Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Amnesty International official ties himself up in rhetorical knots

There is an amazing interview by Jonathan Dahoah Halevi with Itai Epstein, Director of Amnesty International in Israel.

Amnesty goes under the assumption that Gaza is under Israeli occupation. This makes no sense, because if it is under Israeli occupation, Israel would have the obligation to protect Gazan citizens - even from Hamas. Israel would be responsible for police work, for education, and for all other parts of Gaza's infrastructure. Occupation, by definition, means a physical presence on the ground.

But Amnesty disagrees, and the hoops they have to jump through to maintain a consistent stance with their assertion that Gaza is occupied and their demand that Israel lift the blockade are high indeed. Essentially,

Amnesty is arguing that Israel has no right whatsoever to stop Hamas from acquiring weapons.

Here is part of the interview:

Does Israel have the right to check if there were weapons on the ship?

Had the ship been in Israel’s territorial waters they would have had a right. If the ship were outside Israel’s territorial waters, the answer is no.

What is the reasoning for this claim?

The international law which distinguishes between territorial waters and international waters. Israel, like any other country, has powers within 12 miles of its beaches and 12 additional miles of water adjacent, and beyond these, Israel has no sovereign authority.

Amnesty claims that Israel is still considered an occupying force in Gaza. Does Israel not have the authority to check if weapons which can be put to use by Hamas arrive in Gaza?

Of course we do not back the transferring of weapons to Hamas, which is a violent regime and a violent political group which has committed war crimes. Having said that, I think the issue here is not the transferring of weapons but rather the siege Israel imposes on Gaza,...

The operation was conducted on ships making their way to Gaza. I am asking a question of principle, whether Israel, which you claim is still an occupying force in Gaza, has the authority to check if there are weapons on the ship?

The answer in principle is unrelated to the occupation of Gaza. Gaza is under siege and an Israeli occupation, there is no question about it. Even by Israel’s announcement that it is imposing a siege on Gaza. The question of the search on the ships is related to a different legal question, and that is the question of sovereign authority in territorial waters versus the authority in international waters.

This is a question of principle, since Israel is inspecting for weapons through the land border crossings.

Israel does not check for the possibility of weapons entering through land border crossings. Israel transfers, what little it transfers, on its own.

There is international assistance which arrives and there is also import coming in through the Ashdod Port with weapons and ammunition, and Israel inspects it. The principle question is simple: According to Amnesty’s perception, does Israel even have the authority to check ships headed to Gaza near Gaza’s water and see if they contain weapons?

The answer is very simple. The siege is illegal. All the actions performed as part of the siege are illegal.

With your permission, I’m going back to the question because there is a question of principle regarding the raiding of a ship.

I don’t think that’s a principle question at all. I think the principle question is whether it is permitted to impose a siege on Gaza.

Does Israel have the authority to inspect a ship at a distance of 12 miles from the Gaza shore to see whether there are weapons on it?

It has the authority to do it within Israel’s territorial waters.

Also in Gaza’s waters?

Gaza doesn’t have waters, Gaza is an occupied territory under Israeli rule, it has no territorial waters because it doesn’t have sovereign authority.

What is required of Israel to stop it from being an occupying force under Amnesty’s definition?

That there will be another sovereign power and that the border crossings to Gaza not be under Israeli control. That’s the meaning of occupation, there’s no other sovereign power there, there’s no control over the border crossings for free movement of people and goods and that’s why Gaza is under occupation.

Can Israel not ever close the border crossings to Gaza?

Assuming that another sovereign power will be there, there can be international border crossings. That’s not the situation as of today.

Hamas is defined as a sovereign power by the Goldstone committee which treated it as “the authority of Gaza” and is internationally recognized by a large number of countries.

It receives recognition as a de facto regime. The question of the Israeli occupation is not related to Hamas. It’s connected with Israel’s actions.

So what actions must Israel take? You say that the occupation ends if Israel opens the crossings, so if the occupation ends, Israel needs to close the borders since Gaza is defined as an enemy state. There’s a logical contradiction here.

I don’t understand where the contradiction is.
...

What are all the components to end the occupation? Amnesty does not present a plan in which Israel stops the occupation. It says that Israel needs to stop the occupation and deepen the occupation by opening the borders. I don’t comprehend that.

Amnesty International does not deal with solving conflicts.

