preventing cement and iron from getting to the people of Gaza, who celebrated the 9/11 attacks? Now, how will Hamas build their military bunkers and tunnels from which to hide and shoot rockets at the Israeli farmers and children, no wait, I mean Israeli aggressors!

They are military bunkers and tunnels. A bomb shelter is a protective area, usually for civilians. Military bunkers and tunnels, similar to WWI or what Hizbollah uses in Lebanon are for WAR purposes. There is a big difference. Please educate yourself before you make idiotic comments.

The tunnels and bunkers Hamas is building is not for the general population. It's only for its military wing and to hide its arms stores.

The concrete could have been used to build houses.

Again, please read more before you comment.

sorry your darling "pets" of the Palestinians hate your guts.

The population of Gaza has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2006. Israel imposed the blockade after Gaza's voters had the temerity to prefer Hamas in a free election...

Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade in mid 2007 after Hamas staged a violent coup, not after they won the election in 2006.

Not that it matters with regard to this event, but we should keep the facts straight. As much as Walt obsesses over this topic, one would think he'd relate the simple facts correctly.

David Duke. Walt's reception to this news was rather friendly considering who these people are and in fact opportunistic to sell more books!

"Walt's response gets really good when he then goes so far as to suggest that Osama's embrace of his book only proves his point that the Israel lobby ... is used as a justification by terrorists. Blind to the irony all his book did was weave precisely the kind of fabric of partial truths and old biases that are used to dress up the hatreds of demagogues everywhere, Walt actually has the chutzpah to try use the news that the most evil man in the world is reading his work as a soap box from which to once again sell his argument (and books)."

Are you just going to ignore the Israelis that were celebrating (and filming) the 9/11 attacks right here in the good ol' USA? you know, the ones that were stopped with explosive residue, box cutters, and wads of cash stuff in their socks?

Folks, ALERT...this was NO COINCIDENCE....Netanyahu did this strategically, hmmm... like a "reverse"-Gulf of Tonkin...PLAYING CHESS not CHECKERS!..u think the Mossad didn't know what was on that ship flying a Turkish flag! with DIPLOMATS on board... give me a break. What, 4 days ago (27 May 2010) Netanyanu suddenly flips and is "rushing to have direct talks with the Palestinians"-- who is he Jimmy Bibi Carter?? "Oh we were on the cusp of peace until the unfortunate incident" Bibi laments... puh-lease. UN just announces Iran can make 2 bombs, Israel already knew it months ago...time is running out, gotta IMPLODE "Obama's S-L-O-W MidEast Strategy" before it's too late. Hmmm...reminds me of Putin back-slapping with Bush at the Beijing Olympics just as his tanks were invading Georgia...Folks, stop the tit-for-tat on this message board, it's embarrasing...the Israeli Government is playing CHESS and whether you are PRO or ANTI Israeli on this message board or in the news, you are actually being manipulated as the same piece... PAWNS. So my Question to Prof. Walt... if Israel wants WAR, and if they are using this as a pretext for regional instability, what are their next moves (i.e. if OBAMA does this or does that...)

From The National Catholic Reporter's (Michael Sean Winters) Weblog:
June 1, 2010

Judging Israel

The world has rushed to condemn Israel for the deaths of nine so-called pro-Palestinian activists who were killed trying to deliver supplies to Gaza. Israeli forces, which have been enforcing a blockade of Gaza since 2007, seized the vessels and, when met with armed resistance, a firestorm broke out. An investigation will determine what precisely happened to ignite the shooting. But, no investigation is needed to know that anyone who is genuinely concerned about the future of the Palestinian people will recognize that the single most important step towards peace and justice for them is for Hamas to be removed from power in Gaza. A true pro-Palestinian activist would do nothing to aid and abet that criminal regime.

One thing is clear. The pro-Palestinian activists were aiming for a fight. If their goal had been simply to supply the humanitarian needs of the people who live in Gaza, they could have delivered their aid to any one of a number of humanitarian organizations that legally supply Gaza. 15,000 tons of such supplies are delivered by Israel every week. But, the vessels involved in yesterday’s flotilla were carrying building supplies that are banned by the blockade.

Imagine for a moment if the U.S. government knew that a group of sympathizers with Al-Qaeda were delivering supplies to an Al-Qaeda stronghold in Afghanistan. Any commander who permitted the supplies through would be court-martialed. We would rightly consider the sympathizers less sympathetically because they were aiding terrorists. Make no mistake about it, the difference between the Hamas thugs who rule in Gaza and the Al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan is a difference of degree not of kind. This is recognized by no one so much as by the moderate Arab states which, I am sure, are secretly applauding Israel today even while they publicly denounce her. They have more to lose in the struggle with Islamic extremists than anyone.

Evidently, some 120 of the activists on board the flotilla are currently being held in an Israeli jail. Before reaching the conclusion that Israel acted unjustly, ask yourself a quick question. If you were a human rights activist, would you rather be in an Israeli prison or a Hamas one? Or an Egyptian prison? Or a Turkish prison? It may turn out that Israel acted stupidly, or that its military forces acted rashly, but no one should deny that in their struggle against Hamas, their cause is the cause of justice and human rights.

