BBC ignores another chance to explain why Gaza’s naval blockade exists - by Hadar Sela

...Likewise, another story about a recently thwarted attempt to smuggle equipment (this time vehicles) to Hamas, which could have helped explain to BBC audiences why the restrictions on the entry of dual-use goods and weapons into the Gaza Strip are necessary, was once again ignored by the BBC’s journalists in the region.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
20 September '16..

The BBC’s portrayal of the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip has long been marred by inaccurate representation of the date of its introduction, unnecessarily qualified framing of its purpose using the “Israel says” formula and a lack of information about Hamas’ efforts to smuggle weapons and materials for the purpose of terrorism by sea. On occasion, BBC reports have even amplified the tendentious claim that the naval blockade is a form of “collective punishment”.

However, when stories that show why the naval blockade is necessary have come to light, the BBC has refrained from reporting them and that policy was again evident when another such story recently emerged.

“A Hamas operative picked up by the Israeli Navy last month is suspected of attempting to smuggle explosive materials from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, the Shin Bet security service announced on Tuesday after a gag order on the case was lifted.

Khamis Jihad Said Ara’ishi, 24, was arrested on August 25 after his ship “deviated from the approved sailing area,” the Shin Bet said.

Israeli naval forces patrolling off the coast of the Gaza Strip called for his vessel to stop. When it didn’t, the sailors opened fire, wounding Ara’ishi.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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BBC News passes up on Gaza Strip weapons smuggling story - by Hadar Sela

...The BBC’s continued avoidance of stories such as this one means that its audiences are deprived of information which would aid their appreciation of why “Israel says” what it does – and that obviously hinders their understanding of this particular “international issue“.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
18 May '16..






On May 16th the Israel Security Agency cleared an announcement for publication.

“The Israeli Navy arrested off the coast of Gaza last month a Hamas-affiliated smuggler who is accused of bringing weapons and illegal building materials into the Strip, the Shin Bet revealed Monday.

Salim Jamal Hassan Naman, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp, admitted to interrogators that he’d been involved in a naval smuggling operation for some time and had helped bring in weaponry and “materials used in the production of rockets, like fiberglass resin,” the security service said. […]

Though Naman was most closely affiliated with the Hamas terror organization, he told investigators the smuggling ring brought weapons to a variety of terror groups in the beleaguered Gaza Strip, the Shin Bet said.

He also gave additional information on the terror group’s methods of using dedicated smugglers as well as Gaza fishermen to bring contraband to and from Egypt.

Naman also gave his interrogators information regarding Hamas’s operational plans to use Gazan fishermen as a “camouflage” for their military actions, the Shin Bet said.”

To date the BBC has shown no interest in reporting this story to its audiences. That editorial decision is of course all the more significant when one considers that the corporation’s often inaccurate portrayal of the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip usually includes the ‘Israel says’ formulation. For example:

“… the blockade, which Israel says is a necessary security measure.”

(Read Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter.

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WSJ - A United Nations Miracle

Wall Street Journal
Review and Asia outlook
05 September '11

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904716604576546643185160996.html

Israel is vindicated on the Gaza flotilla, but Turkey still pouts.

Here's a story for the man-bites-dog folder: The United Nations has conducted another inquiry into an Israeli military operation—and produced a report that mainly vindicates the Jewish state. And here, alas, is a story for the dog-bites-man folder: The Turkish government has responded to the U.N. report by withdrawing its ambassador from Tel Aviv and expelling Israel's from Ankara.

The Palmer report—named for the inquiry's chairman, former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer—was commissioned by the U.N.'s Secretary General to investigate the May 2010 "flotilla incident," when six ships sailing from Turkey to Gaza on an alleged humanitarian mission were boarded by Israeli commandos enforcing a naval blockade of Gaza. Nine passengers were killed (and several Israeli soldiers badly beaten) in the ensuing melee, sparking a crisis in Jerusalem's already frayed relations with Ankara.

Given the U.N.'s track record on Israel, one might have expected this latest report to be a reprise of Richard Goldstone's notorious report alleging Israeli war crimes during its 2009 war with Gaza (charges later retracted by Mr. Goldstone). Instead, the Palmer report offers a point-by-point rebuttal to some of the most preposterous accusations leveled against Israel.