It’s not conflict solving. It’s ending the occupation. Amnesty says that Gaza is under occupation. According to Amnesty, what actions must Israel take in order to stop the occupation?

One of the things which need to be done is to allow the passage of people and goods through the air, the sea and land. That’s one component. There are other components related to agreements of the international community since Amnesty International does not deal with solving conflicts. It only addresses the question of whether the situation is adequate in relation to international humanitarian law and international standards. It doesn’t deal with solving the conflict, not here or anywhere else.
...
Amnesty claims that Israel is an occupying country and is responsible for the welfare of Gaza’s residents. According to this definition, does Israel need to act against the Hamas government in order to care for the welfare and safety of Gaza’s residents?

The State of Israel has an obligation to protect its citizens. It has an obligation to distinguish between military targets and civil targets. ...

The question is whether Israel is committed, being an occupying force as Amnesty defines, to be concerned for the welfare of Gaza’s residents and therefore act against the Hamas government and the Palestinian terrorist organizations that control Gaza, in order to protect the Palestinian population?

Israel has a duty to protect its citizens.

Amnesty’s messages said that Israel should take care to protect the people of Gaza. Is the issue of the security of the people of Gaza not an authority which Israel has?

Israel’s duty is to protect its citizens and ensure that the people of Gaza enjoy all the social and economic rights recognized in international law and in the Geneva convention.

So if Hamas is violating the rights of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to live, as defined in international law, does Israel not have the authority to act against the Hamas government to care for the safety of the people of Gaza?

The problem is first and foremost the rights of the people of Gaza which Israel violates by the illegal siege.

He is being willfully obtuse. The Amnesty official refuses to accept that his interpretation of international law leads to absurd and contradictory (not to mention inhumane) results. When forced to look at the absurdity, he retreats into repeating irrelevant mantras. Israel must open its borders to end the occupation and then it can close them. He says (not quoted here) that Israel's closed border with Lebanon is different because it has border with other countries - pretending that Gaza does not have a border with Egypt.

It is instructive to see that some human rights workers cannot see beyond their own narrow view of human rights and insist on countries adhering to impossible and suicidal policies - because they cannot conceive that their viewpoints are severely flawed at the outset. The irony, of course, is that the human rights of Israelis would be severely compromised by listening to idiots like this guy - and then they would presumably write a couple of highly critical reports condemning the Iranian satellite of Hamastan for continuing to shoot ballistic missiles with chemical weapons towards Tel Aviv. Tsk, tsk.

Free Gaza's nutcase Greta Berlin on CNN-I soon

CNN International has a feature called Connect the World where people can post questions to be answered by newsmakers.

Tonight (or this afternoon, for the US) Greta Berlin will be on the show, along with Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev.

I asked two questions:

Does the Free Gaza movement fully support the IHH, your Turkish partners who used the iron bars, chains and stun grenades and which has been linked to arms smuggling and support for violent jihadist movements? If not, are you willing to make a statement dissociating Free Gaza from the IHH and their activities?

You wrote in an email to the Free Gaza mailing list yesterday that Israel informed the US and UK that the flotilla had nuclear weapons. Do you stand by that statement?

Someone let me know if my questions are asked.

She is truly crazy, and hopefully Regev can wipe the floor with her.The show will be broadcast at 4 PM New York time, 2100 London time.)

Another anecdote from the Daniel Pipes blog from when Pipes spoke at UCLA a few years ago and Berlin screamed at him during his talk....

I was looking for a seat at the UCLA Daniel Pipes event, and lo and behold, the only seats available were next to Greta Berlin, her buddy Karen Palley and another WIB overaged activist. When I tried to get into the row, Ms. Greta blocked the aisle with her legs so I could not get through (we have had several run in's at protests et al). I asked her politely to please move her legs so I could sit down. She refused. I finally had to tell her this was a public space and I had the right to sit down and would not be intimidated by her. I also told her that I hated sitting next to her, as she felt about sitting next to me. She acted like a child, instead of the 65 plus year old bitch that she is. I knew they had something up and when their T shirts had written on the front "LI" and "ES" on the back. "Lies, get it??? I did not until they disrupted the speakers and were rude and juvenile. They are a bunch of old women .... Sorry, but that is a fact.

Latest IDF video - IHH preparing to fight

Showing the peaceful IHH preparations to meet the IDF - preparing their iron rods, slingshots, broken glass bottles....

I love that the best video showing that the "peace protestors" weren't peaceful comes from the protestors' own cameras!

