Sometimes the Israeli occupation authorities and their allies try to project a "mad dog" image to their opponents: don't bother trying to resist our power, because we are ready to crush you by any means necessary, and no-one who matters to us will care what means we use.
But as the Israeli government reaction to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla shows, it ain't necessarily so.
Al Jazeera reports:
Some Israeli officials see the situation as potentially disastrous in terms of public relations."We can't win on this one in terms of PR," Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.
"If we let them throw egg at us, we appear stupid with egg on our face. If we try to prevent them by force, we appear as brutes."
You can read every word ever penned or spoken by Gandhi, King, or Thoreau, and you will never find such an eloquent expression of the power of nonviolence as the statement of the spokesman of the Israeli foreign ministry.
In the face of an effective act of nonviolent resistance, the oppressor faces two unappetizing choices: concede ground, thereby undermining the image of absolute power the oppressor wants to project, and therefore encouraging further resistance; or resist with force, thereby projecting the image of "brutes," and therefore encouraging further resistance.
You can see why the Israeli government spokesman would be irritated.
Another great power of an effective mass nonviolent resistance action is when it gives "bystanders" a choice of taking sides - whether they want the opportunity provided by that choice or not.
The government of Cyprus had the opportunity to take a side, and it decided to try to obstruct the flotilla.
This video documents how the government of Cyprus told one of the flotilla boats it wasn't welcome in the territorial waters of Cyprus. Shane Dillon, an Irishman on the Challenger 1, reports of the boat's contact with a police helicopter: "He asked us the nature of our trip, and I told him that it was part of humanitarian aid for Gaza, and he said because of this we are precluded from entering Cypriot waters...refusing us entry to the 12-mile limit of Cypriot waters is kind of strange for a European skipper ... with European parliamentarians and a lot of European people on board. It's not normal."
While the video shows how the Cyprus government kept flotilla boats from entering territorial waters, this AP story documents that the Cyprus government kept would-be flotilla passengers from reaching the boats:
In Cyprus, organizers were trying to find a way to have two dozen would-be passengers, including 19 European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor, join the ships anchored in international waters off the island. The Cypriot government did not allow smaller boats to carry the group to the flotilla, [organizer Greta] Berlin said.
Authorities in Cyprus said the decision was made to protect the island's "vital interests" - including economic ties with Israel.Organizers then appealed to the Turkish government to get the group out via a Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus port. Turkish Cypriot officials have said they want to help the group as much as they can.
Given the modern political history of Cyprus, the forgoing passage is breathtakingly and bitterly ironic. Cyprus, while maintaining good relations with the Israeli government, has historically also maintained good and supportive relations with the Palestinian national independence movement. Many Greek Cypriots - the majority community on the island - have seen a parallel between the US-backed Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the US-backed Turkish invasion and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974, which resulted in the establishment of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," recognized only by Turkey.
It's a bitter irony for these Greek Cypriots if the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" is helpful to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while the Republic of Cyprus government bows to pressure from the Israeli government and obstructs the Flotilla. I would expect the government of Cyprus to pay some political price among Greek Cypriots for this betrayal of the Palestinians.
And that's an indication of the power of effective nonviolent resistance. Not only the oppressor, but also the "bystanders," are confronted with a choice: whether to help or allow the resisters to prevail, at least in the short-run, or whether to stand publicly on the side of brutality.
All this -- and the main confrontation between the Israeli occupation authorities and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla has not yet begun.
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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.
While other activists from the Gaza aid flotilla have returned home, one is left facing death threats and abuse in Israel. Haneen Zuabi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset who was aboard the Mavi Marmara, is now under armed protection after nearly 500 people signed up to a Facebook page calling for her execution.
Sarah Colborne, a survivor, has submitted testimony.
