Do Peace Activists Care About Syria? Seriously.

Ronn Torossian..
frontpagemag.com..
02 October '12..

Humanitarians of the world pay special attention to Israel. Self-proclaimed peace “activists” announced this week that a ship called “Estelle” has set sail for Gaza yet again in an attempt to “break Israel’s sea blockade” of Gaza. The ship sailed from Sweden three months ago, and will sail to Gaza from Naples in the beginning of October.

The Foreign Ministry of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, said in a statement that Israel was in contact with the governments whose citizens were passengers on the ship. Israel’s policy has not changed, the Ministry said, and the ship will not be allowed to approach Gaza. Those who pay attention to international news will remember that on May 31, 2010, while en route to Gaza, commandos from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) raided and seized the Mavi Marmara (in the first flotilla) after communicating warnings that a naval blockade of the Gaza area was in force.

The commandos were seemingly unprepared for the dozens of militant terrorists who swarmed around them wielding knives and iron bars. A bloody battle took place, and nine Mavi Marmara passengers were killed in the mêlée, and at least seven IDF soldiers were wounded. It was a major diplomatic debacle for the Israeli government. The incident damaged Israel’s image because initially it appeared that Israeli soldiers were storming the ship violently (when, precisely because of the predictable reaction of the world, the soldiers were carrying paint guns, not actual weapons), and not that they were attacked first.

These “peace” flotillas are intended to harm Israel – and nothing else. And that’s blatantly clear as there is no flotilla to Syria, a country which borders Israel, where the Syrian government has killed thousands of its own citizens, the injured hide in private homes to avoid cold-blooded murder, funeral processions are shot at with many killed at a time when they are bereaving the dead, the detained are tortured and many die and are buried in mass graves. Yet, no flotilla to help the Syrians.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner - Hamas’s useful Americans

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
JPost Magazine
15 July '11

http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/Article.aspx?id=229401

From Boston Harbor to the jail cells of Birmingham to the public squares of Cairo, the American people have had a centuries-old love affair with the idea of regular citizens engaging in civil disobedience to bring down unjust laws, discriminatory policies and brutal regimes, through non-violent protests. It comes as no surprise, then, that a small group of Americans were involved in raising funds, outfitting ships and serving as crew and passengers on the boats for the flotilla that intended to breach Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Tragically, rather than engaging in authentic efforts to win freedom for an oppressed people, or acting to safeguard the liberties of an endangered minority, these Americans, wittingly or unwittingly, are lending material support and providing resources to Hamas and its goal of eradicating the Jewish state. If imperiling the security of innocent Israelis weren’t enough, Hamas’s “useful Americans” are also violating numerous federal laws and recklessly endangering their own lives.

Pursuant to the Oslo Accords negotiated and signed between Israel and the PLO, the Palestinians agreed that the Gaza coastline would be placed under Israeli control and that no foreign ships would be allowed closer than 12 nautical miles from the shore. Israel demanded this out of concern over widespread import of conventional and unconventional weapons into Gaza. Had it not been for this provision, there would be no Palestinian Authority today, and Israel would not have withdrawn from Gaza.

Because of this agreement, the Gaza maritime blockade is consistent with international law, and violating it constitutes a hostile action against the State of Israel. As such, Israel is permitted to utilize all necessary force to repel any seafaring intruders.

The UN’s soon-to-be-released Palmer Report, which investigated last year’s flotilla, will confirm that this is true.

THE AMERICANS who organized the boats seemingly refuse to accept the validity of Israeli jurisdiction over the coastline and are determined to dangerously confront the Israel Navy and reach Gaza.

Ironically, those organizing and outfitting the ships, who claim that Israel is in violation of international law and Palestinian rights, have themselves run roughshod over numerous provisions of the federal penal code as they attempt to deliver material support and resources to the Hamas government, which is responsible for thousands of missile attacks on Israeli cities.

Elder: Flotilla "peace activists"

elderofziyon2
19 June '11

Anti-Israel agitators try to claim that the people killed on the Mavi Marmara in May 2010 were "peace activists."



Here you can see exactly how they acted, and decide if that is an accurate description.