Some Free Gaza freakazoids have even moved away from their meme of non-violent protest, which they lost badly, now to "justified violence." Yvonne Ridley, who had gone on Free Gaza trips in the past, invokes an anti-piracy convention that has nothing to do with this situation and says (on an Iranian site)

Under international maritime law you are legally entitled to resist unlawful capture, abduction and detention.

What those on board the Freedom Flotilla did was perfectly legal. I believe they acted with great courage in the face of heavily armed IDF commandos, while others might have thought their actions reckless.

So much for non-violent resistance - that argument has gone out the window.

Of course, the argument is circular - she defines the Israeli actions as "unlawful" initially and then uses the Rome Convention, which says that unlawful actions are illegal, to prove that it was unlawful!

But the important part is that the Free Gaza folks are being forced to abandon their lies earlier than they had in previous adventures because of a much better factual response by Israel.

Hamas refusing aid from flotilla (UPDATED)

The IDF just tweeted, and confirmed by email, that Haams has refused the shipments of flotilla aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.

The IDF spokesperson added, "Why? You'll have to ask [Hamas.]"

Nothing on the Al Qassam site about this yet.

I guess that Hamas wanted something more explosive than toys and paper.

UPDATE: From Xinhua:

Hamas authorities on Tuesday refused to receive aid and supplies to the Gaza Strip through Israel, stressing that Israel must first free pro-Palestinian campaigners who were onboard an aid flotilla.

Israel can send aid that Gaza flotilla had carried to the coastal enclave "only if the shipments are complete and when Israel release all activists who were onboard the ships, Ziad Al- Zaza, Hamas' Minister of Economy, told Xinhua.

"The priority is to release the detained activists," Al-Zaza added.

On Monday, the Israeli navy stopped five of the vessels that were en route to Gaza to defy a three-year-old Israeli blockade, killing nine international activists and forcing the ships that carried 10,000 tons of aid into its sea ports.

Today, Israel allowed part of the aid, which originally included construction materials and medical supplies, to Gaza through one of its land crossing points, but Hamas refused to let that shipment in, witnesses told Xinhua.

Hamas obviously doesn't think much of the tons of aid that the world sent to it. Maybe Israel should donate it instead to poor Arabs in Egypt or the Sudan? It would be fun to hear the "human rights' activists object to that....

Congratulations! The siege is over!

Egypt has opened the Rafah crossing "indefinitely."

Since yesterday, the Egyptian Red Crescent sent through 7000 blankets, 107 tents, 13 generators (through which 4 yesterday and 9 today), 250 pillows, 20 Scouts operations room, 70 cartons of clothes, 20 cartons of shoes, 67 gallons of honey, and 5 ambulances. Sounds like about two truckfuls of goods.

So shouldn't the activists who have agitated for the siege to be lifted be ecstatic? Shouldn't the Rachel Corrie ship, now headed for Gaza to be intercepted by Israel, change course to Egypt so its goods could be transferred to Gazans as quickly as possible? Shouldn't we be seeing Free Gaza and other groups quickly organize convoys to send all those much-needed supplies to poor Gazans?

A day after I first asked that question, we are still hearing nothing from these groups that supposedly care so deeply about Gazans so as to risk their lives for them. Egypt's opening of the border is not huge news being greeted by celebration, but rather it is being ignored by the Western "humanitarians."

Egypt's opening of the border is not likely to last, either, which makes the entire lack of Western humanitarian effort to take advantage of the opening even more incongruous.

Cement is not being allowed through Rafah, however.

Palestine Today adds that "it is unlikely that Egypt will open the crossing permanently and for all commodities because they are afraid that this will lead to the flouting by Israel of any responsibility for the sector."

But wouldn't the activists be much happier if Egypt would take responsibility for their fellow Arab brethren and allow them to bring in all the supplies they want? Shouldn't they be demanding Egypt build a much larger terminal in Rafah to handle all the tons of aid they plan to send to Gaza?

The lack of interest by the activists in shipping goods through Egypt seems to indicate that concern for Gazans is not uppermost in their minds. They seem to have an entirely different agenda, one that the Western media is very reluctant to highlight.

Egyptian resorts suffering from fleeing Israelis

Al Masry al-Youm reports that as soon as news of the flotilla raid reached Egypt, the many Israelis vacationing there fled - and those who had reservations to visit Egypt canceled their plans.

