Israel has attacked Gaza Flotilla (dead and wounded)

[Helen Reyes]

http://grapevine.is/News/Archive



Minister of Foreign Affairs Condemns Israeli Attack
31.5.2010
Words by Paul Nikolov
Minister of Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson condemned an Israeli attack against a humanitarian convoy of boats bound for Gaza, likening the Gaza Strip itself to "one big prison".

In a statement from the ministry, Össur agrees with the opinion of the European Union and the United Nations that the attack should be investigated exhaustively.

Israeli commandos killed 19 people when they stormed a convoy of ships delivering aid to Gaza this morning. Israel says it responded to attacks against its soldiers, 10 of whom were injured.

"Gaza is actually one big prison, where international laws are broken against residents there," the statement says in part. "This has to stop." The ministry calls for the withdrawal of military action against Gaza.

The ministry also sent a strongly-worded letter to the Israeli embassy in Oslo, and called for a meeting between the two countries in that city. Furthermore, the minister said he was pleased that the UN intends to bring the matter up at UN headquarters in New York.

Protests have erupted around the world over the attacks, the strong reaction to which prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a trip to visit US president Barack Obama.

Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee: Iceland Should "Review" Relationship with Israel
1.6.2010
Words by Paul Nikolov
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee Árni Þór Sigurðsson believes Iceland should review its political relationship with Israel in light of attacks made by Israeli commandos against a convoy of aid workers bound for Gaza that left at least 19 dead. A parliamentary discussion on the matter has been proposed for today's schedule.

Árni Þór was in Madrid at the time of the attacks, and said he witnessed global dialogue on the matter give a resounding tone of condemnation for the attacks, from the United Nations and the European Union especially. In light of this reaction, Árni Þór said he believes it's reasonable for Iceland to review its political relationship with Israel.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson has already condemned the attacks, calling Gaza itself "one big prison", and intends to meet with Israeli embassy officials in Oslo over the matter. Many Icelanders gathered in front of the ministry itself to protest the attacks yesterday.



Foreign Affairs Committee Wants to Impose Embargo or Cut Political Contact with Israel
1.6.2010
Words by Paul Nikolov
The majority of the Foreign Affairs committee - The Movement, the Social Democrats, the Leftist-Greens and the Progressives - have stated that they want to either impose an embargo against Israel, or cut off political contact with the nation, in light of yesterday's attack on aid workers bound for Gaza.

Leftist-Green MP Ögmundur Jónasson brought the matter up in parliament today, addressing the Minister of Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson. The minister, for his part, has said that he wants to discuss the matter with other nations to see what sort of formal action Iceland will take.

All parties in the Foreign Affairs committee - except for the Independence Party - strongly condemned Israel's attack on aid workers bound for Gaza, leaving anywhere from nine to nineteen aid workers dead, and many more injured.

The committee furthermore decided that they would organize a trip to Gaza soon, and send aid relief to the region.

[Peter Lemkin]

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: We go now to the Middle East, where Israel has deported more than 120 activists seized after a deadly raid in international waters on a humanitarian aid flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade. The activists were taken to Jordan and released. Hundreds more, most of them Turkish, remain in custody. In the face of mounting world criticism, Israel said it will release the rest of the detainees within the next two days.

This is Mark Regev, the spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

MARK REGEV: We don’t want to see foreign activists in an Israeli detention center, and so we’ve decided to speed up the process of deportation, and our hope is to have all these activists out of the country within forty-eight hours.


SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: At least nine people were killed when armed Israeli commandos, using helicopters and dinghies, stormed the six-ship Gaza aid convoy early on Monday. The identities of the dead have not been released, but four of them are said to be from Turkey. Reuters reports one of them is Turkish activist Ali Aydar Bengi. Speaking in Ankara, his sister-in-law Azize Tekin blasted Israel for the raid.

AZIZE TEKIN: [translated] The whole world has denounced Israel. So did we. Once again, they have shown their ugly side to the world. I cannot even consider them as human beings.


AMY GOODMAN: The attack has sparked worldwide protest and condemnation. Turkey’s prime minister said Israel should be "punished" for what he called a "bloody massacre." The UN Security Council condemned actions that, quote, "led" to the deaths and called for an impartial investigation. At a news conference, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the US fully supports the Security Council statement.

