Israel has attacked Gaza Flotilla (dead and wounded)

[Myra Bronstein]

Emphasis mine.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-goodma...95438.html

Amy Goodman Host, executive producer of Democracy Now!, NYT bestselling author, syndicated columnist
Posted: May 31, 2010 04:47 PM

I interviewed Adam Shapiro, board member of the Free Gaza Movement, hours after the attack on the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Transcript below.

Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza strip. Dubbed the Freedom Flotilla, the ships were aiming to break Israel's 3-year blockade of Gaza. At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured when Israeli troops attacked the lead ship in the convoy-the Turkish "Mavi Marmara"-early Monday morning. The attack happened in international waters, 75 miles off the coast of Israel and Gaza. We reached Adam Shapiro in New York a few hours after the attack. He's a board member of the Free Gaza movement, one of the groups that coordinated the Freedom Flotilla. His wife Huwaida Arraf is the chairperson of the Free Gaza movement and is on the flotilla.

Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: "No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children's toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters."

Amy Goodman: This is Democracy Now!, I'm Amy Goodman. We have on the line with us Adam Shapiro. He is a board member of the Free Gaza Movement. Adam, we got word several hours ago that the Israeli military had attacked the Free Gaza Flotilla. We are speaking to you at about 3:30 AM Eastern Standard Time. Can you tell us what you understand has happened?

Adam Shapiro: The Israelis launched a military operation involving about a thousand soldiers, using ships, using helicopters, and using airplanes to attack the flotilla of six ships - three passenger and three cargo ships, at approximately between 8 and 9 pm Eastern Standard Time. All the ships have been captured. One of the ships that we know for sure, which had a satellite communication ability, the large Turkish ship with about 600 passengers including members of Parliament from different countries, was attacked by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition. We now know that at least 14 people have been confirmed killed, and perhaps as many as 20 killed, with over 60 injured, and currently all the ships are being brought into the Israeli port of Haifa.

Amy Goodman: We are reading Israeli military reports that say when they boarded the Turkish ship, that they were attacked by sticks and knives. What do you understand has happened?

Adam Shapiro: Our people on the ship reported live as the soldiers came onto the ship, and reported that soldiers were opening fire as they were coming onto the ship, and they were descending from helicopters. So, our understanding is that the Israeli soldiers opened fire first. I have not seen or heard any thing else about - and there are many journalists on board that ship - anything else about our people, the passengers on that ship, posing any kind of threat. There was a live feed coming from the ship using satellite, video satellite, on satellite, that has been rebroadcast on CNN, on CNN Turk, on Al Jazeera, on Press TV, on numerous media outlets, not one image from this entire footage shows any of the passengers holding any kind of object that could be construed as a weapon. So, I mean, I am sure that the Israelis would like the world to believe that they were the ones being attacked as they assaulted these ships, but this is just Israeli spin.

Amy Goodman: Adam Shapiro, what is the purpose of the Free Gaza Flotilla?

Adam Shapiro: The purpose of the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla was to literally break the Israeli blockade that it is imposing on Gaza, a form of collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians who are trying to survive at this point, basically, especially after the Israeli attacks in December, 2008-January, 2009, in which much of Gaza was reduced to rubble, and has not been able to have been rebuilt, where Palestinians can't get basic food and medicine in, to just survive with. And so, this effort was, yes, to deliver the goods and materials that Gaza, the Palestinians in Gaza need, but also to awaken the international community to the abuse that the Palestinians are suffering that has been regarded by the Goldstone Report, by many other reports and by human rights organizations, including the E.U. and other groups, calling this blockade and this siege criminal, as well as cruel and inhuman.

Amy Goodman: What is your response to what has happened in these last hours, to the Israeli military assault on the Free Gaza Flotilla?