Flights between Tel Aviv and Cairo that had been filled only last week are flying empty. The newspaper reports that not a single Israeli has entered Egypt in the past 48 hours, either from the air or through the Taba crossing.

Hotels and tourist villages that depended on Israeli tourism are bracing for the loss of revenue expected in the next few days.

Israelis feared reprisal terror attacks against them, and this fear is quite justified - Egypt just arrested 3 Palestinian Arabs in Egypt for planning terror attacks.Also, as Am Masry mentions, Egypt had in recent months discovered Hezbollah cells that intended to kidnap Israelis in Egypt.

Al Masry reports that Israelis have also abandoned travel to Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia.

AP now says "tens of thousands of tons of aid"

AP's Rizek Abdel Jawad writes, as factual background information:

The pro-Palestinian flotilla had been headed to Gaza with tens of thousands of tons of aid that Israel bans from Gaza.

Not even the Free Gaza liars claimed "tens of thousands of tons of aid"- they first claimed 5000 tons, then 10,000 tons, and then we discovered yesterday that the actual figure was probably closer to 1000 tons - in what can only be characterized as a knowing lie on the part of the flotilla fraudsters.

Not only that, but AP's claim that all this aid was of items that Israel bans from Gaza is equally false, as all the items besides cement are materials that Gaza has plenty of.

(h/t CAMERA blog)

Hamas raids, closes charities in Gaza

The PCHR condemned Hamas for closing four separate charity organizations, and two political organizations, in Gaza over the past two days.

Although it is not yet on their website, PalPress published their statement.

On May 31, Hamas raided four organizations: The Association of Builders for the Future; the South Society for Women's Health; the Society for Women and Children; and the Sharek Youth Forum.

They seized computers and cameras and confiscated the keys to the charities.

Yesterday they closed down the "Small Palestinian Parliament" and the Committee of National Reform.

No word from the Free Gaza movement yet condemning Hamas. (There never is.)

Newest video of "peace activists" attacking - BEFORE IDF boards ship

From the IDF YouTube channel:

In footage taken from the Mavi Marmara activists are seen attacking the soldiers with a stun grenade, a box of plates, and water hoses as the soldiers attempt to board the ship. the activists are also waiving around metal rods and chains later used to attack the soldiers with. The IDF soldiers were armed with paint ball guns (used for riot dispersal) and pistols which they were ordered to use only as a last resort.

Danish report from Gaza: "Where's the humanitarian crisis?"

Danish reporter Steffen Jensen visits Gaza to see how bad things are, given that the entire world is in an uproar over the humanitarian crisis there (translated):

Judging from the media, the situation in Gaza is desperate, everything is about to collapse, and the community is on the brink or at the level of a third world country.

The Palestinian community's immediate downfall has been prophesied numerous times in the media. People have nothing to eat, we sometimes know. The UN must from time to time to stop food distribution, either because their stocks are running low, or because they can not get diesel for their trucks, and therefore can not carry food in. And so on.

Yesterday I drove into the Gaza Strip. I don't do this as often as before [because it takes much longer to get through the checkpoints now.]

This time, I had expected to see real suffering, because with all the fuss in recent days about bringing tons of humanitarian relief in - so much that people actually sacrificed their lives for it - there certainly had to really be a deep, desperate situation in the Gaza Strip. No food. Long queues in front of UN food stocks. Hungry children with food bowls.

But this was not the picture that greeted me.

When I yesterday morning drove through Gaza City, I was immediately surprised that there are almost as many traffic jams as there always has been. Is there not a shortage of fuel? Apparently not. Gasoline is not even rationed.

Many shops were closed yesterday, Hamas has declared a general strike in protest against Israel's brutal and deadly attack on the Turkish flotilla with pro-Palestinian activists on board. So it was difficult to estimate how many products were on the shelves. Therefore I went over to the Shati refugee camp, also known as Beach Camp. Here is one of Gaza's many vegetable markets that sell much more than just fruits and vegetables.

I will not say whether, in better times has been a larger product range than there was yesterday. But there was certainly no shortage of vegetables, fruits or any other ordinary, basic foods. Tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, watermelons, potatoes - mountains of these items in the many stalls.

I must admit I was a little surprised. Because when I call down here to my Palestinian friends, they tell me about all the problems and deficiencies, so I expected that the crisis was a little more clear.