ROBERT GIBBS: The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza. The Council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least ten civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families. The Security Council requests the immediate release of the ships as well as civilians held by Israel.

REPORTER: So that would seem to cover President Obama’s personal feelings, while some of the allies are looking for a stronger statement from him directly.

ROBERT GIBBS: Well, again, I—this is supported not just by the United States but by the international community.

REPORTER: In light of what happened with the Gaza aid flotilla, is the President considering at least backing international calls to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli forces?

ROBERT GIBBS: No. Well, look, obviously, as we have said before, we are concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and continue to work with the Israelis and international partners in order to improve those conditions. And as the UN Security Council statement says, obviously it’s an untenable situation.

HELEN THOMAS: Our initial reaction to this flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful. What do you mean you regret when something should be so strongly condemned? And if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms. What is this sacrosanct, iron-clad relationship, where a country that deliberately kills people—

ROBERT GIBBS: Well, again, Helen, I—

HELEN THOMAS: —and boycotts, and we aid and abet the boycott?

ROBERT GIBBS: Well, look, I think the initial reaction, regretted the loss of life, as we tried and still continue to try to gather the relevant—

HELEN THOMAS: Regret won’t bring them back.

ROBERT GIBBS: Nothing can bring them back, Helen. We know that for sure, because I think if you could, that wouldn’t be up for debate. We are—we believe that a credible and transparent investigation has to look into the facts. And as I said earlier, we’re open to international participation in that investigation.

HELEN THOMAS: Why did you think of it so late?

ROBERT GIBBS: Why did we think of...?

HELEN THOMAS: Why didn’t you initially condemn it?

ROBERT GIBBS: Again, I think the statements that we released speak directly to that.


AMY GOODMAN: Robert Gibbs being questioned at the end there by veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas.

All the permanent members of the Security Council except for the United States have explicitly called for Israel’s three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip to be lifted. Meanwhile, the Egyptian government has temporarily eased the blockade and opened the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Despite Monday’s deadly attack, another ship carrying aid has set sail for Gaza intending to challenge the Israeli blockade. Organizers of the Freedom Flotilla said five of those on board are Irish, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire. Israel remains defiant and says it’s ready to intercept the ship. The ship is called The Rachel Corrie, named after the American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer on March 16, 2003, as she was trying to protect the home of a Palestinian family from being demolished.

Haneen Zuabi, an Israeli Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, the parliament, was on the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, when it was attacked. She was supposed to be on the program today, but she has just gone into session in the Israeli parliament. So, for more, we turn to Edward Peck. He’s a former US ambassador. He, too, was on the Gaza aid flotilla, and he’s joining us from his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

EDWARD PECK: I’m honored.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about, Ambassador Peck, what happened? Where were you in this flotilla, and what took place—what was it?—about 4:00 Monday morning?

EDWARD PECK: Four o’clock in the morning, and we were on a small ship. I was not on the one that was so heavily damaged, physically, in terms of the people. We were on a small ship under—that had come out of Athens, Greece. There were fifty-four of us onboard. And our ship was small enough so that the Israeli commandos were able to step from their deck right onto ours. So the first thing we knew was the sound of footsteps, and my eyelids flicked open, and there they were, heavily armed. And I notice the Israeli government keeps referring to the paint guns, but the paint guns were attached to the automatic weapons and the stun grenades and the pepper spray and the tasers and everything else that these guys carry. You know, paint guns are for fun.

And it was all over in the inside of the ship where I was. But up on the upper deck, where some people had been sitting and sleeping, they made an effort to peacefully prevent the Israelis from taking over the wheelhouse, and we had a number of people injured in that. Nothing critical of a critical nature, but we had people on crutches and people with bandages and peoples with their arms in slings, and the captain had his neck in a bracelet. And they were the first ones off the ship, when they finally forced us into—off the ship in Ashdod.

AMY GOODMAN: Ambassador Peck, why did you go on this mission?