One such accusation from the Turks is that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is illegal because blockades can only be legally imposed on another state, and Israel has never recognized Palestine as a state. The Palmer report dismisses that legal legerdemain, noting that "Hamas is the de facto political and administrative authority in Gaza," that "it is Hamas that is firing projectiles into Israel or permitting others to do so," that "law does not operate in a political vacuum" and thus "Israel was entitled to take reasonable steps to prevent the influx of weapons into Gaza."

Palmer, Goldstone, and the Palestinian statehood gambit

Love of the Land
04 September '11





Jennifer Rubin, writing in her Washington Post column today, covers considerable ground in her review of the U.N.'s Palmer Report. She notes, that it's conclusions, when one considers Israel's normal treatment at the hands of the U.N., is virtually a model of fairness and balance.

Having touched on all parties concerned, Ms. Rubin raises two points towards the end of her column, that address and go beyond the specific details of what occurred on the Mavi Marmara. First, that the commission concluded that Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is both legal and appropriate, speaks to the recognition of a state of belligerency, completely absent from the heavily criticized Goldstone Report, and secondly that this state of belligerancy raises a powerful argument against granting the Palestinians their request for a declaration of statehood.

Jennifer Rubin:

Consider the report’s acknowledgment of the threat to Israel posed by Hamas terrorists:

The United Nations Charter, Article 2 (4) prohibits the use of force generally, subject to an exception under Article 51 of the Charter for the right of a nation to engage in self-defense. Israel has faced and continues to face a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. Rockets, missiles and mortar bombs have been launched from Gaza toward Israel since 2001. More than 5,000 were fired between 2005 and January 2009, when the naval blockade was imposed. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians live in the range of these attacks. As their effectiveness has increased,some rockets are now capable of reaching Tel Aviv. Since 2001 such attacks have caused more than 25 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The enormity of the psychological toll on the affected population cannot be underestimated. In addition, there have been substantial material losses. The purpose of these acts of violence, which have been repeatedly condemned by the international community, has been to do damage to the population of Israel. It seems obvious enough that stopping these violent acts was a necessary step for Israel to take in order to protect its people and to defend itself.

The report goes on to note:

Deputy Commander of the Israeli Navy Addresses "Victoria" Incident

idfnadesk
March 15, 2011

Rear Admiral Rani Ben Yehuda, the Deputy Commander of the Israeli Navy, discusses how the Israeli Navy was able to successfully board the "Victoria" cargo ship without incident, which was found to contain weaponry smuggled from Iran and Syria, eventually destined for the Gaza Strip.



He mentions that the Navy has had experience intercepting weapons intended for terrorist organizations who will use them against the Israeli population, thus there are significant security reasons for the inspection of all cargo heading towards Gaza.

For more information on the "Victoria" ship: http://idfspokesperson.com/2011/03/15/c-704-anti-ship-missiles-found-on-board...

For footage of the IDF boarding the Victoria: http://idfspokesperson.com/2011/03/15/videos-of-navys-request-and-subsequent-...

For more photos of weaponry and an Iranian document found on the ship: http://idfspokesperson.com/2011/03/15/c-704-anti-ship-missiles-found-on-board...

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Blockade on Gaza: Legal Expert Ruth Lapidoth

Legality of the Israeli Blockade of the Gaza Strip. A discussion by Prof. Emeritus and Israel Prize Laureate in Legal Studies Ruth Lapidoth.


From: TheJerusalemCenter
27 June '10

The Legal Basis of Israel's Naval Blockade of Gaza
By Ruth Lapidoth, Professor Emeritus of International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

-The relations between Israel and Hamas are in the nature of armed conflict. Nowadays no formal declaration of war is needed. Hence the rules of the laws of armed conflict apply. This means that Israel may control shipping headed for Gaza - even when the vessels are still on the high seas.

-The rules of naval warfare have not been fully codified in a treaty and are in the nature of binding customary rules. They can be found in the relevant manuals of Western armies (in particular the U.S. and Britain) and in the San Remo Manual prepared by a group of experts.




-In order to be legal, a blockade has to be declared and announced, effective, non-discriminatory, and has to permit the passage of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population. In addition, the San Remo Manual of 1994 includes two conditions: first, the state which applies the blockade may decide where and when and through which port the assistance should reach the coast. In addition, the state may require that a neutral organization on the coast should verify who is the recipient of the assistance. In Gaza, for instance, does it reach the civilians or Hamas?