--Posted By Michael Sean Winters

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/judging-israel

From National Review Online's "The Corner" Weblog:
June 1, 2010

The Turkish Government as Global Arbiter of Ethnic Violence

By Victor Davis Hanson

The virulent worldwide reaction to Israeli’s handling of the Gaza flotilla has been quite instructive. The bankrupt Greeks, for example, are taking a holiday from railing at the Germans to demonstrate in solidarity with the Turkish-organized Gaza effort, which puts them on the same side as those whosegovernment supports the occupation of much of Greek-speaking Cyprus and its divided capital.

No one in Europe worried much about the constant shower of missiles from Gaza in the past. No one in Europe said a word when North Korea torpedoed and slaughtered South Koreans on the high seas. No one objected when the Iranians hijacked a British ship and humiliated the hostages.

We ourselves seem to be getting a sort of novel pass for executing scores of suspected terrorists — and anyone in their vicinity — in our new, stepped-up Predator drone assassinations.

But the Western and Islamic worlds have a preexisting furor at the Jewish state that can be tapped at will by almost any pro-radical-Palestinian group clever enough to do proper P.R. after a desired asymmetrical confrontation. The fallout from Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, the distortions around the 2002 terrorist storming of the Church of Nativity, the 2006 Lebanon war — over time, these incidents do their part, in weird fashion, to incur hatred for a liberal democracy while creating sympathy for a theocratic thugocracy like Hamas.

What explains this preexisting hatred, which ensures denunciation of Israel in the most rabid — or, to use the politically correct parlance, “disproportionate” — terms? It is not about “occupied land,” given the millions of square miles worldwide that are presently occupied, from Georgia to Cyprus to Tibet. It is not a divided capital — Nicosia is walled off. It is not an overreaction in the use of force per se — the Russians flattened Grozny and killed tens of thousands while the world snoozed. And it cannot be the scale of violence, given what we see hourly in Pakistan, Darfur, and the Congo. And, given the Armenian, Greek, and Kurdish histories (and reactions to them), the currently outraged Turkish government is surely not a credible referent on the topic of disproportionate violence.

Perhaps the outrage reflects simple realpolitik — 350 million Arab Muslims versus 7 million Israelis. Perhaps it is oil: half the world’s reserves versus Israel’s nada. Perhaps it is the fear of terror: Draw a cartoon or write a novel offending Islam, and you must go into hiding; defame Jews and earn accolades. Perhaps it is anti-Semitism, which is as fashionable on the academic Left as it used to be among the neanderthal Right.

Perhaps there is also a new sense that the United States at last has fallen into line with the Western consensus, and so is hardly likely to play the old lone-wolf supporter of Israel in the press or at the U.N.

At this point, it doesn’t much matter — as this latest hysterical reaction reminds us, much of the world not only sides with Israel’s enemies but sides with them to such a degree as to suggest that, in any existential moment to come, the world either will be indifferent or will be on the side of Israeli’s enemies.

Quite frightening, when you think of it.

--Posted By Victor Davis Hanson 06/01 02:39 PM

© National Review Online 2010. All Rights Reserved.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDMwNjQ0ZWFhMDU3NzFkOTZiNmVmMjQ1M2RlMTc5MDM=

From Commentary Magazine's "Contentions" Weblog
June 1, 2010

The Problem with Playing Defense

By Noak Pollak

Given past performances, I'd say that Israel and its supporters are doing a better-than-average job of quickly beating back the international lynch mob that loves nothing more than propagating lies about Israel. The key weapon in this fight for truth has been this particular video of the IDF commandos descending onto the deck of the Mavi Marmara and into a hornet's nest of murderous "peace activists."

This kind of after-the-fact truth-telling is good as far as it goes, but it actually doesn't go very far: it is restricted to responding to lies, exaggerations, and accusations. Israel is on the receiving end of a viciously negative political campaign, and as any campaign strategist knows, you don't respond to a negative campaign by expending all your energy trying to explain why the lies aren't true -- you go negative and play offense in return.

What would it look like if the Israeli government played offense? First and foremost, this would require some serious criticism of the Islamist government of Turkey, which masterfully created this crisis and is now denouncing Israel for it. Turkey's thuggish prime minister certainly understands the benefits of being on offense. He says that Israel committed a "massacre" and is guilty of "state terrorism," "piracy," has struck "a blow to world peace and against international law," threatens that "if Israel does not immediately free all the detainees and wounded, the rift in relations with it will widen," and thunders that "Israel will not be able to show itself in the world until it apologizes for what happened and undergoes self-criticism."

Quite a performance! Wouldn't it be remarkable if the Israelis had gotten ahead of the story by making their own accusations and demands? Here are a few ideas of the kind of concrete action the Israelis could take -- if they had the stones to really take a stand.

1. Expel the Turkish ambassador and declare his return contingent on a full, credible, and public Turkish investigation of the terrorist organization that planned and funded the "aid flotilla."

2. Publicly demand reparations from Turkey for the costs of the operation, including the medical bills of the thugs and Jew-haters who have been given such lovely medical care in Israeli hospitals.

3. Demand a UN investigation of why Turkey is funding terrorist organizations that are involved in attacks on Israel.

4. Fund a Kurdish human-rights NGO in Israel -- there are lots of Kurdish Jews who I'm sure would be happy to help -- that raises awareness of the plight of Kurds in Turkey. (Short answer: they are treated horribly.) This organization must publicize the apartheid conditions of Kurdish life in Turkey and churn out op-eds, studies, videos, and press releases denouncing Turkey's brutal and racist treatment of its own minorities.