EDWARD PECK: Well, that’s a good question. You know, I have been an activist. I don’t consider that to be anything but a word that informs people that I’m interested and aware. And I’ve made a number of trips to Israel and all the surrounding countries and the West Bank over the—since I retired, explaining, talking, meeting people, taking groups of people over to meet and discuss. And I decided I would like to have a chance to participate in something tactile, something that you could see, you know, something—rather than just plain words. And the Americans were added to this group, as you probably know, very late in the game. It was a European thing. And at the last minute, they said, "We need some Americans," and they contacted Paul and Janet and got the Free Palestine Movement organized. And they invited me, and I said yes, because I thought it would be helpful and beneficial to Israel to let them receive the supplies, just the convoy of the boats that carried the equipment, to come in and help the people of Gaza, a humanitarian effort not directed against Israel, but intended to deal with the humanitarian situation that needed to be dealt with by people who could help from outside. Everything we brought was donated, as you may know. Everything the flotilla brought was donated by people who said, "Yeah, we’ve got to help the folks in Gaza. They are suffering."

AMY GOODMAN: Ambassador Peck, we’re going to break. When we come back, we’re going to play an interview with the deputy ambassador to the United Nations from Israel, and we’d like to get your response. Ambassador Edward Peck, on with us on the line from Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he’s just returned home. He was one of the members of the 700-strong Freedom Flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: On the line with us is Ambassador Ed Peck. He is just back from the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, one of the ships—the ships were attacked by Israeli commandos. But first, we’re going to turn to another diplomat. Sharif?

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, yesterday I had a chance to speak with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Carmon. I reached him on the phone and questioned him about the raid.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Why did Israel attack a boat carrying more than 600 international activists in international waters?

DANIEL CARMON: Israel did not attack a boat. Israel enforced a maritime blockade, which is a measure that is totally legal in international law, to enforce a blockade when there is a possibility of a danger emanating from some source. And this was exactly the case. There was a flotilla of so-called real, genuine humanitarian aid to Gaza. And when I’m saying "so-called," I mean some of this flotilla was not a genuine, naive humanitarian aid-only flotilla. And for this reason and for the danger that emanated from this, we—our navy enforced the blockade, as—

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: But this was in international waters.

DANIEL CARMON: The international law—and I would refer you to international law—when there is a danger, when there are conditions that require this, boarding can be done on a dangerous vessel in international waters, too.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Eyewitnesses said commandos came out shooting, the Israeli commandoes came out shooting.

DANIEL CARMON: Not at all. Not at all. The Israeli navy, after repeatedly offering a remedy and an alternative for transferring the humanitarian aid to Gaza through the port of Ashdod, the Israeli for weeks now, after updating the organizers and the relevant governments about our intentions, did exactly what we said we would do: boarded the ship—the ships, and I’m talking about there were six ships, by the way. Five ships adhered totally to what they were supposed to do and replied and reacted positively to the communications done by the Israeli navy. One particular ship, the Marmara, which had onboard not humanitarian activists only, but some activists of a very extreme organization called IHH, which had other intentions, had other plans, and the plans were to provoke. And more than this, when the Israeli navy—

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: What evidence do you have of those plans? IHH is an organization that works across Turkey and the world.

DANIEL CARMON: Yes, and is also connected to terrorism and to al-Qaeda and some elements from the people of this organizations, when the Israeli naval soldiers came down to the ship in order to—to enforce the blockade, after repeated advertisement that were answered by "negative" or four-letter words, which I will not repeat here, were attacked. And I think you saw that on TV also. I hope you did.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, let me ask you—

DANIEL CARMON: By knife, clubs, shooting from live ammunition. One soldier was thrown overboard. You have it all in the media. And the reaction is a very natural reaction, unfortunate result, but a natural reaction of self-defense.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Let me ask you about that video that was released by the Israeli military. Will you release an unedited video of the excerpts that have been playing on the networks?

DANIEL CARMON: I am not—I’m not aware of what you mean by "edited" or "unedited," but I think you saw that—you saw that, and it speaks by itself.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And do you know who filmed it?

DANIEL CARMON: No, I have no idea.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And why haven’t you released the names of the dead? At least nine were killed. First of all, do you know how—can you confirm the number of dead?

DANIEL CARMON: As much as I know, there are nine dead in this unfortunate incident, some injured and Israeli soldiers wounded, including two gravely wounded.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, there are families around the world who are anxiously awaiting news. Why have the names of the dead not been released yet?

DANIEL CARMON: We would have to check it with the local authorities.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And why is Israel continuing to hold hundreds of international activists? What is their crime?

