Posted on 05/31/2010 5:54:00 AM PDT by markomalley
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Israeli police and security forces have raised a state of alert across the country after the attack on a group of ships off the coast of Gaza, leading to at least 19 dead and dozens injured (see Israel attacks ships carrying aid to Gaza. At least 10 dead). An Israeli policeman tells AsiaNews that "We are on the brink of war or a new Intifada." Here and there in Israel, particularly in Nazareth, there are demonstrations against the attack on the ships carrying humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, forcing the Israeli blockade on the Strip. Arab organizations have declared a general strike. Security forces have decided to close the Gaza crossings, some roads that communicate with the West Bank and the Temple Mount mosques. The seized vessels (all six) were conducted in the port of Ashdod. There are fears about the fate of a Palestinian leaders from northern Israel, Raed Salah, who was on the attacked ships. At first the news spread that he had been killed in the raid. Palestinian sources now say that he is seriously hurt. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority has declared three days of mourning throughout the West Bank and called the Israeli operation a "massacre". Israel is also battling the media. MPs and ministers continue to assert that the activists were not at all "peaceful" but waited for the arrival of soldiers carrying weapons (long knives, bats, other instruments of offense). At least six soldiers were wounded, one of whom seriously.
For Israel, ships and humanitarian aid were "a provocation". The deputy foreign minister, Daniel Ayalon said that before attacking, the Israeli military command ordered the ships to stop several times and agree to land the aid under Israeli control. He also said that the activists on the ship are linked to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. According to some Israeli analysts, the incident of the Gaza flotilla is likely to further exacerbate the relationship between Palestinians and Israelis, on the brink of a new, third intifada. An Israeli policeman, speaking to AsiaNews, confirmed the risk of a third intifada, but also added: "We are on the brink of war. There is a fear that Hezbollah front in Lebanon could be sparked again and that anti-Israel demonstrations spread throughout the world. " Currently there are demonstrations in Turkey, especially Istanbul. The Foreign Ministry urged all Israelis leaving for Turkey to cancel their departure and said he will hold the Ankara government responsible for anything that could happen to Israelis on soil Turkish. Today Ankara has recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv. |
The sooner Israel learns to not give a damn about PR and instead acts in its own interest regardless of the media, the better of we'll all be in the long run.
Totally agree. See my #41. What amazes me is how many people seem to be concerned about “PR” and media spin. Those things are meaningless in terms of protecting your own citizens.
Travis, this is Israel we are talking about in a world that hates them. There were so-called parliamentarians from 25 different countries on those ships. Israel was repeatedly assured by said countries and by the protestors themselves they would NOT be met with violence.
Report:
IDF: Ships will be taken to Ashdod Port
The IDF said that the ships would be taken to the Ashdod Port where, despite the violence, the cargo they hold will be inspected and then transferred to the. Gaza Strip via land crossings. Israeli Navy commander Vice-Admiral Eliezer Marom was commanding over the operation from sea.
The Navy made initial contact with the flotilla at 11 p.m. on Sunday ordering the ships to follow them to Ashdod Port or otherwise be boarded.
The actual boarding of the ships took place at 2 a.m. Monday and was yet to be completed by 8 a.m.
Activists aboard the ships repeatedly said they would not respond with violence to the navy’s interception of their flotilla prior to the boarding.
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I suspect the judgement of Israeli Navy commander Vice-Admiral Eliezer Marom will face quite an onslaught from Netanyahu and the Knesset over this.
PS. It is not ME being naive. You would think that after being consistently lied to on all matters big and small, Israeli commanders would know better. Still, Israel would lose in ANY situation real or imagined and haniyeh has said as much.
DUM DE DUM DUM
DUM DE DUM DUM
DUM DE DUM DUM DUM!
CUE DRAGNET THEME.
INDEED.
Go back to your video game ....
SOP for boarding and inspecting a suspected vessel that will not comply. That or live fire. They were ordered to stand by for boarding.
Let's not fool ourselves...this alliance is the origin of the next great World War.
One day Israel will have to use her nukes to survive...all of them.
What would Russia have done?