5. Fund a Turkish-language documentary on the Armenian genocide, upload it to YouTube, and promote it heavily in Turkey. If Erdogan wants to call Israel a criminal and a murderer, there's no reason why Israel shouldn't return the favor on this most sensitive of issues.

The model of hasbara, or public diplomacy, that Israel has employed for decades is premised on the persuasiveness of reason, evidence, context, truth, fairness, and apology. Anyone who has been following events in Israel over the past few years understands how profoundly this strategy has failed. For obvious historic reasons, many Jews have internalized the dangerous belief that the best way to respond to condemnation and lies is to show how unthreatening and willing to criticize and investigate themselves they are. The problem is that not only doesn't this work; it actually invites further attack by rewarding those who defame and incite against the Jewish state.

Israel's hasbara strategy must shift to one that is based on power, self-confidence, and an eagerness to vigorously condemn its defamers. This is the difference between driving the debate and reacting to it, refuting lies and validating them, offense and defense, setting the agenda versus being on the agenda. If the Israelis wish to see a good model for how to set the terms of a controversy, they need only look at the Turkish prime minister's brilliant performance this week.

Noah Pollak is assistant editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

© 2010 Commentary Inc.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/304536

Full article at:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-problem-with-playing-defense-15459

The Wall Street Journal
June 2, 2010

OPINION

Siege Fatigue and the Flotilla Mistake

'It makes no difference what we do,' I was told by a very senior military source two days before the operation.

By Ronen Bergman

--Tel Aviv

Monday's botched commando raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla has proven disastrous for Israel. World public opinion has united in condemning the Jewish state and the U.N. Security Council has already demanded an inquiry. Closer to home, the strategic alliance that Israel had painstakingly forged with Turkey is in tatters.

The horrific outcome—so far nine killed and dozens wounded—has caused irreparable damage to Israel's image. Even if the video evidence proves beyond doubt that the activists on board the ships were armed and that they were the first to attack, the battle for public opinion (which, after all, is what the flotilla exercise was really about) was lost the moment the first Israeli soldier set foot on the deck of the Mavi Marmara—the Turkish ferry that served as the flagship.

What makes the flotilla fiasco all the more astounding is that Israel has been preparing for this confrontation for months. It has had time to run various scenarios, and even to review strategies it has previously employed for similar events.

In 1988, 131 members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) who had been deported from the Palestinian Territories following the outbreak of the first intifada intended to set sail to Gaza from Limassol, Cyprus. Their boat, called Al Awda or the Ship of the Return, was accompanied by 200 journalists.

Publicly, Israel announced that it would use any force necessary to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza. But behind the scenes the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general staff, including then Deputy Chief of Staff Ehud Barak, recognized that while seizing control of the ship or blowing it out of the water were not operationally complicated, the international repercussions of such plans would be grim if the Israelis were met with resistance and a battle ensued.

For this reason, the idea of a direct confrontation was abandoned, and the IDF decided to implement a covert operation instead. On Feb. 15, hours before it was due to set sail, the empty ship was blown up in Limassol harbor by a team of Mossad agents and frogmen from Flotilla 13 (the Israeli equivalent of Navy Seals). The team was led by Yoav Galant, then a young officer and today a major general in the IDF. The operation was a success. There were no casualties on either side and the PLO gave up on the idea of sailing to Gaza.

More recently, in August 2006 two ships carrying peace activists and food aid set out to Gaza, again from Cyprus. Under instructions from then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the vessels were boarded at sea without resistance. After a search uncovered no weapons, the ships were permitted to continue on toward the Strip. The Israeli naval forces went home, Hamas declared victory, and that was that.

But unlike 2006, the rhetoric from both sides—as well as the fact that the Insani Yardim Vakfi, a front group for the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood, organized the flotilla—made it clear that any attempt to take control of the vessels would almost certainly result in violent confrontation. This is what makes inexplicable the IDF's decision to have members of the Flotilla 13 commando unit board the Marmara. These men are not trained to deal with civilian protestors. And there were other options available to the IDF, such as disabling the ships at sea and towing them to an Israeli port.

While the instinct of many is no doubt to lay the blame at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's door, it should not be forgotten that the current minister of defense is Ehud Barak, a calmer head whose wealth of military experience includes, as mentioned above, firsthand familiarity with the arguments for and against employing potentially violent methods in similar situations.

What, then, are we to make of the decision-making that led to this tragedy?

Many observers, myself included, often resort to the concept of siege mentality when attempting to make sense of Jerusalem's approach to international relations. It is also true that the memory of the Holocaust still looms large in Israel, especially when existential threats—in which category I emphatically do not include a grab-bag collection of Turkish boats—emerge on Israel's horizon. But until recently, even with its siege mentality, the Israeli government always made an attempt—half-hearted, or ill-conceived, or badly executed, but an attempt nonetheless—to act in a way that would minimize possible harm to the state's international image.

What we witnessed in the early hours of Monday morning was symptomatic of a new degree of fatigue in Israeli governing circles. The fact that both the political and the military authorities could sign off on such an irresponsible operation suggests that the leadership of the country has given up what it has concluded is ultimately a Sisyphean attempt to accommodate world opinion. Isolation is no longer a threat to be fought, their thinking seems to go, because Israel is terminally isolated. What remains is to concentrate exclusively on what is best for Israel's survival, shedding any regard for the opinion of others.

