in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. Such vessels would most likely have numerous reporters on board with satellitereal time communications transmitting video to the news entities. Raiding or using violence against such woule destroy any standing Israel still has.
"Would Israel dare stop and board American relief ships?"
Israel has done worse.
To American ships.
The Liberty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
Questioning legalities is irrelevant when Israel is involved. The US will turn a blind eye and Israel will do whatever it wants and the World be damned.
First, the fact that the ships were stopped in International waters is hardly the determining factor as to whether this was "illegal" or not. You can stop ships in international waters if they are on a mission that you have the right to stop, as in blockade running. The fight here is over the "legality" of the blockade, not the place where the ships were stopped.
Second, your proposal that the U.S. Navy break the blockade is pure fantasy. The President is trying to salvage his international policies while steering as best he can between Turkey and Israel, all while desperately hoping that domestic political pressure in favor of Israel don't completely erode his freedom of action. The idea that, even if he wanted to, it is politically possible for him to up and send the U.S. Navy off to break the IDF is ludicrous. Do you think he is a dictator? The Congress would never stand for it. Further, the American people largely support Israel and view the Palestinians as terrorists. The President would find more political support for helping enforce the blockade than for sending the Navy to end it. Sheesh!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
Of course It Was A Mistake, and the It Was A Mistake option has passed Israel by (probably it would have been invoked if the president had been more forthright.)
I still think we have progressed beyond the point where we stand for any of our citizens or, even worse, our valuable military hardware to be anywhere within the range of anything non-nuclear the Israelis may lob out. In other words *we* learned our lesson with examples like the Liberty - we can't afford as a nation to confront Israel.
...And the devil was thrown into a bottomless pit. And the US is in a financial pit they can't get out of aren't they? Pluck the log out of your own eye before you make suggestions to other country's problems or where their logs may be.
Israel has a right to protect the nation from the TERRORISTS embeded in the Gaza Strip, who take advantage of their civilian population by using them as human shields.
The SIMPLE ANSWER is that ALL SHIPMENTS into Gaza be fully inspected for the removal of CONTRABAND [anything which will benefit the TERRORISTS and this includes cement/concrete for building fortifications].
IF the "blockade runners" would follow proper proceedure, then there would be no conficts like occured in the articles relating to the intercepted "blockade running" convoy..
In the case of the so-called "innocent protester's" convoy, it's clear this was a setup to "sucker" Israel into just what transpired. This was done by the TERRORIST sympathisers to generate negative reaction from decent, but misled, publlic opinion.
Israel will allow ANY true purely "humanitarian" aid materials into the Gaza Strip IF it is inspected and "cleared" of contraband first.
Stop allowing yourselves to be misled by the TERRORISTS and their co-conspirators using this type of misleading propaganda to enlist the help of decent people worldwide.
Again, all the innocent Gazans [and even the TERRORIST OCCUPIERS] of the strip need to do is STOP trying to get arms, munitions, and materials for TERRORISM INTO GAZA.
They need to cease pursuit of this goal, and have their supportors "outside" send only humanitarian goods via the "proper" shipping methods [inspections] to get ANY HUMANITARIAN AID they want into Gaza.
Why did Bush insist on elections for Palestine, then he did not accept the results of democratic elections when the result was not his choice.
Do we or don't we support democracy? The terrorists become the elected to become the terrorists again. We missed a great chance to grow the disenfranchised into responsible governance.
Who exactly are the terrorists in this drama?
Are Israel and its politicians so naive that they fell into such a simple "sucker" trap?
All of the ships were inspected to ensure that they carried no weapons before they departed.
There were, and not even Israel is claiming that there were, any arms and munitions on any of the ships. As to "marterials" what "materials"? For goodness sake, Israel has banned things like cardammon, and has prohibited quantities of cement for which the UN offered guarantees and supervision as to its use on UN buildings that Israel damaged in Cast Lead.
There is also some evidence that the convoy was funded and prepared by the Turkish terrorist group IHH. This is the group the "Millennium bomber" is accused of belonging to.
I don't imagine the USA would allow this convoy into it's terrirorial water either.
Israel boarded a ship that was attempting to smuggle items into its territory. Similar ships have in the past delivered rockets and weapons that have killed innocent Israeli men, women and children. The USA and other countries board smugglers on a daily basis. Any resistance is met with overwhelming force. The only difference here, for discriminatory reasons, the racists and anti-Semites don't believe the Israeli soldiers have a right to defend themselves or use force to prevent smuggling.
