Claudia Rosett
pajamasmedia.com
30 May '11
http://pajamasmedia.com/claudiarosett/where-they-really-need-a-freedom-flotilla-try-syria/?singlepage=true
As if there weren’t enough trouble in the world, it’s “Freedom Flotilla” season again in the Middle East. Self-declared “freedom activists” are again maneuvering to score big propaganda points by trying to break the Israeli naval blockade meant to stop the flow of weapons into Gaza — the Palestinian enclave ruled by the Iranian-backed terrorist group, Hamas. In Turkey, such activists are marking the first anniversary of the May 31, 2010 confrontation aboard the Turkish flagship of last year’s flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, in which some of the erstwhile peaceniks aboard the vessel turned out to be thugs wielding clubs and knives. They attacked the Israelis trying to enforce the blockade; nine “peace” activists died and seven Israeli commandos were wounded.
Plans are now taking shape for another flotilla to sail for Gaza, sometime in June. A major organizer of last year’s flotilla, the terror-linked Turkish nonprofit known as IHH, is seeking preliminary applications for people who want to join this year’s excursion to bait and besmirch Israel and support Iranian-backed Hamas. The IHH site lists some who have already signed up, including a number of Americans described as planning to sail aboard a U.S.-flagged ship called the Audacity of Hope.
Whatever the lofty intentions under which some of the dupes among this crowd might sail, the effect is to support the terrorist rulers of Gaza — who have recently, once again, ratcheted up their rocket and mortar bombardments of Israel, and, as clients of Iran, may be planning worse. Which is the reason for the Israeli blockade in the first place. Recall that in 2005, hoping for peaceful coexistence, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, forcibly evicting even those Israelis who refused to leave their homes there. The Palestinians of Gaza did not respond with peace. They voted into power Hamas, which is dedicated in its charter to the eradication of Israel. They launched thousands of attacks on Israel. Gaza’s real problem is not the Israeli blockade, or a lack of supplies, but its predatory devotion to the aims of terrorizing and destroying the democratic state of Israel. In the name of humanitarian aid, United Nations agencies and assorted charities have been pouring resources into Gaza for years (much of that provided by American and European taxpayers). Attempts to shred the Israeli blockade do not add up to humanitarian help; they add up to support for terror-loving Hamas.
If anyone involved in the launching of this “Freedom Flotilla II” really wants to do some good in this world, there is another piece of turf along the eastern Mediterranean coast they could aim for. It’s a place where a blockade of sorts has been imposed not by Israel, but by the country’s own government — which is now preventing entry by anyone likely to report back on the atrocities within. It’s a country where Iran has been sending in the thugs of its elite Quds force to help crush an uprising of people calling for an end to decades of dynastic totalitarian rule. It’s a place where international peace activists hoping to galvanize world opinion with a high-profile boat trip might usefully attempt a landing and display of solidarity, if only to let the world witness the response.
That place is Syria. It is, of course, less attractive to these flotilla types for a number of reasons. One is that Syrian security forces are likely to be a lot less considerate than Israeli commandos. Your average peace activist who might try sailing forthrightly to the rescue of Syria’s beleaguered demonstrators is more likely to get shot in the head than briefly detained and then repatriated, which is what Israel did last year with those of the flotilla passengers who actually remained peaceful. And course a “Freedom Flotilla” aiming to draw world attention to Syria might actually end up striking a blow for freedom — as opposed to scoring a propaganda coup for the terrorists of Hamas by grandstanding on the high seas about Gaza. But don’t hold your breath. Freedom is not what these flotillas are about.
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It is of course refreshing to read that after half a century Israel is belatedly starting to educate the world about the more than half million Jewish refugees who were uprooted around the time of Israel's birth as a Nation.
ReplyDeleteForced out of Arab countries, where these Jews had lived for generations, if not centuries, many of these Jewish refugees arrived in Israel with only the shirt on their back.
It was not sufficient for their former Arab countries of residence to forcefully eject them but the Jewish refugees had to suffer the further indignity of seeing all their worldly possessions illegally seized and confiscated as well.
It continues to this day to puzzle me that beyond the subject of the epic tragedy of the Holocaust so little effort is made to educate the world about the other tragedies Jews have unfairly suffered which if the world knew about them, might create a more balanced picture of why Israel came to exist.
To a large extent the massive ignorance pertaining to the birth of Israel is a boon to those groups who wish to disparage the Jews and Israel.
And turning to the topic of Turkey and its direct involvement in the upcoming June Flotilla, how many people in the entire world are familiar with Turkey's hand and involvement in the Holocaust, also involving a ship on the high seas.
Though no one can feel anything but regret that people died, less than ten, during last year's Flotilla fiasco, how many people in the world are familiar with Turkey's hand in the death of 768 innocent Jews on a different kind of ship- a refugee ship, the Struma, carrying Jewish refugees trying to escape the Nazi furnaces of Europe.
Regarding the following remark in an article: GAZA ACTIVISTS WARN ISRAEL NOT TO BLOCK NEW CONVOY
“They will not attack. We don’t believe they will repeat the same big mistake against humanity,” said Huseyin Oruc, a spokesman for the Turkey-based IHH Islamic charity. The activists later held a minute’s silence for those who were killed in 2010″.
Well, well, well now. The good people of Turkey want an apology, do they ?
LET THE WORLD REMEMBER THE SHIP, “THE STRUMA”,
That was the WW II ship crammed with 768 Jewish refugees desperately trying to escape Hitler’s gas chambers. With a broken engine and no food or water, the Turks towed the Struma out into the open sea and abandoned the ship and all its passengers, to die. All but one of the 768 Jewish men, women and children did die. They were all effectively murdered by the government of Turkey.
CONTINUED BELOW
THE STRUMA--THE DOOMED JEWISH REFUGEE SHIP
ReplyDeleteRead and learn about Turkey’s Dark Past- those who can handle the Truth
The Struma was a ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to British-controlled Palestine during World War II. On February 23, 1942, with its engine inoperable and its refugee passengers aboard, Turkish authorities towed the ship from Istanbul harbor through the Bosphorus out to the Black Sea, where they abandoned it without food, water, or fuel. Within hours, in the morning of February 24, it was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine Shch 213, killing 768 men, women and children, with only one survivor, a 19 year old man, making it the largest exclusively civilian naval disaster of the war.
The Struma sinking, along with the Patria disaster which preceded it, became a rallying point for the Irgun and LEHI Jewish underground movements, encouraging their violent revolt against the British presence in Palestine.
And the “activist” group in Turkey is waiting for an apology for the self created fate they brought upon themselves in last year's incident.
When they arrive in Israel’s waters they will see what type of “apology” they receive. It may well require that they be wearing their Life Vests.
In the meantime it would make much sense for Israel to stop allowing itself to be trashed by the world's mostly anti-semitic press and instead go on the offensive using all its intelligence and creativity to start educating the billions of people in this world who still think Jews have horns on their heads.
They can begin by making a serious full scale film epic about the tragedy of the 768 Jewish European refugees, many of them children, whose only wish was to reach the shores of Palestine alive.
Instead, the government Officials of Turkey made the decision to have the ship, the Struma, towed out into the middle of the ocean, without food, water or a working engine, where 768 Jewish refugees were abandoned to die in a cold, watery grave.