Adam Shapiro: We have always been prepared that the Israelis might attack the ships and try, obviously, try to take control of them, and prevent us from reaching Gaza, but the opening of fire against unarmed civilians who pose no threat to Israel, is something, I think, it is absurd in a way that can't even be described. We all remember what happened to Rachel Corrie in Gaza, standing in front of a home to protect it and being crushed and run over by a bulldozer driver. In this case, I think in a way, it is almost even worse, because Israel said that they were sending their best commandos on this mission, that they were sending their most professional soldiers, and so if these are their professional soldiers, and they opened fire, then we must assume, then, and I don't think we are incorrect to assume, that they had orders to open fire, because I don't think that soldiers operating in this way, if they were truly professional, and they were truly the best, well-trained commandos that Israel had, they would have no reason to shoot, unless they were ordered to do so.
And I really hope that the United States, the Europeans, and Turkey, and the other governments who had citizens on board press for an independent investigation, not an Israeli investigation, an independent investigation. This attack took place in international waters, not in Israeli waters.

Amy Goodman: Who was on the Turkish ship?

Adam Shapiro: On board the Turkish ship were over, approximately about 600 passengers. We had quite a large number of Turkish activists. Of course, the boat was secured in Turkey, and purchased by a Turkish organization, so many of their people were on board. We also had members of the European Parliament on board, we had members of Arab parliaments on board, including Egypt and Jordan, we had others activists who have been active in trying to raise the awareness of what's happening to Palestinians in general and specifically in Gaza, and we had media. We had Al Jazeera on board, we had a couple of Turkish broadcasting channels on board, as well as other print and other forms of media on board.

Amy Goodman: Adam Shapiro, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Adam Shapiro: Thank you very much.

Amy Goodman: Adam Shapiro is a board member of the Free Gaza Movement.

[Ed Jewett]

The Madness of Arrogance
Israel's Attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla
by Dr. Alan Sabrosky / May 31st, 2010

Israeli Butchery at Sea
by Gilad Atzmon / May 31st, 2010

Israel’s Latest Murder of Humanitarian Activists
by Cynthia McKinney / May 31st, 2010

http://dissidentvoice.org/

[Ed Jewett]

Memorial Day 2010 Israel Does Not Understand 4GW

The story du jour.


Having previously failed to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza that denies HAMAS war material and economic aid, a coalition of Islamists, Palestinian nationalists and Western Leftists used ships of Turkish registry. The IDF took the bait and blundered into an ambush where the commandos were promptly swarmed by the “peace activists”, overpowered (!) and then had to bloodily shoot their way out of a debacle.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU12KW-Xy...r_embedded



RealClearPolitics has a better video.


Taking stock of this bit of guerrilla theater gone lethal, let’s see what the supporters of HAMAS terrorism gained:

• The world is hearing a false narrative that Israel massacred unarmed peace activists.
  
• Turkey’s ruling, authoritarian, crypto-Islamist Party has a further wedge to downgrade Turkey’s traditional military cooperation with Israel while putting political pressure on Turkish secularists and Army leaders.
  
• Israel’s diplomatic isolation is greatly increased
  
• Additional strain is put on the already lukewarm relationship between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government
  

On the moral level of war, HAMAS supporters - whose strategic objective is to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza, so that HAMAS can rebuild it’s military strength - have scored a solid triumph while the IDF have acted with all the instinctive propensity for causing self-inflicted wounds of Richard Nixon confronting the Watergate break-in.
Because Israel is powerful and democratic and its enemies, despite their viciousness and authoritarian politics, are weak, the Israelis are not held to the same moral standards by international observers (many of whom, it must be noted, begin with a strongly anti-Israel or at least, anti-Western, orientation). In a 4GW paradigm, even acting in self-defense is not enough for a strong state to play the role of “the good guy” in a globalized media environment, unless the weak side does something that is viscerally morally repulsive - ex. Abu Zarqawi ’s extreme brutality and lust for staging ghoulish beheadings of captives on the internet.
There seems to be a stunning political-strategic tone deafness on the part of Israeli leaders in recent years. Perhaps there is a degradition of IDF tactical excellence as well. Overpowering highly trained, heavily armed, elite commandos by untrained civilians is not possible unless said commandos were sent in poorly briefed, with unworkable ROE (IMHO, this was more likely a prepared ambush than a spontaneous act). There’s no half-way method of seizing a hostile ship by force. Either you do it swiftly, while citing appropriate legal justification or you don’t and employ a different set of responses to turn the ships away in a manner that does not alienate observers.
Military force used ineffectually is as counterproductive as force used excessively. From a Boydian strategic perspective, the initiative is lost, opponents are “pumped up” while one’s own side and sympathizers are demoralized. Political irritants become inflated into disasters. HAMAS, Hezbollah, al Qaida and similar entities are not the old, state-sponsored, state-centric, PLO and they are not playing the PLO’s game.
ADDENDUM:
Abu Muqawama gives the “peace flotilla” way too much benefit of the doubt here, but his analysis of how poorly the Israelis handled this situation is spot on:

One could, from the start, think a number of different things about those participating in the peace flotilla to Gaza. (Naive? Righteous? Courageous? Anti-Semitic?) But for the sake of argument, and putting ourselves in the shoes of an Israeli naval commander, let’s assume the most malevolent of motivations for the people participating in the peace flotilla. If I am in charge of doing that for the Israeli Navy, I am going to assume these people are smart and are deliberately trying to provoke a crazy response from my sailors and soldiers that will produce ready-for-television images that both isolate Israel within the international community and further raise the ire of the Arabic-speaking and Islamic worlds. I mean, that is my base assumption for what this group is trying to do. So naturally, the last thing I would want my forces to do would be to overreact, right? It’s like when your convoy gets fired on inside a crowded market: the last thing you want to do is return fire with 7.62mm, killing a bunch of civilians and giving the enemy exactly the effect he was looking for.
If something does go wrong, meanwhile, I am going to have a response ready. I am going to have my very best spokespersons on international and Israeli television. I am most certainly not going to let people like Danny Ayalon provide my government’s response, right? Because a live wire like Ayalon — who the Turks already hate, with an understandable passion — will just say something incredibly crazy like how the people in the aid flotilla were terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda. (Even if you can prove this is somehow true, everyone you need to be speaking to right now — the international community, the Turkish people, the Arabic-speaking world — is just going to think you are nuts for saying it or will roll their eyes and say, “Oh, of course he’s saying that.”)
In reality, what happened today is the Israelis got their butts handed to them. The Israeli response to this aid flotilla was a fabulous gift to Hamas and Iran. (Try to imagine, if you will, the Israelis trying to go before the U.N. Security Council to gather support for sanctions on the Iranian regime right now. They would be more likely to leave New York with sanctions on their own regime!)

ADDENDUM II.
George Friedman of STRATFOR ( Hat tip to Adam Elkus)
Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion

….The bid to shape global perceptions by portraying the Palestinians as victims of Israel was the first prong of a longtime two-part campaign. The second part of this campaign involved armed resistance against the Israelis. The way this resistance was carried out, from airplane hijackings to stone-throwing children to suicide bombers, interfered with the first part of the campaign, however. The Israelis could point to suicide bombings or the use of children against soldiers as symbols of Palestinian inhumanity. This in turn was used to justify conditions in Gaza. While the Palestinians had made significant inroads in placing Israel on the defensive in global public opinion, they thus consistently gave the Israelis the opportunity to turn the tables. And this is where the flotilla comes in.
The Turkish flotilla aimed to replicate the Exodus story or, more precisely, to define the global image of Israel in the same way the Zionists defined the image that they wanted to project. As with the Zionist portrayal of the situation in 1947, the Gaza situation is far more complicated than as portrayed by the Palestinians. The moral question is also far more ambiguous. But as in 1947, when the Zionist portrayal was not intended to be a scholarly analysis of the situation but a political weapon designed to define perceptions, the Turkish flotilla was not designed to carry out a moral inquest.
Instead, the flotilla was designed to achieve two ends. The first is to divide Israel and Western governments by shifting public opinion against Israel. The second is to create a political crisis inside Israel between those who feel that Israel’s increasing isolation over the Gaza issue is dangerous versus those who think any weakening of resolve is dangerous.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 11:21 pm and is filed under 21st century, 4GW, IO, Tactics, analytic, arab world, disinformation, extremists, islamic world, islamist, john boyd, legitimacy, mideast, military, navy, non-state actors, politics, public diplomacy, strategy, terrorism, theory, war.