-A ship that clearly intends to breach the blockade may be stopped already when it is still on the high seas. Stopping the flotilla heading for Gaza in international waters 100 kilometers from Israel was not illegal; in time of armed conflict, ships intending to breach the blockade may be searched even on the high seas.

-Israel is within its rights and is in full compliance with international law because it has fulfilled all of the above-mentioned conditions for a lawful blockade. E.g., in January 2009 Israel notified the relevant authorities of its intention to establish a blockade of the Gaza coast.

(Please read the full article by clicking here)

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The high price of coalition stability

Caroline Glick
carolineglick.com
22 June '10

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues are doing their best to put a pretty face on an ugly situation. After nearly three weeks of deliberations, Netanyahu and his government caved in to massive US pressure to ease, if not end, Israel's blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza.

On Sunday the government announced that all economic sanctions on Gaza will be immediately lifted. Henceforth, Hamas-controlled Gaza will have an effectively open economic border with Israel. Israel will only prohibit the transfer of military material. Even dual-use items, like cement, will be allowed in if international officials claim that they are to be used in their humanitarian projects.

Netanyahu and his colleagues argue that these new concessions have now given Israel the international legitimacy it needs to maintain its naval blockade of the Gaza coast. But this is untrue. Even as he welcomed Netanyahu's latest capitulation, US President Barack Obama made clear that he expects Israel to continue making unreciprocated concessions to Hamas.

Following the government's announcement, the White House declared, "We will work with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the Quartet and other international partners to ensure these arrangements are implemented as quickly and effectively as possible and to explore additional ways to improve the situation in Gaza, including greater freedom of movement and commerce between Gaza and the West Bank."

In plain English that means that the administration doesn't trust Israel. It will escalate its pressure on Israel by among other things, pressuring it to provide members of the illegal Hamas regime in Gaza greater access to Judea and Samaria.

(Read full article)

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Obama’s Pressure, Not Support for Israel, Harms U.S. Interests

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
21 June '10

Israel’s decision to ease the restrictions on nonmilitary goods let into Hamas-controlled Gaza earned the Obama administration’s praise yesterday. The White House coupled its approval with the announcement of the rescheduling of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with the president, which will, we don’t doubt, be more cordial than the brusque reception he got the last time he ventured into Obama’s presence.

Given Israel’s almost complete diplomatic isolation, Netanyahu’s move was probably an unavoidable response to an impossible situation. If Israel is to have any hope of maintaining its shaky alliance with the United States during Obama’s term in office, Netanyahu knows that he must do what he can to appease the White House’s appetite for Israeli concessions. If letting in luxury items — as opposed to the basic food and medicine already flowing unimpeded into Gaza — was the price for retaining American support for the naval blockade of the Hamas-run entity and avoiding an Obama endorsement for an international kangaroo court in which Israel’s actions would be judged, then it can be argued that what Netanyahu has conceded will not alter the strategic balance in favor of the Islamist terrorist group.

But no one should be under the impression that such a move will moderate international criticism of the Jewish state. With the secretary-general of the United Nations as well as the International Red Cross condemning the blockade as a matter of principle, it’s clear that international opinion has reached a tipping point in terms of the legitimizing the Hamas regime. The United States has not gone that far in terms of its public stance on the situation and the pressure it has exerted upon Israel, but the White House needs to understand that the price it has forced Israel to pay for Obama’s “good will” in fact will undermine U.S. interests in the Middle East.

Forcing Israel to loosen the blockade will be rightly seen as a victory for Hamas.

(Read full post)

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Hezbollah, Iran behind this weekend's "aid" ships. Is a bloodbath planned?

Elder of Ziyon
17 June '10

Ya Libnan reports on the women's "aid" ship that is supposed to sail from Lebanon to Gaza this weekend:

An aid ship transporting medical supplies to Gaza will leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women activists on board, one of the organisers told AFP on Tuesday.

“We are all independent women who believe in breaking the siege on Gaza and are committed to the enmity of the Zionist entity,” said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.

She stressed the women were not affiliated with the militant group Hezbollah, or any other political organisation.

“This has nothing to do with Hezbollah even though it is an honour for us to be supporters of the resistance,” said Hajj, whose husband Ali Hajj was one of four generals detained for nearly four years in connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed then Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.

Ali Hajj, who was domestic security chief, was released from prison in April last year after a UN-backed tribunal said there was insufficient evidence against the generals.