And the first woman we interviewed in the market confirms this strange, contradictory, negative mindset:

"We have nothing," she said. We need everything! Food, drinks ... everything! "

It disturbed her not at least that she stood between the mountains of vegetables, fruit, eggs, poultry and fish, while she spun this doomsday scenario.

Yousuf al-Assad Yazgy owns a fruit and vegetable outlet here in the market. All his fruit is imported from Israel.

"Not all fruit and all vegetables come from Israel. Ours does. They come from Israel. But in the Gaza Strip there is not very much fruit cultivated. Mostly tomatoes, potatoes and vegetables. So here with me are the vegetables and watermelon were from Gaza. All the fruit comes across the border from Israel," he explains, but also says that there can be long periods when the border is closed, and which therefore fruit does not come in.

On the way out of the Shati camp we stop at a small grocery store. Not any fancy, expensive business. Just a small, humble local store. The proprietor Sun Mohammed Abu Nada says they would not be able to do business if it were not for contraband goods from Egypt.

He takes us on a brief tour of the shelves and shows everything that comes from Egypt. It turns out to be much more than half of the goods. 75-80 per cent. I would estimate. Several other products - including long-life UHT milk - comes from Israel, but is also smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.

The products are more expensive, he says. Many people cannot afford to buy them, or only to buy certain things sometimes. But all the while that even such a small, poor-looking grocery store on the outskirts of a refugee camp still has so many relatively expensive smuggled goods on the shelves shows nevertheless that many of the customers at least be able to afford to buy them. Otherwise, the merchant of course could not even afford to invest in unsold inventory.

This story I have written to postulate that there are problems in the Gaza Strip, because that would be untrue. There are problems. Many problems indeed. But it is not lack of food, which primarily concern people down here. The biggest problem is the lack of jobs and a sustainable domestic economy.

(Again, h/t Suzanne.)

British analysis of the operation

I saw this from multiple sources, but Suzanne linked to the best video version:

Here are more "peace activists!"

MEMRI finds out more about many of the so-called "peace activists" on the anti-Israel flotilla:

In Friday sermons, Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Muhammad Badi' expressed support for Hamas, frequently reiterating harsh statements in favor of jihad and of the armed struggle in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The Egyptian flotilla delegation included two members of the Muslim Brotherhood bloc in the Egyptian parliament: Muhammad Al-Baltaji and Hazem Farouq.

Al-Baltaji, who is deputy secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc in Egypt, said at a March 2010 conference, "A nation that excels at dying will be blessed by Allah with a life of dignity and with eternal paradise." He also said that his movement "will never recognize Israel and will never abandon the resistance," and that "resistance is the only road map that can save Jerusalem, restore the Arab honor, and prevent Palestine from becoming a second Andalusia.

The Lebanese flotilla delegation, with six members, was headed by attorney Dr. Hani Suleiman, who also participated in a February 2009 Gaza flotilla. He was pro-bono attorney to Japanese terrorist Kozo Okamoto. In 2006, he signed a communiqué supporting armed resistance in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq.

The Jordanian flotilla delegation included Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan activists such as delegation head Wael Al-Saka, a veteran Muslim Brotherhood member, and Salam Al-Falahat, who was general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan from 2006 to 2008. In an interview last year, Al-Falahat said: "We in the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan see Palestine as part of the Islamic and Arab land that must not be relinquished – on the contrary, defending it is a national and jurisprudential obligation... We see Hamas movement in Palestine as standing at the head of the project of the Arab and Islamic liberation for which the Muslim Brotherhood calls... The Muslim Brotherhood supports Hamas and every Arab resistance movement in the region that works for liberation."

Also in the delegation was Jordanian publicist and journalist Muhammad Abu Ghanima, a former head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan's information bureau and a member of the movement's political bureau. Abu Ghanima writes frequent articles praising Hamas and condemning the Palestinian Authority. In one, he vehemently attacked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calling on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to topple his regime even at the cost of thousands of martyrs.

Sound peaceful so far?

Prominent activists in the Yemeni flotilla delegation were three MPs from the Al-Islah party, an Islamist party that is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. One, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hazmi, was photographed on the deck of the Mavi Marmara brandishing his large curved dagger.

Another Yemeni MP in the flotilla, Hazza' Al-Maswari, also from the Al-Islah party, previously expressed vehement anti-American sentiment. In 2004, he objected to a Yemeni program for dialogue with prisoners from Al-Qaeda aimed at tempering their views, declaring recently at Friday prayers: "We cannot tell militants 'don't terrorize Americans' or 'don't attack their interests.'