11 Responses to “Israel Does Not Understand 4GW”

1. Mithras Says:
   May 31st, 2010 at 11:54 pm
   Perhaps there is a degradition of IDF tactical excellence as well.
   
   Their performance in the 2006 Lebanon war was less than impressive, too. Maybe they believe their own hype; maybe occupation duty causes good soldiers to rust.
   
2. anon Says:
   May 31st, 2010 at 11:56 pm Israel could also go for the ultrakill by nailing Hamas in the digital media for their outright lies.Dozens of these activists published outright lies about the event, in text, on the internets. They are smoked.
   
3. Joseph Fouche Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 12:54 am It’s interesting that the IDF had cameras available to counter the enemy narrative. Unfortunately, they seem to have been sent to film a version of the Keystone Cops.
   
4. zen Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 2:01 am It was Keystone Cop-like. Were but for ppl being killed, one can almost hear the Benny Hill theme playing as the video runs.
   .
   It may be, as I am not an expert on things Israeli, that the leadership of the IDF has reached a period of careerism, CYAism and an American-like disconnect of military operations from grand strategy and political judgment.
   .
   Imagine having fifty of your friends on hand and a squad of Navy SEALS burst in, brandishing weapons at you. If you spontaneously swarm them, armed with fists, pipes and knives, you will most likely all die. If you swarm them because you expected their arrival and had some rudimentary tactics ready, you will do better but you will still probably die. Now imagine the SEALS have been ordered to capture you without shooting anyone - unless they are about to be killed. Well, then the odds change. Significantly.
   .
   That sounds like what the Israeli commandos were ordered to do by someone unwilling to accept any responsibility for making realistic military and political decisions and hoped to get by on bluffing, sticking the soldiers with the consequences ( physical, legal, professional and political) if their bluff was called.
   .
   Any readers with real knowledge of the Israeli political scene/IDF are asked to weigh in here.
   
5. Joseph Fouche Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 2:23 am It makes me wonder how much input Netanyahu put into this operation. Netanyahu is a former commando. His older brother was the commander (and sole Israeli military casualty) of Israel’s greatest special commando raid, Operation Entebbe. Goes to show that military experiences not a panacea in a political leader.
   
6. zen Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 2:27 am JF,
   .
   Agreed. Netanyahu also used to be a skilled spinmeister/talking head in his younger days with a good grasp of media nuances, especially American media. That capacity appears to have atrophied.
   
7. Stephen Pampinella Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 3:00 am Nice analysis.Not an expert on the Israelis, but Sergio Catignani’s work is a great insight into their strategic culture. He argues the IDF has a penchant for seeing all problems as having military solutions, leaving them unable to conceptualize the political consequences. http://www.amazon.com/Israeli-Counter-In...160&sr=8-1
   
8. Schmedlap Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 3:14 am When I saw the video of dudes fastroping into a crowd of angry people, I thought "WTF? Seriously? WTF???" I am no expert on highly specialized operations like this, but it seems to me that dropping some flashbangs and/or tear gas onto the boats before zipping down the rope would have been a good idea, both in hindsight and foresight.
   
9. zen Says:
   June 1st, 2010 at 3:21 am "He argues the IDF has a penchant for seeing all problems as having military solutions, leaving them unable to conceptualize the political "
   .
   Hmmmm……sounds familiar…..who else is like that ?
   
10. zen Says:
    June 1st, 2010 at 3:23 am I’m with you, Schmedlap. My thought is "not allowed to". I suppose the commanding officer on the scene could simply be an incompetent but how likely is that in so politically sensitive an incident? Micromanagement seems more likely.
    