"It makes no difference what we do, or how careful we are, or how we tackle the matter of the flotilla," I was told by a very senior military source two days before the operation. "Whatever we do, they'll all be against us, they'll condemn us at the U.N., and we'll be scolded. We might as well at least preserve our national dignity and maintain the blockade of Gaza." In other words, the war over world opinion is over—and Israel has lost.

Everything that has happened in the past year—the Goldstone Report condemning Israel's war in Gaza, the international furor after the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, even the statement singling out Israel at the recent Nuclear Nonproliferation Conference—is taken as an indication that any attempt to do the "right thing" is pointless and perhaps counterproductive. One might as well simply give up.

This feeling is shared by a large section of the Israeli population—not merely the right wing of Israeli society. While many are condemning the IDF's operation on Monday, it is probably fair to say that the majority of the country instinctively understands why these events were permitted to occur.

Israel's fatigue and deep sense of ostracism is, to say the least, unhealthy. It would be unhealthy for any country at the best of times. But it is particularly troubling when the country in question is at perpetual war, and when it is repeatedly threatened with annihilation by the leader of a country who is actively pursuing nuclear weapons. And, of course, it is profoundly disturbing when the fatigued and isolated country itself has the means to strike pre-emptively and punishingly at its enemies, including in ways from which, realistically, there may be no return.

Mr. Bergman, a senior military and political analyst for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, is the author of "The Secret War With Iran" (Free Press, 2008).

Copyright ©2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280571188117054.html

From National Review Online
June 1, 2010

Flotillas And Falsehoods

Don’t members of the press ever resent being so used?

By Mona Charen

The effort to destroy the Jewish state has many fronts. One front is in Iran, where the maniacal regime that has repeatedly promised to “wipe Israel off the map” marches inexorably toward a nuclear bomb. Another is in Gaza, from which Hamas has lobbed 10,000 missiles into Israeli cities. Yet another front, the most insidious, is comprised of the propaganda arm of the Palestinian movement. And this front thrives for only one reason — the complicity of the world press and the so-called “international community.”

It was the propaganda arm that staged the “Freedom Flotilla.” But there have been many previous productions: The propaganda arm was responsible for the photo-shopped images of damage to Lebanon during the 2006 war, the staged “death” of twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah, the “massacre” at Jenin, and the “war crimes” in Gaza.

In each and every case, the “news” of Israeli atrocities was broadcast far and wide by organizations such as Reuters, AP, CNN, and AFP. The United Nations has offered its imprimatur to every libel. The truth seemed always to have a case of laryngitis.

Today, in the wake of the confrontation between Israeli soldiers and the provocateurs aboard the Gaza flotilla, the remarkably incurious world press is providing exactly the sort of headlines on which the organizers knew they could count. “Flotilla Attack Is Israel’s Kent State” screamed the Huffington Post. Agence France Presse carried a banner quoting the Turkish foreign minister to the effect that “Israel has lost all legitimacy.” Every news outlet I checked docilely described the flotilla as “humanitarian.”

Don’t members of the press ever resent being so used?

Fact: Israel imposed a blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons from reaching the radical Islamic regime there that continues to make war on Israeli civilians. Egypt too has blockaded the strip, hoping to choke off weapons to Hamas, which it views as a threat.

Fact: Humanitarian relief is delivered to Gaza from Israel on a daily basis. During the first three months of this year, 94,500 tons of supplies were transferred to Gaza from Israel, including 48,000 tons of food products; 40,000 tons of wheat; 2,760 tons of rice; 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear; and 553 tons of milk powder and baby food for the strip’s 1.5 million inhabitants. Representatives of international aid groups and the United Nations move freely to and from the Gaza Strip.

Fact: Upon learning of the intentions of the Gaza flotilla, the Israeli government asked the organizers to deliver their humanitarian aid first to an Israeli port where it would be inspected (for weapons) before being forwarded to Gaza. The organizers refused. “There are two possible happy endings,” a Muslim activist on board explained, “either we will reach Gaza or we will achieve martyrdom.”

Fact: The flotilla ignored multiple instructions from Israeli navy ships to change course and follow them to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Fact: On board one of the ships, according to al-Jazeera, the “humanitarian” Palestinians sang “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Muhammad will return” — a reference to the 628 massacre of Jews in Arabia at the hands of Muhammad.

Fact: The flotilla’s participants included the IHH, a “humanitarian relief fund” based in Turkey that has close ties to Hamas and to global jihadi groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere, and which has also organized relief to anti-U.S. Islamic radicals in Fallujah, Iraq. A French intelligence report suggests that IHH has provided documents to terrorists, permitting them to pose as relief workers. Among the other cheerleaders — former British MP and Saddam Hussein pal George Galloway, all-purpose America and Israel hater Noam Chomsky, and John Ging, head of UNRWA, the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian support.

Fact: When the family of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped during a cross-border raid by Hamas in 2006, offered to support the flotilla if, in exchange, they would agree to ask Hamas to permit international agencies to visit their son, they were rebuffed.

Fact: When Israeli commandos rappelled down ropes to the deck of the Mavi Marmara, they were assaulted and beaten with metal poles and baseball bats by the Palestinians on board. (It’s available on theisraelproject.org).

Some commentators sympathetic to Israel complain that the Israelis were late getting their explanation of events to the press. That’s probably true, but almost irrelevant. There is a jerking of knees around the world whenever and wherever Israel is forced to defend itself. This eagerness to repeat the Palestinian version of events, to assume the very worst about Israel, and to ignore the history of blatant and outrageous lies by Israel’s enemies — amounts to joining them.

— Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist. © 2010 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

© National Review Online 2010. All Rights Reserved.

http://article.nationalreview.com/435253/flotillas-and-falsehoods/mona-charen

Ahem.

The Siege started immediately after the 2006 selection, only strengthened in 2007.

And Hamas did not stage a "violent coup" to seize power. After Bush insisted on an election, then he and the Israelis did not like the results, they cut off the legit Hamas government and, though the back channel, funneled money and arms to Abbas and Dahlan of the PA, trained and armed a paramilitary force and sent it to take over the Gaza Strip. Hamas fought them off, and yes the battle was violent.

A coup is when the legitimate government is removed, not the other way around.

Kmancanada, you are confusing the sanctions placed by the Quartet (US, UN, Russia and EU) in 2006 on the entire PNA after Hamas would not 1) renounce violence; 2) accept Israel's right to exist; and 3) abide by past agreements with the Gaza blockade that Steve references.

After the Hamas coup, the santions were eased on the West Bank and tightened on Gaza by Israel and Egypt to the point of "blockade", as it came to be known.

If Steve didn't confuse the Quartet sanctions with the blockade, and the mischaracterization was intentional, then his description was deserving of a correction in any case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006-2007_economic_sanctions_against_the_Palestinian_National_Authority

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip

------------------------------------

"A coup d'état (English: /?ku?de??t??/, French: [ku deta]; plural: coups d'état), or coup, putsch or overthrow, is the sudden unconstitutional deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either civil or military."

I stand by my characterization of the Hamas takeover as a violent coup. At the moment they don't have any more legitimacy than any other democratically elected government that subsequently retained power unconstitutionally. If they want to regain legitimacy they would have stand in elections again. The last polling I saw (admittedly, not recently) indicated that they wouldn't do as well as they did previously.

This is referenced in the relevant Wiki article:

"In the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair the writer David Rose published an article, based on internal US documents, suggesting that the United States collaborated with the Palestinian Authority and Israel to attempt a coup on Hamas, and Hamas pre-empted the coup." (Wikipedia)

I imagine this is what you are referring to. It is conjecture, vs. the reality that Hamas did indeed stage a violent coup (even the Vanity Fair article refers to Hamas' action as a coup). What the documents reveal is that we recommended that Abbas lay down an ultimatum and if not met, dissolve the government and declare a state of emergency. (The article notes it is not clear that this is constitutional, but on the other hand, it is not certain that it is unconstitutional.) This does not strike me as good justification for staging a violent coup, even if pre-emptive.

Statement by Prime Minister Netanyahu: "No Love Boat"

Israel cannot permit Iran to establish a Mediterranean port a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv and from Jerusalem. These weren't peace activists. These were violent supporters of terrorism.

(Photo: GPO)
Once again, Israel faces hypocrisy and a biased rush to judgment. I'm afraid this isn't the first time.

Last year, Israel acted to stop Hamas from firing thousands of rockets into Israel's towns and cities . Hamas was firing on our civilians while hiding behind civilians. And Israel went to unprecedented lengths to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties. Yet it was Israel, and not Hamas, that was accused by the UN of war crimes.

Now regrettably, the same thing appears to be happening now.

But here are the facts. Hamas is smuggling thousands of Iranian rockets, missiles and other weaponry - smuggling it into Gaza in order to fire on Israel's cities. These missiles can reach Ashdod and Beer Sheva - these are major Israeli cities. And I regret to say that some of them can reach now Tel Aviv, and very soon, the outskirts of Jerusalem. From the information we have, the planned shipments include weapons that can reach farther, even farther and deeper into Israel.

Under international law, and under common sense and common decency, Israel has every right to interdict this weaponry and to inspect the ships that might be transporting them.

This is not a theoretical challenge or a theoretical threat. We have already interdicted vessels bound for Hizbullah, and for Hamas from Iran, containing hundreds of tons of weapons. In one ship, the Francop , we found hundreds of tons of war materiel and weapons destined for Hizbullah. In another celebrated case, the Karine A , dozens of tons of weapons were destined for Hamas by Iran via a shipment to Gaza. Israel simply cannot permit the free flow of weapons and war materials to Hamas from the sea.

I will go further than that. Israel cannot permit Iran to establish a Mediterranean port a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv and from Jerusalem. And I would go beyond that too. I say to the responsible leaders of all the nations: The international community cannot afford an Iranian port in the Mediterranean. Fifteen years ago I cautioned about an Iranian development that has come to pass - people now recognize that danger. Today I warn of this impending willingness to enable Iran to establish a naval port right next to Israel, right next to Europe. The same countries that are criticizing us today should know that they will be targeted tomorrow.

For this and for many other reasons, we have a right to inspect cargo heading into Gaza.

And here's our policy. It's very simple: Humanitarian and other goods can go in and weapons and war materiel cannot. And we do let civilian goods into Gaza. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Each week, an average of ten thousand tons of goods enter Gaza. There's no shortage of food. There's no shortage of medicine. There's no shortage of other goods.

On this occasion too, we made several offers - offers to deliver the goods on board the flotilla to Gaza after a security inspection. Egypt made similar offers. And these offers were rejected time and again.