DANIEL CARMON: Any of the participants in this so-called protest, which is much more than just a—even much more than just a protest, those who are suspected of trespassing the law, there will be measures that would be applied. All those who don’t will be released as soon as possible. We have indicated this from the start of this operation. We have indicated this in the planning stages. We had no intention of doing anything—anything—that was problematic. The problems and the confrontation and the violence came from the other side, from those who misused the disguised—the disguise of humanitarian aid to do something else. And this something else is the lynch that we saw in this clip that—in this horrible clip that we all saw.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, the UN Security Council has condemned the raid. What is your response?

DANIEL CARMON: I would—I would suggest to read exactly the text of various communications in the last few days. I haven’t seen—the condemnation is a condemnation of the act that brought this incident to be what it was, and I think that you can interpret exactly, meaning that the flotilla by itself—and we have heard it in various communications and speeches in the Security Council. If the flotilla was a genuine, innocent humanitarian aid flotilla, things would go the other way, exactly as other flotillas went and other convoys went there before. But unfortunately, this was not the case. They had other intentions. They had other connections. And they wanted to provoke. And provoke, they did.


SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: That was Israel’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Carmon, speaking with me yesterday. Edward Peck, you’re a former US ambassador. You were on this aid flotilla. Respond to some of the comments of Daniel Carmon.


EDWARD PECK: Well, sir, you know, it’s interesting. He did what he was supposed to do, and everything he said, as far as I’m concerned, is what you find in a meadow somewhere where they keep large animals. You know, here, one of the things I find that is the twist in this thing was that these peaceful, heavily armed commandos who were in international waters to capture a ship full of men and women, who were not bothering Israel, and who took what steps they could to try to prevent these pirates from doing it, are accused of attacking them. Mr.—the deputy ambassador, they were defending the ship. The Israelis were attacking it, and the passengers didn’t want them to do it. And to see somebody using a deckchair against a heavily-armed and armored Israeli soldier, I mean, my god, that’s a dangerous weapon. It’s called twisting the story. If you come to attack me and I defend myself, you know, that’s considered legal in law.


SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And Edward Peck, he kept saying this was not a genuine humanitarian-only flotilla. What do you say to that?


EDWARD PECK: Yeah, this is the other thing. You know, I did not expect that the government of Israel would refer to us as tree-hugging, you know, flowerchildren. Of course we’re also savage, murdering, you know, anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian—aw, come on, get off it. But of course he has to say this. This is Israel’s position. But it’s as full of holes as a window screen. You know, if you look at the people who were there and the stuff that we were bringing, and he quotes—forgive me, I get—I’ve been talking about this since I got back yesterday morning, just about this time, I guess. The international law, he says, you know, you can do this if it’s provoking a danger, but Gaza does not belong to Israel. It is illegally occupied by international law, so you can’t really stop ships from going there. Well, you can, and they did, but if people try to resist what you’re trying to do, you cannot really accuse them of attacking your heavily armed soldiers. And they were heavily armed. On our little boat, a couple of them had paint guns attached to their submachine guns, along with stun grenades and the pepper spray and the handcuffs and the pistols, you know. So this is sort of a twisting reality, which of course I understand why they’re trying to do it. I’ve been a diplomat. But it’s laughable.

Sir, just try one more thing. He didn’t mention this because he may not know it, but all of us—I was expelled. I was deported for having violated Israeli law. And I said to the gentleman, "What law have I violated?" He said, "You have illegally entered Israel." I said, "Well, now, wait. Our ship was taken over by armed commandos. I was brought here at gunpoint against my will, and you call that illegally entering Israel? You and I went to different law schools, guy." It’s kind of a—it’s a fiasco. It would be amusing if it weren’t so damned sad, because, unfortunately—and I speak with total sincerity here—I think Israel has done itself some serious damage. And in addition to just what they did, it was the way they did it and the way they’re presenting it. Nobody regrets what happened on the Israeli side, because those were all terrorists, you know, violating our laws. Guys, get a grip. This isn’t going to work.


AMY GOODMAN: Ambassador Peck, who did you serve under as ambassador in the Middle East?


EDWARD PECK: Well, I was ambassador, essentially, in Baghdad under a man named Jimmy Carter, and then I was an ambassador in Mauritania under a man named Ronald Reagan. But I served under—you know, I was a career guy, so I served under, I think, eleven presidents. I’ve forgotten exactly. I guess it was eight presidents, excuse me.