11. Eddie Says:
    June 1st, 2010 at 3:29 am Never bring a paintball gun to a pipe fight (and I gather there were some knives and bags of marbles too).
    You could argue the Israeli blockade of Gaza is itself proof they do not understand 4GW. It accomplishes little for the security of Israel and postpones the day of accountability for Hamas by giving them a valid excuse for Gaza’s economic devastation and social decay (almost the same way we prop Fidel up by keeping the embargo).
    I’m no specialist on the IDF so I’ll leave that discussion of their problems to the better-knowledgeable, but I can speak fairly well for Israeli politics. Bibi is in a weak coalition government packed with fascist and religious extremist parties. He has a veritable cast of amateurs appointed to posts in the government he had little say in choosing, so its difficult for him to rein in the more dimwitted and asinine ideas hatched by the underlings of his aligned parties. This doesn’t excuse his inability to prioritize what matters for Israel’s strategic interests over his narrow political needs (its doubtful him and Tzipi Livni could come to terms for sharing power that he could live with, so he in essence picked his poison knowing the domestic political constraints he was shackling himself with), but it does explain much of the incompetence Israel has experienced since he assumed power.
    

[Ed Jewett]

Monday, May 31, 2010 05:32 ET Israel attacks aid ship, kills at least 10 civilians

By Glenn Greenwald

AP
This video image released by the Turkish Aid group IHH Monday May 31, 2010 purports to show Israeli military vessel at sea in international waters off the Gaza coast near a ship convey carrying aid to Gaza.

(Updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV - Update V - Update VI - Update VII)
Late last night, Israel attacked a flotilla of ships in international waters carrying food, medicine and other aid to Gaza, killing at least 10 civilians on board and injuring at least 30 more (many reports now put the numbers at 19 dead and 60 injured). The Israeli Defense Forces is claiming that its soldiers were attacked with clubs, knives and "handguns" when they boarded the ship without permission, but none of the Israeli soldiers were killed while two are reported injured. Those on the ships emphatically state that the IDF came on board shooting (though see this video and discussion here, as well as this). An IDF spokesman said: "Our initial findings show that at least 10 convoy participants were killed."
The six-ship flotilla was carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid along with 600 people, all civilians, which included 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland and European legislators; an elderly Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, 85, was scheduled to be among those on the ship but remained in Cyprus. In December, 2008, Israel, citing rocket attacks from Hamas, launched a 22-day, barbaric attack on Gaza, bombarding a trapped population, killing hundreds of innocent civilians (1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed), and devastating Gazan society. A U.N. report released earlier this month documented that, as a result of the blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt (the two largest recipients of U.S. aid), "[m]ost of the property and infrastructure damaged . . . was still unrepaired 12 months later."
The flotilla attacked by Israel last night was carrying materials such as cement, water purifiers, and other building materials, much of which Israel refuses to let pass into Gaza. At the end of 2009, a U.N. report found that "insufficient food and medicine is reaching Gazans, producing a further deterioration of the mental and physical health of the entire civilian population since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against the territory," and also "blamed the blockade for continued breakdowns of the electricity and sanitation systems due to the Israeli refusal to let spare parts needed for repair get through the crossings."
It hardly seemed possible for Israel -- after its brutal devastation of Gaza and its ongoing blockade -- to engage in more heinous and repugnant crimes. But by attacking a flotilla in international waters carrying humanitarian aid, and slaughtering at least 10 people, Israel has managed to do exactly that. If Israel's goal were to provoke as much disgust and contempt for it as possible, it's hard to imagine how it could be doing a better job.
It is appropriate that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Obama on Tuesday in Washington, because -- as always -- it is only American protection of Israel that permits the Israelis to engage in conduct like this. Initial reports speculate that Netanyahu would cancel that meeting in order to return to Israel in light of this attack. But there would be something quite symbolically appropriate about having the U.S. stand at the side of Israel in the aftermath of this latest massacre, because it is only the massive amounts of U.S. financial and military aid, and endless diplomatic protection, that enables Israel to act with impunity as a rogue and inhumane state. So complete is the devotion of the U.S. Congress to the mission of serving and protecting Israel that it even overwhelmingly condemned the Goldstone report, which found that Israel and Hamas had both commited war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during the Israeli attack on Gaza (the U.S. Congress, of course, never condemned the Israeli war crimes themselves -- only the Report which documented those crimes). Israeli actions are a direction reflection on, and by-product of, the U.S. Government, because it is the U.S. which enables and protects the behavior.
The one silver lining from these incidents is that the real face of Israel becomes increasingly revealed and undeniable. Not even the most intense propaganda systems can prettify a lethal military attack on ships carrying civilians and humanitarian aid to people living in some of the most wretched and tragic conditions anywhere in the world. It is crystal clear to anyone who looks what Israel has become, and the only question left is how will the rest of the world -- beginning with their American patrons -- will react.
As Americans suffer extreme cuts in education for their own children and a further deterioration in basic economic security (including Social Security), will they continue to acquiesce to the transfer of billions of dollars every year to the Israelis, who -- unlike Americans -- enjoy full, universal health care coverage? How is the revulsion justifiably provoked by this latest Israeli crime going to impact American efforts in the Muslim world (as but one of many examples to come, Al Jazeera reports that "Moqtada al-Sadr has called for a large anti-Israel rally across from the Green Zone in Baghdad")? How much longer will Americans be willing to pay the extreme prices for its endlessly entangled "alliance" with its prime Middle Eastern client state, whose capacity for criminal and inhumane acts appears limitless?
* * * * *
On a day when the meaning of "heroism" is often discussed, the people on these ships who tried to deliver aid to Gazans, knowing that they could easily find themselves in a confrontation with the Israeli Navy but doing it anyway in order to bring attention to the extraordinary injustice and cruelty of the blockade, are pure, unadulterated heroes.