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Peace Activists - Flotilla - Potato Potaaato

orza1411
13 October '10







You say "potato", I say "pota-a-ato". You say "peace activist", I say
"terrorist." A humorous and satirical perspective on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza



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The Gaza flotilla and the dirty NGO war

Gerald Steinberg
Canadian Jewish News
08 July '10

The images from the “peace” flotilla to Gaza exposed the tactics of powerful non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that lead the strategy of political warfare targeting Israel.

In the May 31 flotilla attack, IHH – a Turkish “charity” with close links to Hamas and jihadist groups – combined forces with European anti-Israel campaigners, including the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Members of both groups co-operate with terrorists that goad Israel into using force, resulting in injuries and deaths. They know how to unleash massive diplomatic and political campaigns using false charges of “war crimes,” “collective punishment” and similar allegations.

The Israeli government has been remarkably and depressingly inept in dealing with this third-generation warfare (following conventional army attacks from 1948 to 1973, and the ongoing terror campaigns). In the case of the IHH-ISM “free Gaza” flotilla, the IDF and Defence Ministry were surprised by the violence, and the political leadership, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, didn’t anticipate the international pressure to end the Gaza blockade. (When they acted to allow most civilian goods into Gaza, it was another case of too little, too late.)

In order to defeat this third-generation warfare, which has already done considerable damage, we need to assess the threat and find the right strategy. Understanding NGO exploitation of moral principles is the first step. The IHH and ISM were supported by a wide network, including the major NGO superpowers (Amnesty International, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch) and many local partners. This network creates the environment that automatically condemns Israel, while portraying Palestinians as helpless victims.

(Read full article)

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No One Cares About Gaza

Michael J. Totten
Contentions/Commentary
10 June '10

You might think that with all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over Gaza lately, the Palestinian suffering would move people like no other cause in the world, but if so, you would be wrong. Few activists, journalists, or diplomats genuinely seem to care what those people are going through.

Consider this: Hamas, not Israel, refuses to allow donated food and medicine in. If it’s “collective punishment” when Israel restricts certain items, what should we call it when Hamas refuses all of the items? Few seem to have given it any thought. So far I haven’t found a single person indignant about the Israeli blockade who has said or written a word about Hamas refusing to allow donated goods into the territory. Even those who actually donated and delivered the items are quiet about it.

Free Gaza-from Hamas


And consider what Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote at the Hudson New York website on Tuesday. He describes how the Hamas raid on several non-governmental and human-rights organization offices recently was largely ignored by the media, how Hamas banned municipal elections, how hundreds have been arrested for protesting its draconian rule, and how dozens of opposition leaders have been jailed or killed since the terrorist army seized power. “Under Hamas,” he writes, “the Gaza Strip is being transformed into a fundamentalist Islamic entity resembling the regimes of the Ayatollahs in Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan.”

(Read full post)

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'We had no choice'

Yaakov Katz
JPost
04 June '10
Posted before Shabbat

When St.-Sgt. S. fast-roped down from an air force Black Hawk helicopter onto the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship on Monday morning, he did not expect to be landing in what he called “a battlefield” and facing off against a group of “murderous mercenaries.”

The 15th and last naval commando from Flotilla 13 (the Shayetet) to rappel down onto the ship from the helicopter, S. said on Thursday that he was immediately attacked by what the IDF has called “the mob of mercenaries” aboard the vessel, just like the soldiers who had boarded just before him.

Looking to his side, he saw three of his commanders lying wounded – one with a gunshot wound to the stomach and another with a gunshot wound to the knee. A third was lying unconscious; his skull was fractured by a devastating blow with a metal bar.

As the next in the chain of command, S., who has been in the Shayetet for three and a half years, immediately took charge.

He pushed the wounded soldiers up against the wall of the upper deck and created a perimeter of soldiers around them to begin treating their wounds, he said. He then arranged his men to form a second perimeter, and pulled out his 9 mm. Glock pistol to stave off the charging attackers and to protect his wounded comrades.

The attackers had already seized two pistols from the commandos, and fired repeatedly at them. Facing more than a dozen of the mercenaries, and convinced their lives were in danger, he and his colleagues opened fire, he said. S. singlehandedly killed six men. His colleagues killed another three.

On Thursday, S. sat down with The Jerusalem Post at the Shayetet’s base in northern Israel for an exclusive interview, during which he described the dramatic events aboard the Mavi Marmara on Monday; he is being considered for a medal of valor.

(Read full story)

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