AMY GOODMAN: Ambassador Peck, what do you think President Obama should do? Are you satisfied with the US response?


EDWARD PECK: No, I’m not, and it concerns me. I understand as well as most people, I suppose, and better than most, the relationship that links the United States to Israel. I think certain aspects of it are wonderful, and certain aspects of it are detrimental to the interests of both countries. But I understand it exists. I would wish that Mr. Obama—"deeply regrets," my goodness, you know, and Secretary Clinton is talking to their foreign minister about how we handle this crisis? Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. What do we have to do with this crisis? Well, I know, the world perceives us as aiding, arming, financing and supporting Israel in pretty much whatever it does. That’s our national policy. But if I were he, it strikes me as an opportunity that he could use to take some of the steps that he obliquely referred to in the early days of his administration, which raised people’s hopes, that perhaps the United States would distance itself a bit from what Israel does rather than supporting it all blindly.


SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And Ambassador Peck, finally, the United States is the only permanent member of the Security Council not to explicitly call for an end to the three-year Israeli blockade of Gaza.


EDWARD PECK: Well, sir, that doesn’t surprise me. You know, I think we vetoed twenty-nine Security Council resolutions over the years that were directed at trying to get Israel to do various things or stop doing them. This is our policy. You may know that one of the gentlemen on our particular little boat was a veteran of the attack of—Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty in the '67 war, in which 200 American servicemen serving on a US Navy ship were killed or wounded. And what did that lead to? So, the situation is imbalanced. You know, we're not looking at our own interests the way we should. The President should pay perhaps a little more attention to how to advance America’s interests, rather than protect Israel, because this is costly. And The Rachel Corrie, if they attack The Rachel Corrie, named after—


AMY GOODMAN: The ship that’s headed to Gaza now. We have five seconds, Ambassador.


EDWARD PECK: Thank you. And that will be a tragedy for everyone. And I don’t want that. No one with half a brain wants anything bad to happen to Israel, but I fear that they’re going to happen.


AMY GOODMAN: Former US Ambassador Edward Peck. He was on the aid flotilla.

[Ed Jewett]

The Mediterranean Massacre
Israel as the blond beast
by Justin Raimondo, June 02, 2010
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The condemnations, the imprecations, the expressions of shock are rolling in, as the nations of the world raise their voices in protest over the Mediterranean massacre carried out by Israeli commandos, but rather than get into specifics, I want to note a general pattern that this incident seems to confirm.
It is often said, by Israel’s defenders, that the Jewish state is part and parcel of the West: that Israel, the only democracy in the region, must be defended because they are, after all, reliable allies who share our values, the heritage of Athens and Jerusalem. That has been the conventional wisdom – and it’s wrong. The Mediterranean Massacre underscores the wrongness of this assumption.