So our naval personnel had no choice but to board these vessels. Now, on five of the vessels, our seamen were not met by any serious violence and as a result, there were no serious injuries aboard those ships. But on the largest ship, something very different happened.

Our naval personnel, just as they landed on the ship - you can see this in the videos - the first soldier - they were met with a vicious mob . They were stabbed, they were clubbed, they were fired upon. I talked to some of these soldiers. One was shot in the stomach, one was shot in the knee. They were going to be killed and they had to act in self-defense.

It is very clear to us that the attackers had prepared their violent action in advance. They were members of an extremist group that has supported international terrorist organizations and today support the terrorist organization called Hamas. They brought with them in advance knives, steel rods, other weapons. They chanted battle cries against the Jews. You can hear this on the tapes that have been released.

This was not a love boat. This was a hate boat. These weren't pacifists. These weren't peace activists. These were violent supporters of terrorism.

I think that the evidence that the lives of the Israeli seamen were in danger is crystal clear. If you're a fair-minded observer and you look at those videos, you know this simple truth. But I regret to say that for many in the international community, no evidence is needed. Israel is guilty until proven guilty.

Once again, Israel is told that it has a right to defend itself but is condemned every time it exercises that right. Now you know that a right that you cannot exercise is meaningless. And you know that the way we exercise it - under these conditions of duress, under the rocketing of our cities, under the impending killing of our soldiers - you know that we exercise it in a way that is commensurate with any international standard. I have spoken to leading leaders of the world, and I say the same thing today to the international community: What would you do? How would you stop thousands of rockets that are destined to attack your cities, your civilians, your children? How would your soldiers behave under similar circumstances? I think in your hearts, you all know the truth.

Israel regrets the loss of life. But we will never apologize for defending ourselves. Israel has every right to prevent deadly weapons from entering into hostile territory. And Israeli soldiers have every right to defend their lives and their country.

This may sound like an impossible plea, or an impossible request, or an impossible demand, but I make it anyway: Israel should not be held to a double standard. The Jewish state has a right to defend itself just like any other state.

Thank you.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch
June 4, 2010

OP-ED

Israel Committed The One Unforgivable Offense

By A. Barton Hinkle, Times-Dispatch Columnist

What's the real problem with Israel's assault on the Gaza flotilla? It's not the loss of life. Almost nobody cares about that. It's not the suffering of Palestinians. When Palestinians suffer, the world shrugs.

Remember the worldwide condemnations, the protests across Europe and Asia, the stern rebukes from the world's high councils in January of last year -- when Hamas militants executed 54 members of the Fatah party and tortured 175 more for (allegedly) collaborating with Israel? You don't? That's because the killing and torture went on with almost no notice or comment.

How about the world's outrage in November 2007, when Hamas gunmen killed seven civilians and wounded 80 more during a rally memorializing Yasser Arafat in Gaza? If you don't remember the outrage, the marches in the street, the scathing U.N. resolutions, that's because there weren't any.

Nor did the world weep when the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) suspended operations in Gaza after two staff members were caught in a Hamas-Fatah crossfire and killed. When Palestinian factional violence impedes humanitarian aid, well, tsk-tsk.

Last February, Amnesty International reported that numerous prisoners injured by an Israeli bombing of a prison were "shot dead in the hospitals where they were receiving treatment." But they weren't shot by Israelis, so nobody objected.

According to a report by Reuters, "An estimated 616 Palestinians have been killed in factional fighting since Hamas defeated Fatah" in January 2006.

World reaction? Shrug.

Two wrongs don't make a right, and none of the above is meant to excuse Israel's clumsy, ill-orchestrated boarding of the Mavi Marmara. Nor is it meant to offer an unequivocal defense of the blockade, a legitimate point of contention. (Are cilantro, sage, chocolate, and notebooks really tools of terrorism? Really?)

The point is simply that those professing to be so broken up about the blockade and Israel's enforcement of it have been remarkably subdued whenever suffering is inflicted by someone other than Jews. For further instance, according to Amnesty International's 2010 report . . .

•Palestinians in Lebanon "continued living in overcrowded and often squalid conditions in 12 official refugee camps. Nearly 422,000 registered Palestinian refugees faced discriminatory laws and regulations, denying them the right to inherit property, work in around [sic] 20 professions, and other basic rights."

•In Saudi Arabia, "The authorities used a wide range of repressive measures to suppress freedom of expression and other legitimate activities . . . .Shi'a Muslims and others were targeted for practising their faith . . . .Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were systematic and carried out with impunity. Sentences of flogging were regularly imposed. The death penalty was used extensively. At least 69 people were executed, including two juvenile offenders."

•In Yemen, "The long-running conflict in the northern Sa'da Governorate between government forces and armed supporters of the late Zaidi Shi'a cleric Hussain Badral-Din al-Huthi resumed with new intensity from August, when the government launched a military offensive codenamed Scorched Earth that included aerial bombing and deployment of ground troops. Over 190,000 people had been displaced by the fighting since 2004, according to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, in December, and an unknown number of civilians were killed in 2009. Both sides were believed to have committed serious human rights abuses . . . ."
Etc.

World reaction to all of this? Once again, a shrug.

Nor did the world object as more than 10,000 rockets rained down on Israeli civilians over the course of several years. It was not until Israel finally had had enough and began going after those firing the rockets in late 2008 that the world sat up and began to insist the fighting stop. On one side, anyway. Across Europe, protesters and vandals went after Jewish synagogues, neighborhoods, and congregations. Attacking Jews in the West, in other words. As if it were somehow their fault.