Among the prominent flotilla activists from Kuwait were Salafist MP Walid Al-Tabtabai, who is known to support armed resistance in Palestine and in Iraq. He said: "We think that the armed resistance in Iraq is legitimate resistance. Every resistance directed against anyone who occupies it is legitimate..."

Another prominent Kuwaiti activist in the flotilla was Dr. Osama Al-Kandari, a Hadith lecturer at the College of Basic Education. In February 2009, he signed a communiqué expressing support for Hamas and for jihad in Palestine against the "Jewish enemies."

Another passenger on the Mavi Marmara was Bishop Hilarion Capucci, who in the 1970s was convicted and imprisoned in Israel for smuggling weapons from Lebanon to the PLO, but afterwards was freed at the request of the Vatican.

There's more. Read the whole thing.

Dutch "peace activist" was Hamas leader

The Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" notes that one of the Dutch members on board the anti-Israel flotilla, Amin Abou Rashed was associated with Hamas:

"Rashed is the leader of Hamas in the Netherlands," said one intelligence source. "He went under an alias, Amin Abou Ibrahim, in several intelligence reports. He worked for the notorious Dutch al-Aqsa Foundation, which was suspected of fundraising for the terrorist organization Hamas....[He was also connected to the] Holy Land Foundation, a charitable organization notorious in America for funding Hamas.

For how long will the world press refer to these people as "humanitarians?"

(h/t Suzanne)

HS kid stands up for Israel against a screaming mob (video)

Amazing:

Freaks of Gaza:"Israel told UK, US that flotilla had nukes"

The Free Gaza movement is reeling a bit from Israel's effective use of video to counter their absurd lies (that there was no violent resistance on the ship, for example.) The fact that their own people took the most damning video has got to hurt.

Their co-founder, Greta Berlin, just sent out a mailing to the list where she makes a really bizarre claim to the long list of FG lies:

As Israel's hysteria mounts, "they now claim “self defense” in attacking ships in international waters today, killing 9. Israel informed the US and Britain that the convoy was ferrying stolen nuclear weapons that would be used for a terrorist attack on Israel.

Really? Israel told its two closest allies that the ships contained nuclear weapons, a conjecture so absurd that it would lose its credibility forever if it turns out not to be true?

What journalist or diplomat broke this story?

Why, it was from the rabidly anti-Israel website "Veterans Today," written by Gordon Duff. Duff,a card-carrying conspiracy theorist, spins a rambling, bizarre tail of lost nuclear weapons. Anyway, he claims, without citing any sources, that Netanyahu informed UK and US officials that the flotilla was carrying nuclear weapons stolen from South Africa. But the kicker is that he says Israel stole the nukes themselves! (I guess Israel doesn't have the ability to build its own.)

The head of Free Gaza is so livid in her hate for Israel that she believes Duff's story completely - and is using it as proof to shore up her defense of the fact that Free Gaza was associated with the IHH terror network during this flotilla.

Greta Berlin, by the way, may have a real problem with Jews herself. While I cannot confirm the authenticity of this email, someone claiming to be her ex-stepdaughter wrote to Daniel Pipes a few years back:

Having read about the incident at UCLA I must admit that I was appalled by Ms. Berlin's behavior, but not at all surprised. I should know, she is after all my ex-stepmother...

After reading your article, I went on to research some of the links that your site provided and found it rather difficult to comprehend some of the titles that are now associated with Ms. Berlin's name. The title of "Peace Activist" is the one I find particularly hypocritical.

On numerous occasions I heard Greta launch the insults "the god damned Israelis, and those F****** Jews" at the dinner table in front of my father (a Jew) and the few Israeli friends and relatives who ventured to visit. Additionally, any rational debate attempted by anyone with an opposing view to Greta's, was immediately terminated with the responses: "Shut up" or "You don't know what the hell you're talking about." The rebuttal usually presented in screaming form.

These comments in juxtaposition to her role as "Peace Activist" I find hard to rectify. It prompts me to ask what should be an obvious question; "At what point did terms of hate and bigotry become synonymous with Peace?"

I was always under the strange impression that the road to peace laid in the arms of those who were tolerant, compassionate, and vehement in their will to understand and to promote understanding. God help us all if this is the role model that we hold up as an embodiment of those ideals!