UPDATE: Regarding the blockade of Gaza itself -- about which "Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister [said when it was first imposed]: 'The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger'" -- this post documents just some of the effects, with ample links to U.N. reports, including:

* since the intensification of the siege in June 2007, "the formal economy in Gaza has collapsed" (More than 80 UN and aid agencies [.pdf])
* "61% of people in the Gaza Strip are … food insecure," of which "65% are children under 18 years" (UN FAO)
* since June 2007, "the number of Palestine refugees unable to access food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap, school stationery and safe drinking water, has tripled" (UNRWA)
* "in February 2009, the level of anemia in babies (9-12 months) was as high as 65.5%" (UN FAO)

The Washington Post's Jackson Diehl, whose entire political world view is shaped by his devotion to Israel, today criticizes President Obama for rejecting "Bush's conclusion that the promotion of democracy and human rights is inseparable from the tasks of defeating al-Qaeda and establishing a workable international order." That's ironic, because if "human rights" played any role whatsoever in American foreign policy, the massive American aid and other protection for Israel which Diehl cherishes above all else would instantaneously disappear.

UPDATE II: Just ponder what we'd be hearing if Iran had raided a humanitarian ship in international waters and killed 15 or so civilians aboard.

UPDATE III: One of the ships attacked by Israel belonged to a Turkish aid organization, and it's been reported that among the dead are at least two Turks. Turkey today "warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy." Among other things, Turkey is a NATO member with increasing tensions with Israel. Its Prime Minister today condemned the Israeli action as "state terrorism." Amidst worldwide protests aimed at Israel, along with possible internal unrest if (as has been reported) an Israeli Arab leader was among the wounded or dead, it's possible that this incident could produce some serious unforeseen consequences for the Israelis.

UPDATE IV: So, to recap what seems thus far to be the central claim of Israel apologists: Israel is the official Owner of international waters (which is where the flotilla was when it was attacked). As such, they have the right to issue orders to ships in international waters, and everyone on board those ships is required to obey and submit. Anyone who fails to do so, or anyone in the vicinity of those who fail to do so, can be shot and killed and get what they deserve.
What's so odd about that is that the U.S. has been spending a fair amount of time recently condemning exactly such acts as "piracy" and demanding "that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes." When exactly did Israel acquire the right not only to rule over Gaza and the West Bank, but international waters as well? Their rights as sovereign are expanding faster than the BP oil spill.

