It was an act of international terrorism, pure and simple. There can be no valid claims of self-defense on the part of Israeli commandos who attacked a ship of protesters in international waters, killing nine civilians and kidnapping more than 600 others -- including 15 international reporters who were prevented from filing their stories by a nation that claims to be the beacon of democracy in the Mideast.
Trust me, I do not come to this viewpoint lightly. This is an issue I have written about with anguish ever since I visited Gaza and the West Bank immediately after the Six-Day War 43 years ago, and the fact that those apartheid zones still stand in oppressive isolation from the norms of human rights is a sad commentary on our profession. There is no subject on which American journalists so disgrace themselves by embracing a double standard or about which our politicians are permitted the kind of hypocritical cop-out once again demonstrated by the tepid response of the Obama administration.
If nothing else, this assault on decency by the Israeli government was clearly intended to derail the peace talks that President Barack Obama has encouraged. But instead of calling Israel on its savagery, the U.S. is virtually alone in the world in its embarrassingly mild rebuke. The politicians cave so shamelessly because they know that media will be obsequiously tolerant of such immoral equivocation.
The last time I wrote about Israel and Gaza, the San Francisco Chronicle suddenly decided to stop running my weekly column. No great hardship -- I have other outlets -- but I would be lying if I denied the apprehension I feel every time I dare write critically about Israel and brace myself for the charge that I am yet another "self-hating Jew." A charge certain to be leveled against even Hedy Epstein, the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who at last report was attempting to board yet another aid boat, the Rachel Corrie, named after a heroic American protester who was bulldozed to death by Israelis in 2003.
The first time I encountered that bewildering criticism of Jews who dare to be morally consistent -- despite that being our historical obligation -- was when I was an editor at Ramparts and nearly bankrupted the magazine in attempting to cover the Six-Day War, during which Israel grabbed control of Gaza and the West Bank. We had assigned the legendary journalist I.F. Stone to write about the war, thinking it a wise choice, given that he had accompanied the first boats of Jewish displaced persons from World War II traveling to found the state of Israel. Back then he celebrated that quest: "These Jews want the right to live as a people, to build as a people, to make their contribution to the world as a people. Are their national aspirations any less worthy of respect than those of any other oppressed people?"
But then he wrote after the Six-Day War that he felt compelled to deal also with the oppression of the Palestinians and their desire for a home. His report was balanced and fair, which of course was a problem to some of the Ramparts investors who strongly favored honest journalism on every subject except Israel.
I upset them further by traveling to Egypt and Israel at the end of the Six-Day War and visited newly occupied Gaza, where I questioned the assertion of top officials, including Moshe Dayan, that they would bring freedom to the Palestinians there that the previous Egyptian and Jordanian occupiers had denied. It never happened, because the intentions of occupiers to improve the lot of the conquered become moot if the occupiers insist on continuing their reign of power. How easy it is to forget that the Palestinians were not the ones who attacked Israel at the time of the Six-Day War. On the contrary, it was their previous overlords, Egypt and Jordan, with which Israel has long since had relatively good relations. An accommodation of occupiers made above the head of the occupied.
There is no such thing as a morally acceptable occupation, and as the oppressed resist they will become more violent in their desperation. In turn the occupiers will show their true colors as oppressors. As the great Israeli writer Amos Oz wrote in Tuesday's New York Times, " ... ever since the Six-Day war in 1967, Israel has been fixated on military force." He excoriates the prevailing Israeli view "that the Palestinian problem can be crushed instead of solved." That is the essence of the problem and the solution: End the crushing occupation and begin to solve the problem of providing the Palestinians, as well as the Jews, with a viable homeland.
Steve Clemons: Obama Takes Down (the Wrong) Prime Minister
Japan's PM Yukio Hatoyama could not withstand the pressure from Obama -- who gave Hatoyama the kind of icy treatment he has also been trying to give Israel's Netanyahu. The problem is Hatoyama wilted, and Netanyahu seems to be thriving.
Ken Blackwell: Will Our Peace Prizewinner Lead Us Into a New War?
When the Obama administration spends its first year "extending an open hand" to Tehran while stiff-arming Israel, who can be surprised that the sharks are now circling?
John L. Esposito: White House Needs to Rethink Weak U.S. Response to Israeli Attack
Our government's lack-luster response to something that has elicited universal condemnation is as close to what the Israeli Government would want us to say as possible.
Joshua Gleis: Another Middle East War on the Horizon
A new war in the Middle East is looming on the horizon -- one that could create a fundamental shift in the region, and whose repercussions would be felt around the world.
Unless of course you watch one of the numerous videos.
It's utterly laughable, the complete denial of reality of those who are head over heels in love with hamas and its terror.
The “humanitarian” boat from Turkey is supposedly bringing aid. To pass through, Israel tells the passengers boat must be inspected by the UN, Red Cross, or IDF/Israel. Upon refusal they're alerted the Israeli Navy would take control of boat to bring to Israeli port. They didn't want to be checked because they weren't there to help anyone; only to provoke Israel. The“peace activists” arrange an ambush and brutally attack Israeli Navy. They found on the boat: knifes, bats, stun grenades, weapons, lots of money on individual persons (hired). Eventually aid from flotilla is transported,by Israelis,to Gaza with 25 trucks.Compared with 100+ trucks with aid Israel sends to Gaza everyday.Why blame Israel for everything? What will it take for the international community to recognize the boomerang effects of terrorism against Israel?
Of course, that would endanger us! Because it would endanger the carefully-crafted self-righteousness we've built as a national myth for ourselves ("manifest destiny" was its 19th-century name: "God MEANT for us to occupy this whole continent! Deal with it, Natives!"), and---oh, horrors---might force us to be morally accountable for our OWN occupation of this land.
