Longing and loving... and standing up for the terrorists of Gaza

Frimet/Arnold Roth
This Ongoing War
26 June '11

http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/2011/06/26-jun-11-longing-and-loving-and.html

Under the title "Why Alice Walker shouldn't sail to Gaza", the celebrated British writer Howard Jacobson - who won last year's Man Booker Prize for his comic novel The Finkler Question - asks some questions of his fellow cultural icon.

Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning African American author and poet, is best-known for her critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple.

Jacobson notes that the flotilla boats now sailing towards Gaza and intending to challenge and preferably break the Israeli-imposed naval blockade will be carrying, according to Walker "letters expressing solidarity and love." But...

Not, presumably, for Israeli children. Perhaps it is thought that Israeli children are the recipients of enough love already... What interest or aspiration do Alice Walker and her fellow travelers share with the people of Gaza? A desire for freedom? Well we all aspire to that. A longing to live in peace? If they have such a longing we must be solid with them in that too, though the firing of rockets from Gaza is not, on the face of it, an expression of such a longing. And what about the declared hostility of Hamas to the very existence of Israel? Hamas, we are often told, is the elected government of Gaza, a government that fairly represents the wishes of its people. In which case we must assume that Hamas's implacable hostility towards Israel fairly represents the implacable hostility felt by the people of Gaza. Are Alice Walker's letters of love and 'solidarity' solid with the people of Gaza in that hostility? [Source]

Alice Walker will be joined by other cultural figures on this week's flotilla boats, some of them Jewish. In making their decision, they ignore what the US government, to its credit, has warned them not to do:

The US State Department on Friday warned American activists planning to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza that they risk criminal prosecution if they go through with their attempt... “Delivering or attempting or conspiring to deliver material support or other resources to or for the benefit of a designated foreign terrorist organization, such as Hamas, could violate US civil and criminal statutes and could lead to fines and incarceration,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. “Groups that seek to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza are taking irresponsible and provocative actions that risk the safety of their passengers,” she said. “Established and efficient mechanisms exist to transfer humanitarian assistance to Gaza... We urge all those seeking to provide such assistance to the people of Gaza to use these mechanisms, and not to participate in actions like the planned flotilla.” [Source]

Alice Walker and her fellow travelers from several nations appear certain to ignore what Victoria Nuland said. And it's likely they have never heard of a sailing vessel of the same name - the Victoria - a container vessel (IMO 9290165) operated by Peter Döhle Shipping that made headlines here in Israel during March 2011. The affair of the Victoria was almost totally ignored elsewhere. This is a pity because it has some some instructive and relevant aspects.

That Victoria was a ship (like the flotillarati, having multi-national origins: German owned, French operated, Liberian flagged) whose journey originated in the Syrian port of Latkia. It docked in Turkey's Mersin port en route to Alexandria, Egypt. Shortly after it sailed from Alexandria, and acting on intelligence, the IDF forcefully boarded the Victoria on the high seas 200 nautical miles west of Israel. The ship's paperwork, the bill of lading, said the containers were filled with cotton and lentils.

Some cotton.

Though the ship's crew, innocents like Ms Walker and her pals, had no idea, 39 of its one hundred shipping containers held a massive stockpile of weapons, some 50 tons of C-704 anti-ship missiles, rocket launchers, radar systems, mortar shells and rifle ammunition [source, includes the full shopping list of arms]. Israeli sources say the Victoria was yet another joint Syria and Iran production, cooperating to send weapons to the terrorists of Hamas in Gaza.

We'd like to say 'happy sailing' to Ms Walker and her cultured and love-minded friends, but it would be insincere. We think they are naive and silly dupes whose actions are bound to produce more deaths and misery thanks to the relentless terrorism of the Hamas regime in Gaza.

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To Stop the Flow of Iranian Arms to Hamas You Must Know Where to Look

Shoshana Bryen
Senior Director for Security Policy
JINSA
01 April '11

http://www.jinsa.org/node/2261

Last month, Israeli intelligence tracked the Iranian military ships Alvand and Kharg, on a journey through the Suez Canal to the port of Latakia in Syria – a place the Russian navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps both operate. The cargo was offloaded and then picked up by the A.S. Victoria. The Victoria then sailed to Mersin, Turkey, waited a few days and set sail toward its destination in Alexandria, Egypt. But before it got there, Israeli commandos boarded it and directed it to Israel. More than 50 tons of weapons were off-loaded before the ship and crew were allowed to continue their journey.

Among the weapons was an Iranian-produced version of the Chinese C-704 anti-ship missile, called a “strategic threat,” by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The missile poses a threat to Israel’s naval installations and the vessels that protect the 80 percent of the Israeli population that lives in the coastal plain as well as its ports, the power plant at Ashkelon and offshore natural gas facilities.

The missile operators need radar to acquire and fix targets, and two British Kelvin Hughes radars were also found by the IDF. The radars, which come in both civilian and military versions, have to be integrated with the missiles. The integration itself is a military function, making the distinction between the civilian and the military versions immaterial. Someone did the job. In addition, it can be assumed this is the same radar the Iranian Navy is using for its ships equipped with C-704 missiles; it wouldn’t make sense for Iran to be acquiring them just for Hamas. Whoever is integrating for the Hamas export-version is also integrating for Iran.

With this seizure, the Victoria joins a long line of ships large and small that have been foiled by Israel as they attempted to bring Iranian arms to Hamas. But the Victoria is particularly noteworthy for two reasons: the cargo itself, which included the British radars, and the ship on which it was traveling, a French-operated vessel. Both indicate the disturbing possibility that Western European firms like CMA-CGM, which has offices in Iran and operates the Victoria, are engaged in activities that violate UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting the transfer of military equipment and technology to Iran, and from Iran to any other place. Complicity of the interim Egyptian government in the ship’s passage through the Suez Canal is also worrisome.