UPDATE V: Israel's foreign minister is now actually claiming that attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza are "an attack on Israel's sovereignty." Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke? The only claim that I can recall that's remotely comparable is when the U.S. General serving as Commander of Guantanamo condemned suicides by three detainees there as an "act of asymmetric warfare waged against us." The U.S. and Israel are very adept at claiming victimhood: even when they're killing large numbers of civilians and locking people up in cages with no charges, they're the ones who are the suffering, wronged parties.
Thus, there are at least 10-20 dead passengers and 50-60 wounded on those ships -- compared to no Israeli fatalities and virtually no wounded -- but it's the passengers, delivering humanitarian aid in international waters when Israel seized their ships, who are the aggressors and were "attacking Israeli sovereignty." The only thing worse than this claim is how many apologists for Israel will start parroting it (see Andrew Sullivan for more refutation of the claim that it was the passengers who were somehow the "aggressors").

UPDATE VI: Among the countries condemning Israel for its attack are Russia, Turkey, India, China, Brazil, France, Spain and many more. By stark contrast, the White House issued a statement which conspicuously refused to condemn the Israelis (Obama "expressed deep regret at the loss of life in today’s incident, and concern for the wounded"), while the U.S. State Department actually hinted at condemning the civilians delivering the aid ("we support expanding the flow of goods to the people of Gaza. But this must be done in a spirit of cooperation, not confrontation").
Obama's call for "learning all the facts and circumstances" is reasonable enough, but all these other countries made clear that this attack could never be justified based on what is already indisputably known: namely, that the ship attacked by Israel was in international waters and it resulted in the deaths and injuries to dozens of civilians, but no Israeli soldiers were killed and a tiny handful injured. In any event, Obama's neutrality will have to give way to a definitive statement one way or the other, and soon.

UPDATE VII: The formal statement submitted to the U.N. by the U.S. Ambassador today rather clearly seeks to blame everyone -- from Hamas to those attempting to deliver the aid -- for what happened: everyone, that is, except for the party which actually did the illegal seizing of the ship and the killing (Israel):

As I stated in the Chamber in December 2008, when we were confronted by a similar situation, mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by member states and groups that want to do so. These non-provocative and non-confrontational mechanisms should be the ones used for the benefit of all those in Gaza. Direct delivery by sea is neither appropriate nor responsible, and certainly not effective, under the circumstances. . . . We will continue to engage the Israelis on a daily basis to expand the scope and type of goods allowed into Gaza to address the full range of the population’s humanitarian and recovery needs. Hamas’ interference with international assistance shipments and the work of nongovernmental organizations complicates efforts in Gaza. Its continued arms smuggling and commitment to terrorism undermines security and prosperity for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Given that the Israelis refuse to allow anything other than the most minimal "necessities" to enter Gaza, I'd love to know what "non-provocative and non-confrontational mechanisms" exist to deliver humanitarian assistance? And it's extraordinary that we refuse to condemn a blockade that, as classic "collective punishment," is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, and even refuse to condemn today's violent seizure of ships in international water. But, of course, the central rule of American politics is that Israel cannot be criticized, even as the rest of the world condemns it. How do you think the rest of the world will perceive the U.S.'s extreme, out-of-step protection of the Israelis, while subtly (or not-so-subtly) heaping the blame on the victims of its aggression?




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• Netanyahu: Attack was self defense
  
  Israel's Prime Minister claims aid ship passengers beat, clubbed and stabbed Israeli soldiers
  By ROB GILLIES, Associated PressMonday, May 31, 2010
  

• • 765 comments
    

[Peter Presland]

Have a look at this awesome weapons cache - YouTube video

Richard Seymour at Lenin's Tomb comments:

This is either: awesomely, epically, tragicomically pathetic; or, it is a huge middle digit proudly erected and waved before the entire world.

The Israelis really are living in never-never land. The video is from 'The IDF Spokespersons Unit and there's more on their channel - most of equally hilarious.

Their view and grasp of reality would be tragically pathetic if they were not armed to the teeth with nukes and every other bit of high-tech weaponry the good ol' US of A can provide - and demonstrated time and again their readiness to use it all.