Every country in the world would do exactly what Israel did, except many would have been more aggressive and brutal. I can only image the brutality a Jewish relief ship would have met at the hands of a Palestinian Navy!
Everyone condemning Israel is a hypocrite. They did their best with a bad situation.
PS I bet, after the ships are searched, every bit of peaceful aid will be forwarded to Gaza. Again more than the Jews could hope for at the hands of the Palestinians.
Think about it, man - will the Palestinians have the same "rights" that Israel currently seems to enjoy ?
"I bet, after the ships are searched, every bit of peaceful aid will be forwarded to Gaza."
If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.
Do you think they will release ALL the film and video of the incident they confiscated ?
The flotilla should have allowed themselves to be diverted and then made a legal claim later if it bothered them to be diverted in International waters. To argue that their is a real difference on where and when the boats should be stopped is pissing in the wind.
The Flotilla activists wanted to cause a seen and therefore have lost my respect;
Gaza's innocent civilians need help from people who really want to get them supplies no matter what hoops Israel requires them to jump through. If you are going to help these people, you only had to accept the process.
The flotilla was in international waters and the State of Israel engaged in a willful, premedidtated, forceful, violent act of PIRACY, KIDNAPPING AND MURDER.
You can talk all you want about terrorism, possible bad intentions and motives on the part of the flotilla and it's occupants, but you CAN'T DENY THE FACT THAT ATLEAST nine people died and who knows how many were wounded as a DIRECT ILLEGAL STATE ACT AGINST CIVILIANS.
THERE ISN'T, NOR CAN THERE BE, ANY EXCUSE FOR THAT.
NONE.
-PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — Haiti announced Friday it would not renew an agreement that allows U.S. Coast Guard cutters to intercept and repatriate Haitian boat people in international waters. ''We do not intend to renew the contract concluded between the governments of Jean-Claude Duvalier and the United States which might permit the forcible repatriation of Haitian boat people,'' said Yvon Neptune, a presidential spokesman. The United States wants the agreement to continue. In the first interception since the treaty expired in October, 138 Haitians were brought to Port-au-Prince on April 8, two days after being taken from a boat off Miami Beach
- Just because some guy writing for HP say's it's Piracy doesn't mean it's Piracy.
-Governments intercept boats in international waters all the time, this is normal; and logical if you know the boats intent is to enter your territorial water and violate a blockade. I am sympathetic to the Palestinians... heck I don't think that the state of Israel should exist at all,
-but the stopping of a ship in international waters is not new, or important; what is important here is that Israel is wrong in their aggression toward Palestine, but they should have a right to search those ships for weapons.
Somalia. The armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organization was a premeditated, outrageous aggression and provocation aided and supported by the Turkish Government.
During a search of the ship on Tuesday a cache of bulletproof vests, night-vision goggles, and gas masks was discovered. A defense official stated, “This is the group that was behind the violent attack against the naval commandos”.
The international community should be denouncing Turkey, not Israel, for the loss of life on the so-called "Freedom Flotilla." Turkey, the flag state of the ship, had an obligation to ensure that the ships making up the flotilla adhered to international law. It didn't. Instead it aids the world media in brainwashing its readers and listeners to hate Israel.
President Obama should do the right thing and recall the U.S. ambassador to Turkey.
Every single one will demonstrate to even the most ardent pro-Israeli that things are, at best, not quite right with regard to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
No.
Go on.
Do it.
"Google."
"Red Cross".
Within, enter "Gaza" in the search box.
Go on.
Do it.
Then continue.
You will be exhausted before you run out of searches.
At least you're honest about what their goal was.
It isn't the motives or intent I care about, it's the ACTUAL BAHAVIOUR AND ACTIONS.
Possible motives can not justify MURDER, KIDNAPPING AND PIRACY AT THE STATE LEVEL.
As to the public attention, the "Stae sponsored pirates" have an equally strong desire to divert, deflect and deny public attention from the incident and the barbaric state behaviour on international waters.
If they have NOTHING to hide, why are they hiding EVERYTHING ?
Why would anyone allow a foreign government the right to decide what one can and can not import ?
WHY WOULD ANY COUNTRY HAVE THAT RIGHT IN THIS 21ST CENTURY ?
UNACCEPTABLE AND INEXCUSABLE.