Israeli solders killed 10 in what has become a political and public relations nightmare for the isolated nation. Israeli leaders insist the soldiers acted in self-defense, yet countries and leaders worldwide have condemned their actions. A simple google search this evening for "gaza flotilla attack" produces media reports primarily espousing anti-Israeli opinions. A June 1 article in the UK's Guardian newspaper was titled "Gaza flotilla attack: world unites in condemnation of Israel's actions." This includes the European Union, as well as The Elders group of past and present world leaders, among them former South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
But this story, like the story of Israel/Palestine, is not that simple.
As a Jew, I can hardly speak of this land without getting emotional. The Jews have survived hatred and persecution for thousands of years. A cursory survey of Medieval paintings reveals the propensity to portray the Jew as the devil or other horned creature. There is also the historical image of the wandering Jew -- old bearded man with cane, victim of the diaspora. Spain's Inquisition nearly eliminated the Jewish population there. In France, the Dreyfus Affair illustrated that country's view of Jews in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In November 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent, was convicted of treason and sent to solitary confinement, then was persecuted further when evidence of his innocence came to light. In Russia, there were the pogroms that starved the Jews there almost to extinction.
Hitler and his willing executioners put approximately seven million Jews to death, but not before torturing them and destroying their dignity. Others, they did experiments on. Still others were enslaved for profit. And others were forced to gas or burn their own children, mothers and wives. But that inhumanity didn't transform society. The Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis have targeted Jews nearly as intently as they have people of color.
[From an ACTIVE KKK site.]
And there are the Holocaust deniers, the Mahmoud Ahmadinejads, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that book written to look like a stolen JEWISH master plan to control all of the world.
So, when Britain allowed some of us to escape Europe for the "Holy Land" (and for re-ghettoization in refugee camps), needless to say, we were kinda excited. (The displacement of Palestinian Muslims at this time was not even perpetrated by a Jewish state; it was Britain.) Following the establishment of the State of Israel, the Jews were attacked by their Arab neighbors on numerous occasions. And when Israel successfully beat back its attackers, the Israeli leaders made the nearly unprecedented concession to give back some of the land then under its control. Under certain administrations, Israel has been more or less willing to negotiate further. But throughout the decades, the Palestinian authority has been influenced by Hamas, an organization dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish State.
Now, I am not suggesting that Israel has not made its mistakes, or even that the latest incident on the flotilla was self-defense, as its leaders would like us to believe. But it is important that people do not become brainwashed by international media bias. This is a complicated issue. And any issue becomes indefinably more complicated when religion is tossed into the mix. I simply want you to be able to make an educated decision, having heard both sides... Or, decide to not make one, as I have.
I am Jewish, by blood, by culture. And I am proud of our ability to survive. Heck, with the steretoype of Jews being nerdy misers with glasses (a la Woody Allen) or sheep like Holocaust victims being led onto trains, I am proud of Murder Incorporated, Lewis Lepke and Meyer Lansky.
But I am not religious. And politically, well, let's just say that I'm beyond left. So, ANY persecution of ANY people by a powerholder is NOT okay with me...
Whereas I am entirely pro-Israel for the sake of my people (click here to hear my song "See the Light", a Jewish anthem played on Israel National Radio), I am entirely pro-peace and would debate anyone on behalf of a two-state solution.
Two wrongs don't make a right. And as African history has taught us, the oppressed almost always become the oppressor. I pray that my people have not already fallen into this trap. If you ask Israel, their actions represent a strategic defense against thousands of rockets tossed in their direction. If you ask the Palestinians, you'll hear the story told in the mainstream media.
So, now, with no love for FOX 5, I provide the following for fairness & balance.
[British naval and counter-terrorism expert Peter Cook on the flotilla: Israelis with paintball guns were lynched... (Channel 4 - UK)]
[Footage broadcast live from the flotilla: How violence breaks out]
[The Turkish boat activists use hoses, stun grenades and metal rods against the Israelis -- 5 of 6 boats dock peacefully; only those on the 6th are aggressive]
The Facts:
Israel transfers about 15,000 tons of supplies and humanitarian aid every week to the people of Gaza.
Israel offered that the sixth boat dock in Ashdod port, with the aid transfered safely to Gaza. This offer was made again and again. It was refused each time.
After the flotilla attack, Israel still attempted to deliver to Gaza the aid captured from the sixth boat, but Hamas refused most of it.
Israel left Gaza in hopes of peace in 2005 and, in return, received more than 10,000 rockets and terrorist attacks. Israel has sought peace and compromise with its neighbors for all of its 62 years.
Israel maintains a maritime blockade to ensure that weapons are not brought in by Hamas to use in attacks against Israel.
In the past, terrorist sympathizers have used aid deliveries to smuggle items like potassium nitrate in sugar sacks that were used to make bombs. It is standard international practice to impose sanctions to prevent this type of activity.
"We fully intend to go to Gaza regardless of any intimidation or threats of violence against us, they are going to have to forcefully stop us," said one of the flotilla's organizers.
Five of the six boats that were boarded carried protestors that complied and were safely let to shore. The passengers on the sixth boat -- the Mavi Marmara -- did not comply. That is the boat on which the violence took place.
Those on board the sixth boat, armed with knives and metal bars, carried out pre-planned violence. The soldiers were attacked by a mob of a dozen extremists. They threw one soldier off the top deck of the ship.
Using the Arabic term 'intifada,' Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: "We call on all Arabs and Muslims to rise up in front of Zionist embassies across the whole world."
As the flotilla made its way to meet him in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said: "If the ships reach Gaza it is a victory; if they are intercepted, it will be a victory too".
The flotilla attack was intentionally provoked. Turkey permitted the Marmara to 'fly' under its flag. Turkey knew that the flotilla's organizer and financier was Turkish Islamist organization IHH, which has ties to Hamas, several Jihadist organizations in Bosnia, Syria, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere, as well as Al Qaeda. But Turkey did nothing to stop it.
The Israeli government maintains that allowing the illegal flotilla to reach Hamas would have opened a corridor of weapons smuggling to Gaza, resulting in more civilian deaths.
There is no country in the world that allows illegal entry of any vessel into its waters without a security check. That's all Israeli soldiers asked of the passengers on the sixth boat.
Now, why would they have refused. Either they had illegal materials (which, it turns out, they didn't), or they wanted to provoke violence and death.
From the Siddur (Jewish prayer book):
Painful trials and bitter struggles, torments of body and soul have often been our portion. But sustained by the hope that goodness and love would triumph over evil and hate, we have persevered.
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