What will it take for America, along with the international community, to recognize that all peoples have a right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness---rights which our founders recognized as genuinely God-given, but which neither our own history, nor the ongoing mutual aggression between Israel and Palestine, comes close to living up to.
BTW north korea didn't attack a civilian boat. It was a naval attack ship.
Most importantly, he supports the illegal occupation of Cyprus by Turkey because the so-called freedom flotilla started its trip from the part of Cyprus illegally occupied by Turkey. This part of the island was conquered by a bloody military action and ethnically cleansed of all its Christians unhabitants.
Yet Scheer doesn't mention that the blockade has been in place since 2007 (?) and enforced by both Egypt and Israel. Also no mention of any attempts by either Egypt or Israel to allow the contents of those ships to go to Gaza by any other means. No mention of rocket attacks from Gaza. This was a "no-lose" scenario for the Palestinians and a "no-win" scenario for Israel.
Says Mr. Scheer: "End the crushing occupation and begin to solve the problem of providing the Palestinians, as well as the Jews, with a viable homeland."
Does Mr. Scheer, with his vast experience in the region since the 1967 War, have a particular place in mind? Does he think Hamas will actually quit fighting Israel? Really?
Sorry, friend, but you're completely brainwashed, and completely ignorant of what's been going on in Gaza.
PS: The Egyptian leader is just another tyrant thug supported by the US (like Saddam was) so let's not pretend that Egypt's participation in the blockade means that it is just or even legal.
I didn't say the situation was perfect, but are you giving Hamas a pass on this?
"Sorry, friend, but you're completely brainwashed, and completely ignorant of what's been going on in Gaza."
And all those attacks by terrorists, rockets and mortars coming out of Gaza into Israel all those years were made up as well?
"PS: The Egyptian leader is just another tyrant thug supported by the US..."
In my lifetime there have been three Egyptian presidents (Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak). At least Sadat had the sense to see that constant warring with Israel was getting them both nowhere and Mubarak is pledged to continue that trend. Ditto for Jordan. If you want to talk about "thugs" don't forget Hamas...
Israel's not perfect, and they have some explaining to do in the conduct of their operation. But Hamas was looking for a "martyr scenario" and got exactly that. You either can not or will not acknowledge the possibility of deliberate provocation by Hamas for political advantage, no matter how many people got hurt.
The currently dominant group or nation, of course, always takes affront at the mere suggestion that it is somehow an oppressor: "Why, we believe in liberty! And we stand for liberty around the world! 'Around the world', meaning, elsewhere except within our own borders! Or within the borders of our allies who likewise are keeping other groups under their thumb! How dare you be unpatriotic by questioning our support of liberty! We wave our flags in your face! So there! We have the right to do this. Might makes right, you know. Now shut up and help us celebrate liberty! Or we might take yours away, too. And say, while we're on the topic---your papers, please? Are you here legally---?"
I am an American writer who has lived in Venice, Italy since 1998. The experiences that Robert Scheer writes about are hauntingly familiar to me. I have been terrorized physically, mentally and emotionally. My character has been defamed. I was illegally and forcibly evicted from my apartment on June 10, 2009. On July 1, 2009, a piece of glass in the shape of a dagger (12mm X 40mm) was shoved into a festering wound on my right foot during a pedicure. Etc.
In searching for an answer to as to WHY, I had to cram in huge amounts of research under extreme circumstances. Prior to these events, I had deliberately isolated myself from TV and newspapers, preferring to write about the past.
One of my first exposures to the seriousness of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict came when I attended the Eurogolfe Forum. I wrote about it on my Venetian Cat-Venice Blog in a post I published on October 22, 2008, which you can read here:
http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-world-order.html
I am now back in my apartment. I just learned that there is still a 3mm object in my right foot that will require surgery to remove. If I, as an American citizen, can be treated this way in the year 2010, we should all be outraged.
Catherine "Cat" Bauer
I must have missed something...
July 2009 - "Anti-Semitic crimes in France coinciding with the Gaza war drove the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2009 to nearly double over the previous year, according to a new report."
February 2009 - "But an old and sinister hostility towards Jews has also recently bubbled up to the surface, serving as a reminder of ugly periods in France's past."
"In recent years, French Jewry has been widely featured in the international media after a surge of anti-Semitic attacks began in 2000." (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Jewish_World_Today/Jews_Around_the_Globe/France.shtml)
And before you defend it by saying it's only because of Israel's actions in Gaza, remember that French Jews have no say in what the Israeli government does.
As it relates to this specific event, we cant look at the totality of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as there is ample fault on both sides. Israel was justified in boarding the ship to enforce a blockade targetted at stopping the inflow of weapons that will be used against israelis...period.
Once we move to the broader conflict then, yes, there is much fault on both sides.
But not in this case.
Solution for Gazans?? stop firing rockets, have hamas repudiate acts of violence and then see what happens.
If Gaza was an independent country, then Israel's actions would be fully justified under international law. Israel declared a blockade. Once a ship leaves port with the intention of breaching the blockade, it can be stopped anywhere. If necessary, force can be used to prevent breaching the blockade. Those are the facts.
So the only way to argue that Israel's actions were illegal is to argue that Gaza isn't a state that is at war with Israel and the rules haven't changed to recognize a case like this.
What's left is the issue of excessive force. Dropping soldiers on board the ship to legally take control of it is a lot less severe than ramming the ship, disabling the ship with gunfire or even sinking it.
They are your objective allies in your lilttle crusade against Islam.
http://uit.no/getfile.php?PageId=1410&FileId=1337