This is just NOT a good time for our friends to go to Israel. I hope they will now reconsider going on their trip at this time. In the meantime, prayers are going up for Israel.
“A war or “new intifada” was the goal all along.”
Yes. The current state of affairs is because “yes they can” thanks to TEW (The Enemy Within=Obama).
If we weren’t perceived as being so damned weak.....it would be different.
Israel is on their own thanks to Mugabe of the West.
they found tons of weapons onboard hidden in the rice
Indeed. They might as well go ahead and get it over with.
The terriorists fell empowered now that a kenyan born u.s. “president” is protecting them and will not come to the aid of Israel!
Indeed they did. Terrorists and their supporters were killed when they attacked the boarding Israelis. This is why I was surprised when you called the ships civilian before.
I am sure Israelis have considered using the “technological” solution to disabling of the ships, but there are more pressing PR, political and practical issues they were taking into account:
1. Disabling ships and setting them adrift would not solve the PR issues, as the world media would superimpose the pictures of “helpless” ships adrift at the sea with the “hungry, helpless” Palestinian children waiting for the “medical and food aid” presumably on those ships.
2. Some “neutral” countries’ ships could - under “UN supervision” and media spotlight - try to “escort” the immobile ships to their intended destination, with IDF no longer being able to board them, redirect them and inspect the contents of “aid”. The resulting blockade and standoff would be a real PR disaster for Israel, “denying food and medicine” to Gaza children... Hamas would be shown distributing food and money to the impoverished families, just as Hezbollah was during Lebanon crisis.
3. Most importantly, the confrontation at this time, as a result of clear and planned provocation of “peaceful pro-Palestinian activists”, forces Obama administration to take sides and a clear and unambiguous stand regarding Israel vs Hamas, a-Q and their terrorist actions...
It’s a “You are either with us or against us” question shoved directly in Obama’s face, just as he is at his weakest “popularity” point, particularly with many Jews in the U.S. Also a pretty good opprtunity and reason for Netanyahu to “excuse” himself from a planned meeting with Obama. Not a bad timing...
Should Israel have been able to do as you recommend and disabled the ships, then what? Now you have six ships full of people out in the Med floating around helplessly and without food or water still outside Israeli control. Another PR nightmare as Israel is then cast as leaving these poor defenseless people adrift with no food, water, or power for their ships. All that does is make for bad press for a few days until Israel has to board the ships anyway in order to tow them to port. Nobody else would assist them and end the PR campaign of those horrible Israelis leaving people helpless and stranded at sea. And in order to place tow lined Israel would need their own people on board or the “peace activists” would simply cut any tow lines in order to exasperate the situation. What would you have Israel do after disabling the steering or drive screws on the ships? Leave them to float endlessly? At some point in any scenario, the Israelis would have to board the ships. Best is to get it done with at a time of their choosing and end the fiasco.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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These ships are in fact “civilian” in that they are not some nation’s capital warships. The vessel that was raided last night was a civilian liner of some sort, as opposed to being a destroyer, or a submarine, or an aircraft carrier. Look at the pictures of the vessel and see for yourself.
In addition to these ships being civilian, what I also pointed out was how ridiculous and stupid it was of some members here at FR to suggest that Israel torpedo these civilian vessels. In light of the results of the boarding raid, does anyone with half a teaspoon of common sense really think that torpedoing that ship would have brought about a better result??
The people on these ships got exactly what they wanted and then some. Their mission was to provoke a response from the Israelis, and they got it. They wanted martyrs at the hands of the Israelis and they got that too by simply bringing baseball bats to a gunfight.
There is no way for Israel to win in this situation. If they abandon the blockade, Iran, Egypt, Syria and others will immediately resume shipping arms into Gaza.
If Israel enforces the blockade Hamas and their useful infidels will attempt to provoke an incident just like this one, which they will exploit to the maximum degree possible against Israel with the help of the UN and probably the current Regime.
All I suggest is that we hear less irresponsible clucking from some of the usual suspects here (some of those same people where the first to accept and repeat the “cop killer” agitprop out of the Just-Us Department when they first arrested the Hutaree Militia too...) and pay more attention to what is really going on here along with the facts instead of dreaming up ways to make it worse than it already is.
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