As I reported yesterday, the Palestinian Arabic media was reporting that Hezbollah was behind the ship. For for more direct proof, just go to the Syria Truth website.

In one article, written back on June 6th, it describes how Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly said he will be supporting many ships to be sent to Gaza, and hinting that Turkey was coordinating its efforts to break the blockade by coordinating with Hezbollah, saying that "the red flag is making decisions based on the yellow flag."

(Read full post)

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Who cares about Hamas's 'reign of terror'?

Stephanie Gutmann
telegraph.co.uk
14 June '10

As President Obama gets ready to send an additional 400 million dollars in aid to “ordinary Palestinians” (most of which will probably end up with a small inner circle of Hamas weapons enthusiasts) it’s worth remembering who is causing the most misery to the people of Gaza.

The Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh has written a blistering essay for the Hudson New York blog headlined, “What About Hamas’s Siege of Gaza?“. He reminds us that while the world bayed about Israel’s naval blockade, “Hamas [has continued] its reign of terror on the local population in general and its critics in particular.”

What is that reign like? Well, here are some snapshots of life in Gaza under Hamas: on June 6, “A senior United Nations official… expressed deep concern at reports that Hamas has broken into the offices of [NGOs] in the Gaza Strip… confiscated materials and equipment, and forced the offices to shut down.”

In late May, masked gunmen raided a UN children’s camp, tearing down tents and burning storage buildings. It’s not known who was behind those masks but earlier what the Irish Times called “a previously unknown militant group, The Free of the Homeland, issued a statement criticising [the UN] for, ‘teaching schoolgirls fitness, dancing and immorality.’” Hamas often uses proxies and has been attempting to impose strict sharia law. In April, as the same Irish Times article points out, Hamas sent “police to break up the Gaza Strip’s first major hip-hop concert [because, it said,] organisers failed to get a permit.”

Toameh was born in the West Bank city of Tulkarm 45 years ago.

(Read full article)

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The Forgotten Rachels

JewishVLibrary
08 June '10

Rachel Corrie's death was a tragic accident, but the death of these Rachels could have been avoided.

In light of the Rachel Corrie recently embarking for Gaza, we created this video as a tribute to "The Forgotten Rachels" who all died as a result of Palestinian terrorism.




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Backstabbing 101

Anne Bayefsky
foxnews.com
16 June '10

Last week in response to a story by The Weekly Standard's William Kristol, the Obama administration denied it was busy stabbing Israel in the back on the issue of how to investigate the Turkish-backed campaign to break the Gaza naval blockade.

On Tuesday, however, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, and a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, suggested the backstabbing was indeed in high gear.

Mansour was speaking at a press stakeout at U.N. headquarters outside a Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East. He was asked about U.S. approval of a U.N.-sponsored investigation in light of Israel having launched its own investigation on Monday. Mansour responded:

“We support the Secretary General’s decision to proceed with his idea of having an international investigation under his auspices and we know that there is no objection to the effort of the S.G. in this regard inside the Security Council.”

The Secretary-General’s move to discredit the Israeli investigation was confirmed a few minutes later by Robert Serry, U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestinian Authority. Serry told reporters that the Secretary-General has not dropped the idea of launching his own investigation.

Serry released a statement which reads:

“The Secretary-General...has proposed an international panel, one that is under the aegis of a third party seen as impartial...The Secretary-General has taken note of Israel’s announcement and recognizes that a thorough Israeli investigation is important, and could be consistent with the Secretary-General’s own proposals for an international panel – the two combined would fully meet the international community’s expectation for a credible and impartial investigation. The Secretary-General’s proposal is not incompatible with domestic inquiries, in fact, the two approaches are complementary, so his proposal, accordingly, remains on the table.”

Israel’s new investigative team is unprecedented in light of its inclusion of two international observers on a subject at the heart of the country’s national security and sovereign right of self-defense. The decision to include international observers was immediately subject to internal criticism from some of Israel’s leading international law jurists.

(Read full article)

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Maritime Martyrs

CJMS
14 June '10

Finally! Since the beginning of this fiasco, where the international community has lined up against Israel for legally enforcing its blockade on the genocidal Islamists in Gaza, CJHS has been waiting for someone to put together a fully documented expose on the lies and fabrications being thrown around in the media. That video has finally arrived. Please watch this explanation, which begins with the blockade itself and moves backward and forward, exposing the "humanitarian disaster" and the "Israeli aggression" myths for what they are - calculated and dishonest attacks meant to delegitimize the very possibility of Jewish self-defense.