Nor have there been any marches in the street to protest the behavior of those who organized the flotilla and assaulted the Israeli commandos. There has been equally little objection to the footage from al-Jazeera of men on board the flotilla, the day before the fiasco, chanting "[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!" Khaibar was the last Jewish village taken by the Prophet Muhammad in 628. These are peace activists?

So what's the real problem with Israel's assault on the flotilla? Not the loss of life. Not the suffering of Palestinians. The real problem is that Jews defended themselves. That is the one offense in the Middle East the world simply will not forgive.

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Contact A. Barton Hinkle at (804) 649-6627 or bhinkle@timesdispatch.com .

©2010 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-HINKLE4_20100603-175803/348832/

The Washington Post
June 5, 2010

EDITORIAL

Turkey's Erdogan Bears Responsibility In Flotilla Fiasco

WESTERN GOVERNMENTS have been right to be concerned about Israel's poor judgment and botched execution in the raid against the Free Gaza flotilla. But they ought to be at least as worried about the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which since Monday has shown a sympathy toward Islamic militants and a penchant for grotesque demagoguery toward Israel that ought to be unacceptable for a member of NATO.

On the opposite page today, Turkey's ambassador to the United States makes the argument that Israel had no cause to clash with the "European lawmakers, journalists, business leaders and an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor" who were aboard the flotilla. But there was no fighting with those people, or with five of the six boats in the fleet. All of the violence occurred aboard the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, and all of those who were killed were members or volunteers for the Islamic "charity" that owned the ship, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).

The relationship between Mr. Erdogan's government and the IHH ought to be one focus of any international investigation into the incident. The foundation is a member of the "Union of Good," a coalition that was formed to provide material support to Hamas and that was named as a terrorist entity by the United States in 2008. In discussions before the flotilla departed, Turkish officials turned down offers from both Israel and Egypt to deliver the "humanitarian" supplies on the boats to Gaza and insisted Ankara could not control what it described as a nongovernmental organization.

Yet the IHH has certainly done its best to promote Mr. Erdogan. "All the peoples of the Islamic world would want a leader like Recep Tayyip Erdogan," IHH chief Bulent Yildirim proclaimed at a Hamas rally in Gaza last year. And Mr. Erdogan seems to share that notion: In the days since an incident that the IHH admits it provoked, the Turkish prime minister has done his best to compete with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's Hasan Nasrallah in attacking the Jewish state.

"The heart of humanity has taken one of her heaviest wounds in history," Mr. Erdogan claimed this week. He has had next to nothing to say about the slaughter of Iranians protesting last year's fraudulent elections, but he called Israel's actions "state terrorism" and a "bloody massacre" and described Israel itself as an "adolescent, rootless state." His foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said in Washington on Tuesday that "this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey" -- an obscene comparison to events in which more than 2,900 genuinely innocent people were killed.

Mr. Erdogan's crude attempt to exploit the incident comes only a couple of weeks after he joined Brazil's president in linking arms with Mr. Ahmadinejad, whom he is assisting in an effort to block new U.N. sanctions. What's remarkable about his turn toward extremism is that it comes after more than a year of assiduous courting by the Obama administration, which, among other things, has overlooked his antidemocratic behavior at home, helped him combat the Kurdish PKK and catered to Turkish sensitivities about the Armenian genocide. Israel is suffering the consequences of its misjudgments and disregard of U.S. interests. Will Mr. Erdogan's behavior be without cost?

Saturday, June 5, 2010; Page A12

© 2010 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060404806.html

Do you think Hamas would ever build shelters for their citizens?
Have they ever?
Cement was not always blocked. Its just not Arab mentality to protect their civilians.

thank you

if it was just "Huh"s, Israel wouldn't mind.

What the above article is saying, though, is that for some reason the world gets outraged and Israel is de-legitamized completely for acting in self defence (albeit sometimes going overboard, no pun intended).

It is the only recognized country toady who's very existence is in question? Why is that? The UN approved it. Ahmedinijad and Hamas and the Muslim rabble do not chant "Life for Israel in the 1948 borders...", no they chant "Death to Israel" and "Slaughter the Jews".

One can't compared breaking a blockade to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians to doing the same for a terrorist group. Clearly, the activists acted brashly (hence why they're activists). But they knew Israel's reputation with regards to limited the aid that does enter, and perhaps felt it wouldn't have gotten through any other way.

Chances are, they were trying to bring attention to the stifling blockade in the first place. Either way, Israel's actions were excessive, with that red herring about them being less bad than an authoritarian state notwithstanding.

You're absolutely right about this. The world has to work outside of the U.S. and its anachronistic, bizarre policy re: the state of Israel.

This isn't about Israeli paranoia, it's about Israeli aggression.And it certainly didn't begin in '67.

Isn't it time to acknowledge that America is wedded to Israel? There will be no condemnation from the US. Nothing will be done. When asked if Israel has nuclear weapons, Obama responded by saying the there was no reason to get involved in hypothetical arguments. America can't act, no matter how Americans might feel. Israel owns the congress. Literally.

The crimes were committed on Turkish territory. It's for Turkey to investigate. Not only is asking Israel to investigate itself rather pointless, it doesn't reflect international law.

and the point being?