Israel is not a Western country, and hasn’t been for some time: helped along by this latest incident, the realization of this fact by Western governments and peoples will represent a turning point in the Jewish state’s relations with the civilized world, especially including Jews in the Diaspora. I have argued this for years: that the successful aliya program pushed by the Israeli government has displaced the old European-derived Israeli elites with a new, more Asiatic influence, one that is now – with the rise of the Israel far right – the dominant factor in Israeli politics.
Birthed by leftist Zionists who sought to build an egalitarian community in the midst of a desert, the modern state of Israel has taken on the characteristics of its neighbors – gone native, so to speak, both culturally and politically. The large scale infusion of North African and Asiatic populations has changed Israeli society irrevocably, so that, today, the rise of a thuggish fascist demagogue like Avigdor Lieberman, the former bouncer turned Foreign Minister, is all too believable. Lieberman isn’t a political anomaly: he and his party represent what is the dominant trend in Israeli politics.
In understanding how the Israelis justify killing sixteen civilians in international waters – and kidnapping hundreds – we have to look at it from the viewpoint of a savage. Now I don’t mean by that term someone necessarily wearing animal skins, and wielding a club: savages can wear Armani suits, and wield nuclear weapons, as the history of the twentieth century attests. In the West, however, the culture and especially religious belief prevents the celebration of savagery as civic virtue: when we commit atrocities, we justify it as a proportionate use of force in retaliation for previous acts of aggression by the victims of our wrath. Hiroshima and Nagasaki – and the arguments used to buttress the case for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians – come to mind. The death of innocents is explained away as “collateral damage.”
The savage mind, however, works differently. Shorn of what we would recognize as a moral sense, the savage glories in his capacity for pitiless violence. It’s a survival mechanism: in his world, red in tooth and claw, instilling fear in your opponent means winning more than half the battle. As a survival strategy, it’s like the one inmate who mutters ominously to himself while exhibiting all the characteristics of a violent psychotic: the other prisoners give him plenty of space because they think he’s liable to do anything. So, too, in the case of the Israelis, who are signaling their willingness to go to any lengths in order to instill the fear of their wrath far and wide.
Yes, they’re telling us, not even you in the West – our “friends” and allies – are exempt. We’ll kill your people, and kidnap them with impunity. We’ll steal your secrets, and the identities of your citizens: we’ll spy on you, and collaborate with your enemies (and ours). Nothing is beneath us. The voice of the Israeli Attila rings loud and clear, and it is telling us what was clearly said by Ron Torossian, organizer of the June 1 “we stand with Israel” demonstration outside the Turkish UN mission:
“I think we should kill a hundred Arabs or a thousand Arabs for every one Jew they kill.”
This precisely describes the guiding principle of the Israelis’ strategic vision: respond to a few stray rockets with a full-scale invasion and prolonged occupation and blockade. Respond to the imaginary “threat” of a ship full of unarmed “activists” and journalists by launching a military assault, murdering sixteen and wounding a good number of the survivors. Torossian, who has taken on the job of defending this act of savagery, is at least honest in accurately transmitting the Israeli view and its implications. After all, why stop at killing a mere thousand Arabs: why not a hundred thousand, or a million?
This is the voice of the savage being raised in the midst of our advanced industrial civilization: it’s as if a giant atavism suddenly reared its shaggy head above the New York City skyline, shaking its fist and roaring as skyscrapers tremble. It is Nietzsche’s blond beast speaking in Hebrew. The IDF is beyond good and evil, the settlers Overmen with Brooklyn accents.
To add a note of hilarity to this foreboding scene, we have the Israelis and their amen corner claiming the crew and passengers “ambushed” the poor defenseless IDF, complaining that they beat their assaulters with whatever makeshift weapon they could lay hands on. The “proof” that this was a boatload of “militants” – terrorists, in fact, in league with al Qaeda and Hamas – is that they defended themselves. It’s funny how, even in justifying a brazen assertion of dominance, the defenders of the Jewish state revert to the role of the victim. Old habits are hard to break, but one has to wonder: what kind of mental processes allow a person to make such arguments?
We are dealing, here, with a sociopathic tendency that only takes on the superficial appearance of a political ideology. The classic profile of the sociopath is one so fixated on the fulfillment of his own desires that every means are used to achieve his ends. Out of such raw materials serial killers are made, and also dictators like Stalin and Hitler. Add the animating factor of religion to the mix, and a monster arises out of the bubbling brew, a bestial creature bereft of morality, and without any check on its inherently destructive nature.
In Israel’s case the creature can more accurately be termed a monster in the Frankenstein mold, that is, a monster created by the mad scientists who have been in charge of US foreign policy since the Reagan years. We nurtured the young Frankenstein when he was but a babe in the cradle, recognizing the Jewish state at a crucial moment in its development, and since that time subsidizing it, arming it, and protecting it from its own worst impulses – until, today, we have a perfectly monstrous juvenile delinquent turned sociopath on our hands, who’s mugging the neighbors, stealing from our wallet, and thumbing his arrogant nose at all and sundry for good measure.
A few columns back, I asked: Have the Israelis gone crazy? The Mediterranean Massacre answers that question with a resounding yes.
So what do you do when one of your neighbors, or friends, goes off the deep end, and starts making life difficult for everyone around him? Well, you can call the cops, but in this case that’s not possible: the US-brokered resolution passed by the UN Security Council managed to condemn the violence while not mentioning its authors. The Obama administration, for its part, “stands with Israel,” as Jack Tapper reports for ABC News:
“I’m told there won’t be any daylight between the US and Israel in the aftermath of the incident on the flotilla yesterday, which resulted in the deaths of 10 activists… ‘The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure,’ a senior administration official tells ABC News.”
If the only way we can make the Israelis feel “secure” is by allowing them to engage in international piracy on the high seas, then perhaps this is the sort of high-maintenance relationship we can no longer afford. When Israelis are allowed to kill and kidnap Americans, without having to endure even a mild rebuke, one has to wonder what, exactly, is going on in Washington, D.C. Yes, the Israel lobby is one of the most powerful, but surely there’s someone in those circles willing to stand up for America and American interests – isn’t there?
Although information is still sketchy, there may be as many as nine Americans traveling with the flotilla, including Joe Meadors, a veteran of the 1967 bombing of the USS Liberty: no word yet as to whether he survived the Mediterranean Massacre. Other possible American victims of Israeli state terrorism include Ann Wright, former US Army colonel and Deputy Chief of Mission to Afghanistan. Underscoring the dire physical threat posed by the flotilla to Israel’s national security, we have the 81-year-old Ambassador Edward L. Peck, former State Department Chief of Mission in Iraq and Mauritania, Deputy Director of the Cabinet Task Force on Terrorism at the Reagan White House, and State Department Liaison Officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. These are the dangerous “militants” who “ambushed” the delicate flowers of the IDF.
If the Israelis killed or injured a single American – and we still don’t know – the “we stand with Israel” position of the Obama administration approaches treason. That’s a word the War Party uses with promiscuous abandon, but in this instance I’m using it because it precisely describes the policy of sacrificing one’s own citizens on the altar of fealty to a foreign capital. If “a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils,” as our first President put it, then Obama’s craven act of appeasement in this instance epitomizes all that Washington feared and warned against.
As I have long warned, the political evolution of Israeli society is taking a disturbing turn, and the one question that we ought to ask ourselves is why hasn’t the Israeli government had to suffer any blowback on the home front? Why isn’t the Israeli public up in arms over this brazen violation of international law and common sense? Why do the fascist thugs in possession of the Israeli state still enjoy the support of the Israeli people?
The answer is that Israeli society has long ago been poisoned by the bacillus of fascism, and – sheltered under the umbrella of US military and financial support – the bacterium has flourished in the perfect Petri dish of generous American aid. Now the creature has broken out of the laboratory, and is roaming the world in search of victims – and finding them in a couple of boat loads of lefty journalists and international do-gooder types. What we ought to be asking ourselves, somewhat nervously, is: who’s next?

