My outrage with the disastrous takeover of the flotilla boats on their way to Gaza is not over the behavior of individual soldiers fearing their lives and reacting accordingly. Rather, it is about a political leadership that put these soldiers in a position in which they were certain to become targets for violence. These soldiers were sent on a mission that defies logic. A helicopter dropped them, one by one, onto a vessel with a mob on it. Regardless of the activists' intentions, the IDF's method of interception was perceived as an act of aggression.
In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, in the pitch black of night, Israeli special forces in uniform and armed were lowered by helicopter onto the vessel one by one, to confront a group of people, whose real intentions were not absolutely clear to the soldiers - an already tenuous situation was bound to explode. And when soldiers feel their lives are at risk, they are ordered to make a judgment call and trained to open fire.
This scenario would have surfaced in any role-playing taking place prior to the operation. Every military and political leader in Israel knows that when under threat to his life, a soldier is ordered to open fire.
So why was this interception method chosen in order to stop a convoy of boats? Surely a Navy commando knows how to dismantle and immobilize the engines of such ships. Doing so would have allowed the Navy to tag them anywhere they please without ever boarding the vessels.
No arms were found on the boats other than the pistols taken from the soldiers by the activists whose stated mission was to deliver humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.
I doubt that the knives carried on the boats were a real threat to the State of Israel. These knives were indeed a real threat to the lives of the soldiers put on those boats: alone, at night, in international waters. It was a threat created by the mission they were sent on.
Israeli public opinion is likely to rally behind the soldiers, the military and its government. This is not because the Israeli public likes what happened. The Israeli public's instinctive reaction, justly, is to show support and solidarity with the soldiers risking their lives for the country's security. What is painfully missing is political leadership that is brave enough to stand up and make the nuanced argument on why this was not about the individual soldiers' behavior, it is about the political leadership that sent them on a bad mission. Israel's government has gone beyond bad politics here. They have demonstrated that the life of a soldier is no longer as sacred as it had always been held.
Ahmed Rehab: Israel Gaza Attack: Do Actions of the 'Jewish State' Represent Jewish Values?
Of course, Israel *did* expect resistance and wanted it, so it would have a ready excuse to commit murder, hoping to frighten and break the growing antiblockade movement.
Viewed in this light, the mission of the IDF soldiers is not one that "defies logic". It makes perfect sense.
http://www.make-martinis-at-home.com/
It could also be we don't understand the nature of the geographical area.
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.
If Israel had allowed UN inspectors to be involved throughout the seizing of the ships, towing them to harbor and inspecting the cargo - maybe the world would believe them. However, by not allowing such Israel has further damaged it's worldwide image.
Was the attempt to reach Gaza solely for humanitarian reasons or were there other reasons such as to support the Hamas? We may never know for sure. However, Israel's poor planning in this incident guarantees more and even bigger attempts to cross the blockade.
That, right there is the money shot. All the screeching from Is.ra.el about how these people were arms smuggling terrorist dies right there.
Israeli govt. officials defend the laws, the IDF performs the task, and there is something missing in the outcome. Missing is acceptance, and rightly so when many are killed. What I had wondered and hoped for since the last Gaza conflict, was a desire for Israel to find a way to aid the suffering of Gaza civilians. That would divert bad-will, and could prevent the continued recruiting of Hamas style governance.
In my opinion it is not acceptable to usurp a clearly known blockade, in order to avoid lawful inspection of cargo. Israel has a right to protect itself by demanding inspection of "aid" to Gaza. Regardless of claims by flotilla organizers that Hamas was not involved in the planning, there is no doubt that Hamas will be at Gaza port entries to take command of the offloading process. That implies that Hamas will take total control of the dissemination of all cargo. They can an could divert the contents to their own purposes, which could include resale (even export of cargo) for funds.
Where is your analysis of what role Hamas plays when Israel takes an action like this? I don't like what has happened, and I am saddened at the loss of life, but I understand it. What did the flotilla think would happen when they tried to ignore repeated warnings to divert their course into Israeli ports for inspection?
Why is it improper for Israel, who has shown its intent for a long time, shown its ability to enforce that intention, and then actually enforces what is known? I don't have much of a problem understanding what has occurred.
-continued
It was a tactical error underestimating violent response from the passengers of one ship. Next time - tear gas first, than send soldiers with real weapons - not paint-guns. And don't forget the snipers....
And they probably did fire on them with at least tear gas and stun grenades first, which is probably why the crew attacked them wen they landed on Turkish territory in International Waters with the intent to make illegal seizures and arrests- which if Iran had done would be called an act of kidnapping and piracy..
Cuban crisis of the early part of the Kennedy administration. The USA set up a "blockade" to prevent the Soviet Uniion from reinforcing the nuclear equipped base they had established there. We could not allow our near neighbor to entertain a force that constituted an existential threat the the USA even at the risk of nuclear holocost.
it was a massacre that was predictable and unjustified.
it is shameful that the government would place so little value on their soldiers in sending them on a mission doomed to have such tragic results.
however, it seems that the israeli's only regret was that there had been a failure of their PR machine to be adequately prepared.
THE JERUSALEM POST:
"This does not mean that the IDF did not prepare. Meetings were conducted in the weeks leading up to Monday’s operation between the IDF Spokesman’s Office and the Foreign Ministry. The first tactic chosen was to try and undermine the flotilla’s legitimacy and show that the ships were organized by a radical Islamic group called IHH that was based in Turkey and had ties with Hamas"
According to UN and Judge Goldstone, Isreal is a terrorist state that has continues to commit war crimes. Unfortunately, every time the public thinks Israel has changed or forget the most recent crime, Israel goes out and cold bloodily murders a new set of victims. Why we give billions of dollars every year to these cretins is unbelievable. In sixty years all they have done is push the Palestinians into the sea. Sixty years of Israeli theft, carnage, lies and terrorism. Forty three years of Occupation. Forty three years since the attack on the USS Liberty. Nothing has changed. But the racism and paranoia has only become worse. I don't believe anyone could have a worse record even if they tried
Speaking first about the attempt to make this something other than it was, we are left with the impression that the IDF was merely practicing their mountaineering skills, Abseiling, onto the deck of another country's ship, at night, in international waters. When the IDF personnel reached the deck they where, horrors, set upon by the unarmed, except for sticks, fists, and dinner knives, people on the ship. What did they expect from their mountaineering? Banners and gin and tonics? The American crew of another cargo ship in a identical position fought back as these people did. The American crew attacked by pirates was not machine gunned like the turkish and other europeans were on these ships.
Israeli Defense Force ? Is this the same IDF that gunned down a waiter in Norway because they thought he looked like someone else, just another arab? Yes they justified that outrage too! All for what? To show how stupid Israelis can be or is it something more? Is this to show the world just how entitled these people feel themselves to be.
I'm sure that they even used weapons the USA bought for them. Hurray for America too. I wonder why other people disagree with the USA? Duh! Do