Maritime Martyrs from CJHS on Vimeo.


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On the Ashton heap of current events

Soccer Dad
14 June '10

Lady Ashton wrote yesterday about Ending Gaza's dangerous isolation:

Two questions arise. How can we help to improve the daily lives of the people of Gaza? How can we help to enhance the security of the people of Israel? Those two questions must be answered together, for any attempt to answer them separately is doomed to fail.

That is why I am seeking to re-open the crossings into Gaza, permanently, for humanitarian aid, commercial goods and civilians to and from Gaza. This is what the United Nations Security Council and the European Union have demanded; it is also what Israel agreed with the Palestinian Authority in 2005. On my trip to Gaza I bought some fabulous handicrafts made by remarkable women who have overcome daunting conditions; I want an end to the ban that prevents their world-class rugs and scarves and ornaments from being sold and enjoyed around the world.

Lady Ashton's main concern is that the world should be able to enjoy genuine Persian carpets made in Gaza.

Elder of Ziyon commenting on an article written about Gaza notes that the article ignores (or doesn't emphasize) what's really going on:

Yes, there is an embargo - one that the Quartet agreed to. Yes, there are challenges for Gaza families to get things done.

(Read full post)

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Israel’s Critics and Hollow Lies

Rick Moran
frontpagemag.com
10 June '10

In the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla incident, we have witnessed a tsunami of virulent, over-the-top criticism of the state of Israel for its actions in interdicting the so-called “peace activists” before they could dock at the port of Gaza.

Reasonable people can argue whether the decision on the methods used to stop the ships was the correct course for the Israeli government to take. Indeed, there is a healthy debate within Israel itself over this very issue, including questions about intelligence, tactics, and whether the propaganda victory handed to pro-Palestinian activists could have been avoided while still maintaining the blockade.

Even the efficacy of the blockade itself is being discussed in Israel, as it has been since the quarantine was intensified nearly 3 years ago. For these internal critics, and those elsewhere who do not wish to see the state of Israel or its people destroyed, it is much too glib to ascribe their opposition as anti-Semitic or even anti-Israeli. But we can certainly put a reasonable question to these critics that never seems to get answered amidst the bombast and posturing from both the Jew haters and genuine “peace” seekers alike.

What is it you would have the Israeli government do to protect itself?
Indeed, what marks the critic of Israeli policy is a disconnect between the perilous reality of Israel’s exposed position vis-a-vis the Palestinians and those nations that support them. They hold a pie-in-the-sky belief that if Israel would only remove the irritants the Palestinians suffer on a daily basis, that the animosity felt by Israel’s enemies would magically disappear.

Consider what these critics have been harping on for years:

(Read full article)

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Middle East Studies Profs Usurp New Roles to Censure Israel over Gaza Flotilla

Brendan Goldman
American Thinker
13 June '10

"The martyrs of the [Gaza flotilla] ships are heroes," writes Mark LeVine, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. "They are warriors every bit as deserving of our tears and support as the soldiers of American wars past and present."

In the aftermath of the death of nine mercenaries on the deck of the Gaza-bound Turkish vessel, the Mavi Marmara, professors of Middle East studies lined up to denounce the Jewish State. Ignoring overwhelming video and documentary evidence of the activists' radical agenda and affinity for violence, these professors asserted that the "Freedom Flotilla" of the six Gaza-bound vessels were on a purely "humanitarian" mission.

"Those ships were just bringing aid to the impoverished Palestinians," said New York University professor of modern Middle Eastern History Zachary Lockman. "It's not [the Palestinians'] fault they are under Hamas rule." Has Lockman already forgotten that Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinians in January 2006?

Even professors who managed to recall the Palestinian elections were determined to demonstrate that the terrorist group has been falsely maligned. Georgetown University's John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, tried to whitewash the terrorist group's reputation by declaring, "Hamas simply does not steal ... thus any aid delivered to the UN will be respected." Yet even traditionally anti-Israel institutions like the U.N. and the left-wing British Guardian have noted that Hamas has illegally seized aid intended for Gaza's poor.

(Read full post)

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The last 10 days

The last 10 days have surprised me.


Fresnozionism.org
11 June '10

I thought I was cynical about the way humans are capable of believing things that are contradicted by what they see with their own eyes, but apparently I was naive.