Tell Obama: Speak Up for the Free Passage of the Rachel Corrie to Gaza
In his speech in Cairo, President Obama urged the Palestinian people to press their claims for justice through nonviolence. Now that the Israeli military has attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, President Obama should follow through on his Cairo speech, and demand free passage to Gaza for the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/mvrachelcorrie
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/home/?status=Urge+Pres+Obama+to+protect+MV+Rachel+Corrie+passage+into+%23Gaza+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FdokPGg+%23flotilla+RT+@justfp
that they spout utter moral hypocrisy
supposedly the world's "beacon" for democracy, freedom, free markets, and the rule of law
condemning piracy off the African coast because it interrupts commerce
yet completely supporting piracy, murder of International Peace Activists, and the caged brutality of millions when it comes to israel
condemning other countries closed markets and yet we have the world's most corrupt market, wall street, and wealthy elite that siphon off TRILLIONS by creating toxic assets, ponzi schemes, and "engineering" bailouts while economically killing the US citizens with their financial terrorism
NO ONE EVER RECEIVES JUSTICE
NO ONE IS PROSECUTED
NO ONE GOES TO JAIL
utterly disgusting
they do all this in the name of the US Citizens
because we are stupid SHEEPLE
i am PROUD they name the next ship the RACHEL CORRIE!
NEVER FORGET RACHEL!
Here's how the Israeli state does it:
1. Like Dubya Bush, i.e. by insisting that its military actions are necessary to protect Israelis;
2. By spreading the lie that any criticism of Israeli policies and practices that deny or restrict the human rights of Palestinians = hate talk, or is anti-semitic.
This has been particularly effective in Canada and the U.S. (Toronto's gay pride committee recently caved to pressure, voting to effectively dissallow Queers Against Israeli Apartheid queersagainstapartheid.org from marching in this year's parade).
3. By unleashing its formidable propaganda machine to effectively quash dissent especially from Jews who have openly criticized specific Israeli-government actions (e. g. Richard Goldstone and Norman Finkelstein)
These attacks are designed to make it appear as though all ("real") Jews speak with one voice, in support of the Israeli government, though this is not the case. Israel's Haaretz regularly features Jewish voices critical of Israeli policies http://bit.ly/9KzBfu)
As some have pointed out, the conflict is not a "fair" fight and the Israeli response is predictably disproportionate. Visit ifamericansknew.org for graphic depictions of just how David and Goliath the situation really is).
peace and love to all. I really mean it.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/30/gaza.aid.boat/index.html
The international community looked away and did nothing.
Another example - Israel commandeered The Spirit of Humanity in international waters in 2009 illegally boarding the ship in an act of piracy. The US ignored their distress signals. Israelis forcibly removed the passengers and arrested them in Israel. The international community looked away.
This is why they thought they could once again commit acts of piracy and kidnapping without a response from any country. They were wrong.
That said, I agree with you that Palestinians and human rights activists must follow the paths of Ghandi and King. Violence is never the answer.
Have they managed to make you suspect that a noted and almost universally respected judge, with years of experience dealing with heading groups that investigate the use of weapons and violence in environments ranging from cities where mixed neighborhoods were torn apart by fighters on both sides of an ethnic divide, to isolated rural settings, who was lauded by the victims of Apartheid is somehow incapable of carrying out a preliminary inquiry?
Have they made you suspect that all the noted international humanitarian groups are incapable of being unbiased?
Have they made you think that a resolution supported by basically every nation in the world, that calls for Iran and Israel to agree to a single inspection regime that would assure both countries that the other has no nuclear weapons program, no chemical weapons program, no biological weapons program, would disarm Israel, but allow Iran to get these weapons?
If they haven't, and haven't convinced enough Americans that the political parties feel safer supporting Israel than distancing themselves from it, well, they'll just keep plugging away at it.
Sarah Colborne, a survivor, has submitted testimony.
He said some of the soldiers, taken off guard, were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and that some had even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point one of the passengers seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire.
(From "Gaza Flotilla ATTACKED: Israel Storms Aid Ship, At Least 10 Dead"--HP today)
There's your "nonviolence," Naiman.