The Concept

Moshe Feiglin
4 Av, 5770
15 July '10

(Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper)

The Eiland report on the Gaza flotilla fiasco makes it clear that no facts were hidden from the people who planned and carried out the operation. The Navy commander displayed leadership; he did not watch the operation on a plasma screen, but was present in one of the boats at the scene. He saw the first attempts of the commandos to climb onto the boat and understood what type of welcome his soldiers would be receiving.

The presence of senior commanders in the field in this case turned out to be an impediment. The person who eventually came back to his senses, shook off the false assumptions and unfounded concept upon which the entire operation was based was S.S. - one of the regular commando soldiers. He killed six of the Turkish attackers one after the other and turned the situation around. We can safely assume that if less senior commanders had been on the scene, reality would have detached the ropes of the erroneous concept sooner - and the desecration of G-d's Name with the humiliation of Israel's soldiers - would have been prevented.

Paradoxically, the Eiland Report reveals that the authors of the report, themselves, are also captive to the same concept that determined the planning and execution of the operation. They cannot even understand the implications of their own conclusions; conclusions that every child sees clearly: The flotilla fiasco was a serious defeat for Israel. The Report does not examine the concept - it simply examines if the procedure that was supposed to implement the concept was properly performed. And if the procedure was properly executed and all involved acted faultlessly, then the only conclusion that we can reach is that the operation succeeded.

The depth of the dependence on the concept that was revealed in the commando cooperation is no more than an illustration of a mindset that is much more broad and faulty. The entire existence of the State of Israel is founded on a concept detached from reality that repeatedly explodes in our faces. But just as with the flotilla, due to the fact that we were born into this mindset, we cannot think out of the box to change it.

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What Really Happened on the Mavi Marmara and Some Revealing Events in the Middle East Today

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
14 July '10

1). Saudi and Arab Leaders Want Obama to Rescue Them, Not Flatter Them

A UPI dispatch reports:

"A former Arab leader, in close touch with current leaders, speaking privately not for attribution, told this reporter July 6, `All the Middle Eastern and Gulf leaders now want Iran taken out of the nuclear arms business and they all know sanctions won't work.'"

Now there are few former Arab leaders--they usually stay leader until health or a bullet makes them no longer available for interviews--but this sounds precisely like Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, former Saudi ambassador to the United States.

This is an accurate reading of what's going on in most Arabic-speaking states (obviously not Syria and another de facto country called the Gaza Strip). It runs quite contrary to the dominant Western view that the Arabs-will-love-us-if-we-bash-Israel-and-show-we-think-Muslims-invented-mathematics-and-don't-want-to-be-aggressive-or-use-force-against-anyone school.

Well, the Prince who used to be known as ambassador was basically expressing this sentiment (note 1):

"If there's something strange
in your neighborhood
Who ya gonna call?"
(note 2)

The "Zionist entity"?

One can almost imagine the Saudi king's memo book:

Monday: Bash Israel
Tuesday: Israel destroys Iran nuclear facilities. Whew!
Wednesday: Bash Israel

2). U.S. Government Cannot Find Evidence That Flotilla Organizer is Terrorist, Germany Can

Not only are the Saudis ahead of the U.S. government, so is Germany. In an earlier article I provided proof--including U.S. court records--that the Turkish IHH, organizer of the flotilla and a Hamas ally--was lined to terrorism. Now Germany has banned the group from raising money for that very reason. So might one expect that observers reevaluate the flotilla? And I'm not talking about the good intentions of the European participants but the fact that they were being used for a pro-terrorist public relations' operation.

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Stark variance in coverage of IDF flotilla probe

Just Journalism
13 July '10

British reporting of the findings of an IDF probe into the events on the Mavi Marmara on 31 May reflected the trends revealed in Just Journalism’s comprehensive report, ‘Gaza flotilla raid: Media presentation of Israeli video evidence,’ which illustrated tendencies in some publications to downplay evidence which supported Israel’s version of events.

The main findings of Maj. Gen. (res. ) Giora Eiland's internal military probe, which were made public yesterday - although the full 100-page report was not released - focused on intelligence gathering, alternative planning and the execution of the raid, admitting ‘mistakes’ but not ‘failures’.

Eiland praised the conduct of the commandos who had boarded the ship, citing:

‘the very professional and courageous way that the Israeli commandos behaved on this ship because they found themselves in a real immediate danger to their lives.’

He pointedly stated that this aspect ‘should be emphasised’ and immediately proceeded to reveal that the probe had concluded the following:

- At least four instances of passengers shooting at soldiers
- One instance of a commando being shot with a non-IDF gun
- Passengers firing the first shots

All of these claims – which had represented the main points of focus for much of the media reporting - were strenuously denied by passengers and their supporters in the aftermath of the raid. However, despite the fact that the report largely exonerated the commandos from wrongdoing, The Guardian and The Independent did not give this aspect prominence.

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Israelis were attacked with live fire on Mavi Marmara

Fresnozionism.org
12 July '10

The IDF has just announced the results of its investigation of the events that took place when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara on May 31. Note that this is the internal military investigation — there will still be a formal Israeli inquiry, the Turkel Commission, which will include foreign observers.

Maj. Gen (res.) Giora Eiland’s briefing included the following (paraphrased by a member of the IDF Spokesperson staff who was present):

There were at least 4 incidents where Mavi Marmara passengers shot at IDF soldiers. There is good reason to believe that the first incident of live fire shooting on the ship was by passengers of the Mavi Marmara.

A senior IDF official said that the first incident of live fire occurred when the second commando who landed on the deck was shot with a gun that had been taken either from him or the previous soldier. Another soldier was shot in the knee by a weapon which was not IDF issue. Shell casings from non-IDF weapons were also found on the deck.

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