By Bill Press
Tribune Media Services
Forget what country did it. Consider, first, the facts: Armed commandos attack an unarmed ship in international waters, open fire and kill nine civilians, including one American.
What do you call that? An act of piracy. It doesn’t matter what country did it. It would have been wrong for Iran to do it. It would have been wrong for North Korea to do it. It was wrong for Israel to do it — and the United States should simply say so.
How long are we going to defend Israel, no matter what mistakes it makes? And when will we finally learn that supporting Israel does not mean supporting everything a particular government of Israel might do — no more than being a patriotic American means supporting every policy of Barack Obama’s.
There is no justification for Israel’s decision to use military force to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the shores of Gaza, especially after the United States had warned Israel to use “caution and restraint.”
Defending the operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that Israel has the right to defend itself. Of course, it does. Nobody disputes that. But six ships bearing 700 peace activists and 10,000 tons of construction materials, medicine, and school supplies presented no threat to Israel’s security — a fact reinforced when Israel allowed the cargo to be unloaded and taken by truck to Gaza, just one day later.
Did passengers on board the Mavi Marmara strike first? Yes. But only with knives, iron pipes, and slingshots. And only after armed soldiers boarded and attempted to take over their ship. In response, cornered Israeli troops opened fire in what can only be described as a badly botched military exercise resulting in an unnecessary and excessive use of force.
Israel’s ham-handed operation unleashed a flood of condemnation worldwide, but nowhere more severe than inside Israel itself. Writing in The New York Times, novelist Amos Oz accuses the Netanyahu government of being “fixated on military force” and operating under the “mistaken assumption that Hamas’s control of Gaza can be ended by force of arms.” In the Israeli daily Haaretz, columnist Gideon Levy laments: “The country now has a blind captain in the cockpit, flying his blindfolded passengers with exemplary precision toward the destination he envisioned” — where the whole world is against Israel, even the United States.
In this case, however, Netanyahu may have outsmarted himself. Ignoring pleas for restraint from the United States, he approved “Operation Sea Breeze” in order to strengthen Israel’s naval blockade against Gaza. Instead, by overreacting, he made the strongest argument for ending it.
Before the commando raid on Turkish ships, few people knew the Israeli blockade even existed. Now, the whole world does. They also know how futile, how fickle, and how cruel it is. Import of concrete and other building materials are banned, as a result of which it’s impossible for residents of Gaza to rebuild homes, businesses, or schools destroyed in the last conflict. Export of furniture, textiles and other products formerly manufactured in the territory is also banned, resulting in 40 percent unemployment.
Netanyahu and other Israeli officials insist there’s no “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza. Yet the list of household items refused entry at various times includes light bulbs, candles, matches, books, musical instruments, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, sheets, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner. According to the UN, 70 percent of Gaza families live on less than one dollar a day and 60 percent of Gazans are “food insecure” — meaning they go to bed hungry.
Originally sold as a means of making Israel more secure, the blockade of Gaza, now in place for three years, has had just the opposite effect. It has not made Israel more secure, but it has strengthened the hand of Hamas, caused great suffering among the population of Gaza, and further alienated the Arab world against any accommodation with Israel.
The only hope is that after one more disastrous display of force even Israel’s hardliners will realize that military force alone will not end Hamas’s control of Gaza or solve the Palestinian problem. The only solution is a two-state solution. And the only way to get there is by resumption of peace talks.
If that happens, if this military disaster serves to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the peace table, even the deaths of nine peace activists will not have been in vain.
© 2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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Bill why don’t you at least report the truth. You know simple little things like the IHH’s ties to terrorism. For those of you who can’t read the IHH funded 3 of the boats, or did you just forget to mention that? Last I checked iron pipes and knives can be just as deadly as guns (are you willing to get hit in the head with an iron pipe?). Ask the family of the kid in Chicago who was beaten to death by two by fours not that long ago. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t intentionally throwing someone over a 30 foot ledge attempted murder? It wasn’t until these acts happened that shots were fired. As far as the humanitarian aide BOTH the Israelis and the Egyptians (who are part of the blockade, something else you forgot to mention)asked the boats to pull into port so the supplies could be inspected and then driven to Gaza, instead the peaceful aide workers refused, armed themselves, wrote wills and prepared for martyrdom (this from the arab press). But then again, why would you report the whole story, especially if it doesn’t support your progressive anti-semitic views. The violent activist on those ships got exactly what they asked for and what they deserved!
Great article; a very unbiased analysis of a tragic situation.
Jeff@3 is precisely the kind of overblown propaganda shine that this country has been suffering from since the Bush Administration was foisted on us by a corrupt Supreme Court. Be afraid, be as paranoid as the Israelis under the Likud, and whatever you do make sure you keep killing and oppressing people because there is no better way to make your most paranoid fantasies come true. Israel has become the monster they claimed to fight, with Likud party bullies no better than Cheney-just keep killing Arabs and being afraid and everything else will fall into place. If we really cared for Israel we would stop them from their current course of action because every terroristic act and injustice they commit in the name of defense is another mark against them in world opinion and a little more of their souls lost to violence and hatred.
seriously@5 is precisely the kind of “the military is always wrong” propaganda that causes these kinds of events to begin with.
The FACTS of the matter are that the group was INTENTIONALLY attempting to break a blockade… It’s not as if they were just cruising along and didn’t know the blockade was there.
Then they refused to comply with the instructions from the military vessels that stopped them, instead attempting to barge their way through. This is often referred to as “monumental stupidity”.
Third, when they were boarded by the military to search for contraband (the military vessel was actually being nice here… they coulda just sunk them) they resisted with DEADLY FORCE. Attacking a man holding a machine gun with a knife or club also falls into the “monumental stupidity” category.
Finally, these people were NOT aboard a sanctioned “Humanitarian Aid Vessel”. If they were, they never would have been stopped as their cargo would have been inspected BEFORE they ever left dock.
The fact that an American was killed doesn’t change my opinion at all. It just shows that Americans can act just as idiotic as everyone else. For all those who are going to get all self-righteous with me over that, I have one question for you… Why weren’t you offended about the USS Liberty? After all, Israel killed 34 Americans and wounded another 170 then. Or do military personnel not count?