I realized that the phenomenon of ideologues only hearing the voices of their own side was much more extensive than I’d thought.

I saw that the amount of ignorance, stupidity and viciousness in the world, especially the supposedly better-educated part of it, was far, far greater than than I had imagined in my worst nightmares.

I saw that a form of atavistic hatred that I had thought was dying out in ‘civilized’ society was alive and breathing heavily.

I saw some ‘critics of Israeli policy’ drop their masks, because it has now become acceptable to admit that the real problem, in the words of Charles Krauthammer, is “Those Troublesome Jews“.

When Helen Thomas dropped hers (OK, maybe it had been slipping for some time), she was greeted with some official condemnation and massive grass-roots support. Rabbi David Nesenoff, who taped her telling Israeli Jews to “go home, to Poland and Germany,” has received over 25,000 hate mails, some of which can be seen on his website.

There’s a Security Council “Presidential Statement,” a vicious Human Rights Council resolution, demonstrations and rallies against Israel all over the world — even in Fresno, California — a surge of antisemitic incidents in France and other places, threats from Turkey, Iran and Syria, and suggestions from Barack Obama that Israel’s policies are ‘unsustainable’ and must change in the direction of concessions to Hamas.

(Read full post)

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Probe: Erdogan knew Gaza flotilla would be violent

Files found on activists' laptops pointed to strong ties between the Islamist IHH movement and Turkey's prime minister.


Anshel Pfeffer
Haaretz
09 June '10
Posted before Shabbat

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan knew in advance that activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla planned to attack Israeli troops, Israeli intelligence officials have said.

In a report published this week, a group of independent investigators from Israel's intelligence community found that activists aboard the 'Mavi Marmara' were part of an organized group that was prepared for a violent conflict.

Last week Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists when they boarded the Turkish-owned boat, part of a six-ship convoy trying to break Israel's maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip

(Read full article)

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Beyond Bigotry

Hamas wants a “final solution.” Its supporters must know that.


Clifford D. May
National Review Online
10 June '10
Posted before Shabbat

Israel is at war, and if Israel were to be defeated, much of the world would not shed wet tears. What would happen after such a defeat? No one can seriously doubt that Hamas has genocidal intentions.

Abdallah Jarbu, Hamas’s deputy minister of religion, recently asserted that Jews “want to present themselves to the world as if they have rights, but, in fact, they are foreign bacteria — a microbe unparalleled in the world.” Jarbu thien offered this prayer: “May He annihilate this filthy people who have neither religion nor conscience.”

Jarbu is restating what Hamas’s Iranian sponsors have been saying for years. Kayhan, the newspaper that speaks for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, recently called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that must be excised from “the Islamic Middle East.” The goal, Kayhan added, must be Israel’s “total annihilation from the political geography of the region.”

Let’s stipulate that not all those who support the Gaza “Freedom Flotilla” would welcome a second Holocaust. But let’s acknowledge, too, that those who do not endorse genocide feel it unnecessary to distance themselves from those who do.

(Read full article)

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Foreign Ministry Staff Should Learn From Abba Eban's Example

Dr.Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
10 June '10

In December 1955 the Syrians shelled an Israeli fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. There were no Jewish casualties, but Israel retaliated with an operation which left 73 Syrian dead. Eban protested to Ben Gurion privately, while defending the operation in public.

Ben Gurion replied that he, too, had doubts about the wisdom of the operation, but said: "When I read the full text of your brilliant defense of our action in the Security Council, all my doubts were set at rest."
Abba Eban Obituary - Daily Telegraph (UK) 18 Nov 2002

That, in a nutshell, is the job of the Foreign Ministry staff.

Haaretz Correspondent Barak Ravid reports in today's edition that during the two months leading up to the arrival of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, members of the Foreign Ministry team repeatedly warned that while Israel was well within its legal rights to stop the ships in international waters, such a move would create a serious public relations challenge.

In fact, the Foreign Ministry team suggested, that in order to avoid this challenge, Israel wait for the ships to reach the country's territorial waters - which lie within 20 miles from the coast - before launching a takeover operation.

This suggestion was rejected on operational grounds.

It would appear that Ravid got this story from one of the Foreign Ministry team members, who, annoyed that his advice hadn't been taken, decided to have his "I told you so" published in Haaretz.

They just don't get it.

The Foreign Ministry team doesn't come off as geniuses in this story.

(Read full commentary)

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