[Paul Rigby]

The Mediterranean Massacre
Israel as the blond beast
by Justin Raimondo, June 02, 2010

Birthed by leftist Zionists who sought to build an egalitarian community in the midst of a desert, the modern state of Israel has taken on the characteristics of its neighbors – gone native, so to speak, both culturally and politically. The large scale infusion of North African and Asiatic populations has changed Israeli society irrevocably, so that, today, the rise of a thuggish fascist demagogue like Avigdor Lieberman, the former bouncer turned Foreign Minister, is all too believable.

Er, what? North Africans and Asiatics are innately, what, pro-fascist, uncivilized? Bollocks. Israel has marched remorselessly to the far-right because its US sponsors wanted it to.

what kind of mental processes allow a person to make such arguments?

Quite.

Contempt for Israel's butchery shouldn't blind us to grotesque nonsense like this from Raimondo.

[Helen Reyes]

Rumour has it one of the dead is an American. Probably why they won't release the names or all the hostages.

Netanyahu is a crazy fascist. Last time he was in power this kind of crap happened all the time. Someone had to be assassinated for him to achieve power that time. "I stand with Israel" means getting rid of Bibi, first of all. His brand of demagogery is destructive to all. He's basically a Bush neocon on speed and the other rumour is he has a US passport.

[Mark Stapleton]

The Mediterranean Massacre
Israel as the blond beast
by Justin Raimondo, June 02, 2010

Birthed by leftist Zionists who sought to build an egalitarian community in the midst of a desert, the modern state of Israel has taken on the characteristics of its neighbors – gone native, so to speak, both culturally and politically. The large scale infusion of North African and Asiatic populations has changed Israeli society irrevocably, so that, today, the rise of a thuggish fascist demagogue like Avigdor Lieberman, the former bouncer turned Foreign Minister, is all too believable.

Er, what? North Africans and Asiatics are innately, what, pro-fascist, uncivilized? Bollocks. Israel has marched remorselessly to the far-right because its US sponsors wanted it to.

what kind of mental processes allow a person to make such arguments?