Israeli behavior is going from bad to worse. Should Dr. Walt stop reiterating what he (and the rest of the world) believes will rein in that rogue state? And yes, it would be a good start for the United States government to "sponsor a United Nations resolution of condemnation.......". As far as "Israel's guilt" is concerned -- it starts with its brutal occupation of Arab lands. And it goes from there.

Let's see how a standard dictionary would define this latest Israeli outrage:

piracy: an act of robbery esp. on the high seas; specifically : an illegal act of violence, detention, or plunder committed for private ends by crew or passengers of a private ship or aircraft against another ship or aircraft on the high seas or in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state

Enough said.

Any ship in international waters is under the jurisdiction of the country which flag it flies, and thus cannot be boarded. And IF it is borded the people on board have every right to defend themselves.

I only wish that they had brought a Stinger missile with them. That would have made great TV-pictures. This would have caused people everywhere on Earth to celebrate, because people loves when David beat up Goliat, just like the Muhaheddins did with the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 80'ies

rather than act like a proud moron. The international maritime law also says:

A State may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law.

The US Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.

A ship running a blockade can be boarded. This is true even if it flies a neutral flag or flag of a third party. Please see Section V of the San Remo Manuel on International Law and you will see that I am correct. So, before you wish to comment, please read. Yes, Kenneth, I am actually asking you to read something before you spout your opinion on it. Usually that is how things work, one thinks before one speaks. You apparently do the opposite. You can find the text of the San Remo Manuel online, it's really not that difficult to read the law and learn.

I cant help but just shake my head in bewilderment! honestly, are you quoting any bullsh*t to justify this massacre? you must be sick, really sick. just how can the raiding of a civilian ship filled with civilians (whatever their intension) by a lethally armed commando force trained to kill (and actually killing those civilians) be justified by any law? Conversely, you have to wonder about the intentions of israel by sending such a deadly force in. why not the coast guard, or some para-military outfit who at least are not trained assassins? And in international waters? are you kidding me? just what imminent threat to israel's security did that flotilla pose that any San Moreno or otherwise manual can justify the boarding and killing? apart from the chairs and poles the crowd used to defend themselves i cant remember any weapon discovered by israel. And you keep repeating the word 'blockade' to justify the act as if the 'blockade' it self were not illegal and in breach of every international and humanitarian law in existence.
Its okay if your sick mind allows you to think the way you do and leaves you devoid of any human feelings or compassion for any human life that is not JEWISH, but please keep your thought to yourself. DONT abuse the sensibilities of those of us who are morally upright and care for all human life (even if we're not related to them in any way!).

you are gonna get burned. They attacked Israeli soldiers with knives and clubs and pistols. Big surprise they got shot. If someone did that to U.S. Navy Seals, the whole ship would be killed.

Dude, how much is your retainer to defend the indefensible? I am sure for the right amount you'd find interpretations justifying the old South African apartheid.

Since you are a paid hack and have no credibility here, go on and continue amusing us with your idiocy.

"America! Time to reign this the worlds last colony in, before it does something dangerous. You can do this by cutting off funds and place an embargo on it. Refuse to buy any of its goods, harrass its tourists when they come visiting and tell them what a ridiculous and artificial sounding language they have. And tell all of your fellow Americans that they are being unpatriotic if they visit this outlawed state."

Yeah, we should harass foreigners! Should we tar and feather them? Kenneth can I drive around in your pick up truck with you while we harass these foreigners? Does your bloodhound have the ability to sniff out Jews like it does Mexicans?

And when we tell the Israelis what a ridiculous and artificial language they have, I am sure they will start to cry! This is great. I mean imagine if the British told us how we massacred their language. I know I would definitely cry. Or, imagine how an African-American would react if you told him or her that their grammar and diction was incorrect. I am definitely sure they would shed a tear and run away!

Most important is the Eurovision song contest. If we want to hit a country where it hurts, we definitely have to ban the Israelis from this over-hyped Karaoke contest.

My only question Kenneth is what do we do about the Arab-Israeli citizens? Do we ridicule them for speaking Hebrew along with their Arabic? Do we also harass them because they are Israeli citizens? Or, do they get a free pass because they are not Jews?

Thank you for highlighting the standard contrafactual phrases of Arab propaganda so that we may save time by more easily spotting them. A big lie, often repeated, does not become the truth.

I refer, of course to:
Peace activists-no, terrorists including, it turns out, Al Quaeda, who sent their fellow-travelers below decks so they could not see the violence they committed against the Israelis. The Soviets called tso-called 'peace activists' "useful idiots".

international waters-a declared intention to run the blockade permits this by law

delivering humanitarian goods-they could have transferred them legally via Ashdod

open air prison in the world-cities with high rise buildings, fancy restaurants, wind surfing youth, etc. blockaded by land by both Israel and Egypt to prevent terrorism and other crimes

et(h)nic cleansing-It's Jews who were ethnically cleansed from Arab countries; Israel has all sorts of ethnicities and Arabs have a 20 percent membership in the Knesset--often a critical bloc for decisions.

factual basis to your arguments. Second, sometimes we are defined by the company we keep. Walt's biggest cheerleaders have been Osama Bin Laden and David Duke. Plato was not a contemporary of Hitler. These are all men living at the same time.

DJPav, if you were attacked with knife or a gun, I'm sure you would shoot back. The people on this boat were the only violent idiots who decided to try to kill Israelis. Go cry your crocodile tears elsewhere.