This is not the first time CMA-CGM has been found with Iranian-related weapons aboard one of its ships. In October 2010, the company admitted that a shipment of arms seized by Nigerian officials came from Iran. Israel said the arms were destined for Gaza, while Senegalese authorities thought they were going to West Africa. On the import side, in July 2009 the UAE seized a shipment of weapons from North Korea headed for Iran on a CMA-CGM vessel. Diplomatic sources said it contained components for an Iranian test launch of a North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Equally jarring is the possibility of Egyptian complicity. The interim Egyptian government claimed it was powerless to stop a vessel from a country with which it is not at war. However, this was the first Iranian military passage through the Suez Canal since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 because Egypt has considered Iran to be hostile. Egypt is, in any event, bound by the Security Council to ensure that passing ships comply with the terms of the embargo. According to some reports, the two Iranian naval ships were “routinely” inspected by Egyptian authorities; according to others, Iranian diplomats simply “assured” the Egyptians the ships were not carrying weapons. If the Egyptians did not actually inspect the ship’s cargo, they were snookered. If inspectors checked, found the weapons but still authorized the passage, then an entirely new challenge to sanctions enforcement may be emerging. It is not reasonable to think the inspectors checked and didn’t see the weapons.

To skirt sanctions, Iran has used various countries and mechanisms in its efforts to supply Hamas in its war against Israel as well as to add to its nuclear-related capabilities, and the international community has been working to stop the smuggling at both ends. Sudan has been a transit point for air and land shipments, some of which have been stopped by Egypt. Turkey, despite its political pique with Israel, last week stopped an Iranian plane suspected of carrying weapons. The U.S. Navy has used its pirate-searching assets to track Iranian arms shipments as well. And just this past Friday, Malaysia revealed that two cargo containers it recently seized were bound for Iran filled with nuclear-related technology from China.

The issue remains whether countries of the West are still providing Iran with weapons, weapon-related technology and embargo-busting capabilities that allow the Islamic Republic to wage war by proxy. After this latest, failed, attempt, at least the British and French governments know where to start looking. And everyone should be looking at the interim government of Egypt.

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Shorts: the Victoria, J Street revealed again, ISM in Awarta

Fresnozionism.org
15 March '11

http://fresnozionism.org/2011/03/shorts-the-victoria-j-street-revealed-again-ism-in-awarta/


Today there are almost too many Israel-related things to write about.

Probably the most important is the IDF’s capture of a ship carrying 50 tons of Iranian arms, en route to Alexandria, from which the weapons would be smuggled to Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Barry Rubin notes that

The story of the Liberian-flag ship Victoria is dramatic enough but few will understand, at least immediately, that it opens a new era in the region’s history. It is a period when, for the first time [in] more than thirty years … Egypt will not be a reliable force for regional peace and stability.

Here in America, the intrepid Lori Lowenthal Marcus sat through hours of boring video from the recent J Street conference, finding this gem, uttered by J Street co-founder Daniel Levy — already famous for telling an Al Jazeera panel that the creation of Israel was an “act that was wrong” (although “excusable”). This time, he provides no excuses. If they hate us no matter, what, he says, then

Maybe, if this collective Jewish presence can only survive by the sword, then Israel really ain’t a good idea.

Here’s a clip, courtesy of Elder of Ziyon:



Wouldn’t you like to slap this guy? I would.* Note that there is no gasp of surprise from the attendees when he says it. They certainly have given new meaning to ‘pro-Israel!’

When the IDF arrived at the scene of the horrific massacre of the Fogel family in Itamar, they found footprints leading to the nearby Arab village of Awarta. So naturally, they clamped a curfew on it. And yet again, caught in the middle of the conflict were a group of ‘international activists’ from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), (and see also here) the folks who specialize in being human shields for the peace-loving cadres of Hamas and Fatah.

In the breathless prose that characterizes these self-important idiots, they describe their predicament (h/t: Israel Medad):

Today the village of Awarta, near Nablus, is facing the second day of a severe curfew imposed by the Israeli military, following Friday morning’s murder of a settler family in the settlement Itamar. Three ISM activists–Cinda, 23, Chad, 25, from Sweden, and Cissy, 53, from Norway–are currently trapped in the village. Anyone caught stepping outside of their house is arrested. Soldiers have said that they’ll maintain the curfew until they’ve apprehended the settler family’s murderer. The army hasn’t presented any evidence that the murderer was from Awarta, and villagers have said to the ISM that they strongly doubt the murderer was even Palestinian as the settlement is so heavily guarded it would be impossible to break in. 

Soldiers are beating people and continuing their house raids: destroying houses from the inside, cutting off electricity, and polluting the drinking water by throwing mud in the water-tanks. 30 homes were occupied by soldiers last night. Computers and phones have been destroyed and money and property were stolen by the soldiers. In the last two days soldiers have been throwing sound grenades inside and outside the houses, and shooting in the air. The ISM activists may be arrested soon, but they intend to stay as long as possible because they feel their presence improves the behavior of the soldiers, and villagers have asked them to stay.

Palestinian sources have suggested that possibly the murderers were crazed foreign workers from Thailand. Because a Palestinian Arab would never, ever, do anything like that.

After all, how would Palestinian society look at them?

___________

*Legal note: this is not a threat, merely a description of the feelings evoked by this remarkable dickhead.

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