A Kafkaesque Scenario
The Women in power will change the country’s scenario...
Peace "activists" attack soldiers, shouting "Remember Khaybar!" What would Gandhi have said about this? He's probably rolling over in his grave.
It's a bit Kafkaesque to see the media feeding frenzy, where so-called "peace activists" attacked soldiers legally going about their duties under international law.
Anyone who thinks that the Israeli action was against international law is invited to prove their case with citations of law and/or a respectable legal opinion from a recognized legal source, without "selective editing" to take out the part that don't fit your argument.
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A World Gone Mad
By Edwin Bennatan
I hesitate to go as far as Melanie Phillips, who labels the growing, frenzied international vilification of Israel "a global pogrom in the making." No, it seems to me more like widespread loss of sanity. The general hysteria, not just in the Islamic world but in Europe and the Americas too, brings to mind the words of the late British historian Norman Cohn, written more than a decade ago:
"There exists a subterranean world where pathological fantasies disguised as ideas are churned out by crooks and half-educated fanatics for the benefit of the ignorant and superstitious. There are times when this underworld emerges from the depths and suddenly fascinates, captures, and dominates multitudes of usually sane and responsible people, who thereupon take leave of sanity and responsibility. And it occasionally happens that this underworld becomes a political power and changes the course of history."
We now seem to be witnessing such a period of insanity, and it may well change the course of history. While the trend has been gaining momentum for some time, it took a grotesque distortion of Israel's operation against the Gaza flotilla to reveal the level to which much of the international community has sunk. One of the pinnacles of lunacy came from Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who, without blinking an eye, told reporters over breakfast in Washington that Israel's action was Turkey's 9/11.
However, those who might consider such notions should first look at some of the video footage from the Israeli naval operation.
First there is video footage showing Israeli patrol boats warning the flotilla not to approach Gaza and to change course to the port of Ashdod, where its cargo would be transported overland to Gaza after security screening. The Israeli warning was ignored.
Then there is footage of Israeli troops boarding the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, the largest in the Gaza flotilla. One clip clearly shows Israeli troops with paintball rifles being lowered to the deck of the Marmara, where they are immediately set upon by a frenzied mob wielding iron bars, knives and slingshots. The first soldiers to reach the deck are obviously surprised by the level of violence they encountered, as is evident from the IDF wireless communication in the background. Initially the troops do not open fire, and in the ensuing onslaught are overwhelmed by the mob, and their sidearms and stun grenades are snatched and used against them.
As more troops reach the deck, they unholster their sidearms and fire back at the mob while rescuing their comrades. As the Israeli boarding party reaches critical mass they overpower their attackers and secure the ship. In the scuffle, nine activists are killed and several injured, including six Israeli soldiers - two of them reportedly with bullet wounds.
In the days preceding the arrival of the Gaza-bound ships, Israel's TV viewers were treated to a tour of the almost picnic-like holding facilities that the authorities were naïvely preparing for the activists in Ashdod. From there the activists were to be deported back to their home countries.
Aleihum is a Hebrew word borrowed from Arabic, and its closest phrase in English is "get them". Within hours of Israel's action, the call for aleihum against Israel seemed to come from every government, every United Nations forum, every media outlet and every NGO on the planet. The few exceptions were nowhere near enough to counter the mad frenzy in which the word "disproportionate" took on a whole new meaning.
Did Israel deserve criticism, perhaps even harsh criticism? Absolutely. Israel's intelligence gathering from the flotilla was an embarrassment at best and an outrage at worst. The planning and tactics of the operation appear to have had no fallback plan. Additionally, the sloppy provision of media information by the government and the IDF was a total disgrace. In the race to international public opinion, Israel came in last.
One of the few rays of light came from the troops that boarded the flotilla. They made the best of the almost impossible situation in which they had been put. If there was ever a time to declare kol hakavod letzahal (cheers to the IDF), this was it.
Another argument raised was that Israel's action against the Gaza flotilla was illegal. However, according to legal advice given to the US Congress by prominent American jurist, Jennifer Elsea, author of many books and research papers on the international laws of war, this is not the case.
In 2001, Congress commissioned research from Elsea which produced a widely cited 51-page treatise on "Terrorism and the Law of War: Trying Terrorists as War Criminals before Military Commissions", in which she discusses the grounds on which aliens may be detained to prevent them from providing aid and comfort to terrorists. Here is what she wrote:
"The interpretation of international law regarding responsibility for the acts of others through indirect participation maybe necessary to justify detention of any alien suspected of conspiring with or aiding terrorists in ways that fall short of violating the law of war as an unlawful belligerent."
Her analysis has since been widely cited and has served as the basis in law for the detention of aliens who have either given aid and comfort to terrorists, or who have intended to do so. This is the common, accepted interpretation of international law as applied by the United States, Britain and other countries, including Israel.
None of this makes any difference to the raving hordes that are storming the Israeli embassies, drowning out Israel's voice in the universities and flooding the airwaves and thousands of opinion columns in the press with their delirious portrayal of Israel. To them, facts seem to be a nothing but a distraction, and no evidence from Israel will change their mind. At the moment, even friends appear to have been bitten by this bug.
In a world gone mad, to be right is not good enough - we need to be smart. Israel needs to immediately establish its own independent commission of inquiry. In fact that should have been Prime Minister Netanyahu's first public announcement after the flotilla operation. By delaying the announcement, Israel has lost valuable points once again.
There are going to be very difficult times ahead for Israel. We need to reduce our conflicts with the international community to the ones that are most critical for our survival, and stick to them.
As Henry Kissinger once said "While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive."
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The fact that five of the six ships surrendered peacefully and were diverted to Ashdod without any casualties is lost on everyone. All eyes focused on the Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in the flotilla, carrying some 600 or so of the "activists".
Rumors abound, there are some stories about the IHH actively recruiting mercenaries to pose as peace activists and initiate violence, but I don't believe them, any more than I believe the IDF went in with guns blazing.
The bald facts are bad enough for the future of the "Free Gaza" movement—they allowed themselves to be used by an organization with ties to terrorist organizations and a history of investigations and scandals. That makes them nothing more than the "useful idiots" that Lenin used to sneer at.
According to Turkish sources, at least three of the "peace activists" that were killed had declared their ambitions to become shaheed before the Navi Marmora sailed. Al-Jazeera even showed some of them in their clips during the voyage. Could the "Free Gaza" organizers have been unaware of this? Very possibly, if they live in their own dream world where terrorists are admirable and can do no wrong, as long as they describe themselves as "freedom fighters".
It's become a very sick world we live in, when bullies, thieves, murderers and fanatics are seen as "heroes".