Quite.

Contempt for Israel's butchery shouldn't blind us to grotesque nonsense like this from Raimondo.

I don't know what the author means in regard to the infusion of North Africans and Asiatics either, but the rest of the piece was on the money, imo.

[Ed Jewett]

[Magda Hassan]

İHH website downed before Israeli attack on aid convoy


The online home of the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), one of the organizers of a convoy of six aid vessels bound for the Gaza Strip, was hit by a denial-of-service (DoS) attack moments before the Israel military brutally attacked the convoy in international waters -- killing at least nine peace activists -- on Monday.
The website, www.ihh.org.tr, has been offline ever since the widely deplored Israeli attack was launched. The developments on the Mavi Marmara, the largest of the three Turkish ships in the convoy, had been streamed live on the website. After its broadcast was cut, the international community was stripped of the ability to witness the bloody event.
Israeli authorities embarked on an enthusiastic PR campaign following the attack, claiming that Israeli naval commandos opened fire on peace activists onboard the vessels in self-defense, an allegation vehemently denied by volunteers returning to their home countries after being deported. Israel also prevented journalists from receiving and reporting information regarding developments after the attack.
At the moment, the İHH’s page on social networking site Facebook.com has replaced its official website in functioning to connect people around the world with the association and to decry the Israeli offensive, which has drawn the ire of international organizations including the UN, NATO and the European Union. The number of members of the İHH’s Facebook page has grown from about 18,000 to over 76,000 in only two days. The page can be viewed at www.facebook.com/ihhtr.

03 June 2010, Thursday
TODAY’S ZAMAN İSTANBUL
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-2...onvoy.html

[Peter Presland]

Debka file is THE Israeli hard line Zionist MSM outlet. Given his long-standing facist credentials this is difficult to envisage but Netanyahu it appears, is in trouble from his Right.

.. and this thing is very far from over - all eye's on the Rachael Corrie.

....... Our counter-terror sources confirm that for the first time ever, the government in Jerusalem flouted legal and judicial opinion and sent out of Israel's jurisdiction a pack of terrorists who were filmed attacking Israeli soldiers without trial, together with the bodies of unidentified assailants without giving the investigating authorities a chance to carry out autopsies and find out if they were wanted for security offensives.
After Israel gave way on this, the Erdogan government upped the pressure with further ultimatums.
After declaring it was vital to prevent hundreds of Iranian ships reaching Gaza with thousands of heavy ballistic missiles for Hamas, Netanyahu faced a fresh Turkish demand to lift the blockade on Gaza without delay.
Furthermore, the Irish vessel Rachel Corrie, which was left out of the flotilla after it developed technical trouble, was discovered to have changed course from a direct route to Gaza and headed for a stopover at a Turkish port. debkafile's counter-terror sources disclose suspicions in the Israeli government and naval command that the Irish ship would take aboard a new batch of trained Turkish IHH terrorists and head for the Gaza Strip. They might even be the same IHH activists who attacked Israeli commandos on the Marmara and were deported Wednesday.
Erdogan has resolved that this group which he personally sponsored will reach Gaza Port by hook or by crook. It is also feared in Jerusalem that he may attach an escort of Turkish warships and air force jets to accompany the Rachel Corrie and make sure the ship breaks through the blockade to its destination.
The Irish ship was first scheduled to anchor Saturday, June 5, but its detour to Turkey will delay its arrival by a couple of days.

[Mark Stapleton]

.. and this thing is very far from over - all eye's on the Rachael Corrie.

Indeed they are, Peter.


And herein lies the opportunity for President Obama--currently standing shamefully in the corner wearing the dunce's cap--to redeem himself. If he were to cast his shackles aside and publicly demand that Israel allow safe passage of the MV Rachel Corrie to Gaza, then Israel would have to comply. They can't take on the entire planet no matter how tough they think they are. If they did not comply, and another massacre resulted, the Zionist experiment is then effectively over, and they might as well pack up their things and fuck off back to Florida and New York to their million dollar condos.


MLK was an African American with balls. He would have dragged the Israelis into line long ago. Does Obama have any balls?


Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a man with balls. A great statesman at a time when they are sorely needed.


If the Gaza blockade causes a war to break out, then its on Obama's head. He has about 48 hours to decide whether or not he wants to go down in history as a chickenshit coward.