[Helen Reyes]

Israel has hostages now too. Is this Day One of the hostage crisis?

[Ed Jewett]

http://cryptome.org/info/anti-israel/anti-israel.htm

[Ed Jewett]

Hundreds detained at Ashdod port

June 1, 2010 by legitgov

[url=javascript:void(0)][/url]Hundreds detained at Ashdod port --Soldiers, officers bring passengers of Marmara ship under arrest at Ashdod port, first questioning each separately and then transferring them to Beersheba Prison 01 Jun 2010 IDF and police forces continued efforts Tuesday to bring the 500 passengers of the Mavi Marmara ship to Ashdod port. Hundreds disembarked at the dock, including seven Israelis. Four of them were arrested, among them the head of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, who was taken in for questioning.

Israel jails 480 Gaza aid activists

June 1, 2010 by legitgov

[url=javascript:void(0)][/url]Israel jails 480 Gaza aid activists 01 Jun 2010 Israel has jailed 487 international activists captured during its deadly commando strike on a Gaza aid convoy, while 48 others are to be "expelled." Those detained remain in custody at the southern Israeli prison of Ashdod, while the other 48 will be taken to Ben Gurion international airport to be sent back to their home countries, AFP quoted a report by Israel's public radio as saying on Tuesday. The international activists were interrogated by Israeli police on Tuesday, a day after the Gaza-bound flotilla they traveling on was stormed by Israeli forces in international waters, 150km (90 miles) from Gaza.

Security Council slams Gaza aid raid

June 1, 2010 by legitgov

[url=javascript:void(0)][/url]Security Council slams Gaza aid raid 01 Jun 2010 The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy, demanding the immediate release of the ships and the civilians onboard. The Security Council condemned "those acts which resulted in the loss of at least 10 civilians and many wounded," AFP quoted a statement by the Council's President. The UN body further called for the immediate release of all ships and civilians held by Israel, urging an impartial investigation into the Israeli attack against the aid flotilla.

[Peter Lemkin]

Israel kills 15 protesters as it storms Gaza aid flotilla: Emergency protest today
Monday, 31 May 2010 00:23
Written by John Rees
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/new...test-today
The full brutality of the Israeli state was displayed today as it stormed the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 40 miles into international waters off the coast of Gaza.

An Emergency Protest has been called outside Downing Street, London at 2pm today, Monday 31 May.

The Israelis at first tried to claim that there had been no deaths, a claim repeated in early BBC reports. They, and the BBC, are now reporting that at least 15 have died.

The excuse now being offered by the Israeli's is that their heavily armed forces were attacked by protesters when they stormed the boats. Many will be sceptical about these reports in the light of previous attempts by the Israeli state to discredit protesters like Rachel Corrie, killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003, and Tom Hurndall, shot by an Israeli sniper in 2004.

The British government must immediately break all links with Israel, as it would certainly have done with any Muslim state who committed this international crime.

The new Foreign Secretary William Hague boasted that he is 'a natual friend' of Israel within hours of taking office. He also said that 'we don’t say you rule out for ever any military action' against Iran. He is clearly not the man who should be organising the government's response to this crisis. He should resign immediately.

The British government must insist that the siege of Gaza end now.

In response to the killing of Rachel Corrie Amnesty International made this statement:

'Amnesty International and other international, Israeli, and Palestinian human rights groups have reported on Israel's use of disproportionate, excessive, and lethal force without regard to civilian lives, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, extrajudicial executions and unwarranted destruction of civilian property that have resulted in deaths of innocent bystanders.'

The truth is that the Israeli state regards itself as above the law. Its war with the Palestinians has been given renewed support by the US during the war on terror.

The senseless killing of Palestinians and their supporters will only end when the apartheid state is dismantled and the Palestinians return to their homeland.

Video of the attack at Palestine Video

Further video available online from Turkish television.

[Magda Hassan]

Israeli lawyers for the Free Gaza Movement are being denied access to the prisoners/hostages of the Israelis.