Sincerely,
Ava E. Berlin

Flotilla fraudsters lied about their cargo

I don't have all the details yet, but the IDF has described the goods that were on the ships:

Twenty-four hours after the last ship of the Gaza aid flotilla entered the Ashdod Port under the watchful eye of the Israeli Navy, all of the equipment on board was examined Tuesday and the majority of it was loaded onto trucks headed to the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

In a statement to reporters at the port on Tuesday, Colonel Moshe Levi, commander of the IDF’s Gaza Strip Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), said that none of the equipment found on board the three cargo ships was in shortage in Gaza.

“We have been working non-stop for the last twenty-four hours examining the cargo holds of the three large cargo ships and I can say with great assurance, that none of the equipment on board is needed in Gaza. The equipment that we found is all equipment that we have regularly allowed into the strip over the past year,” said Levi. “This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the whole premise of the voyage was for propaganda and provocation and not for humanitarian purposes.”

Among the equipment that the IDF agreed to show reporters were medical supplies, including electric vehicles for handicapped people, wheelchairs, stretchers, hospital beds and boxes of medicine. They also showed crates full of dry food products and children’s toys.

And how much cargo was on board?

Levi said that eight trucks full of equipment had already crossed into Gaza and that 20 additional trucks would be transferred throughout the night and the following day.

This didn't include the concrete, though:

According to Levi, the soldiers also found construction equipment, including sacks of concrete and metal rods. He said that Israel did not allow those products to enter into the Gaza strip for fear that they would be used to construct fortifications for terrorists and for weapons manufacture.

Assuming that the article is accurate and the majority of the cargo is being transported on 28 trucks, we can calculate roughly how much cargo was on board.

On the average week, Israel has been sending some 600 truckloads of goods to Gaza, with about 14,000 tons. That means that each truck holds roughly 25 tons or so.

Multiply that by 28and we get a grand total of 700 tons of goods. This 700 tons is the majority of the cargo. meaning that we know that there is less than 1500 tons of cargo, probably closer to 1000.

(The "Rachel Corrie" ship from Free Gaza is still en route to break the blockade, and it is said to have some 500 tons of cement.)

So, as I confidently predicted, the "human rights" frauds have lied about the amount of goods that they were bringing, by an order of magnitude.

What if Israel went on the offensive? (Noah Pollak)

Noah Pollak at Commentary makes a very good point:

What would it look like if the Israeli government played offense? First and foremost, this would require some serious criticism of the Islamist government of Turkey, which masterfully created this crisis and is now denouncing Israel for it. Turkey’s thuggish prime minister certainly understands the benefits of being on offense. He says that Israel committed a “massacre” and is guilty of “state terrorism,” “piracy,” has struck “a blow to world peace and against international law,” threatens that “if Israel does not immediately free all the detainees and wounded, the rift in relations with it will widen,” and thunders that “Israel will not be able to show itself in the world until it apologizes for what happened and undergoes self-criticism.”

Quite a performance! Wouldn’t it be remarkable if the Israelis had gotten ahead of the story by making their own accusations and demands? Here are a few ideas of the kind of concrete action the Israelis could take — if they had the stones to really take a stand.

1. Expel the Turkish ambassador and declare his return contingent on a full, credible, and public Turkish investigation of the terrorist organization that planned and funded the “aid flotilla.”

2. Publicly demand reparations from Turkey for the costs of the operation, including the medical bills of the thugs and Jew-haters who have been given such lovely medical care in Israeli hospitals.

3. Demand a UN investigation of why Turkey is funding terrorist organizations that are involved in attacks on Israel.

4. Fund a Kurdish human-rights NGO in Israel — there are lots of Kurdish Jews who I’m sure would be happy to help — that raises awareness of the plight of Kurds in Turkey. (Short answer: they are treated horribly.) This organization must publicize the apartheid conditions of Kurdish life in Turkey and churn out op-eds, studies, videos, and press releases denouncing Turkey’s brutal and racist treatment of its own minorities.

5. Fund a Turkish-language documentary on the Armenian genocide, upload it to YouTube, and promote it heavily in Turkey. If Erdogan wants to call Israel a criminal and a murderer, there’s no reason why Israel shouldn’t return the favor on this most sensitive of issues.

Read the whole thing.

Expert reitrates IHH's clear ties to terror

From Evan Kohlmann at the Counterterrorism Blog:

When I first published a research paper four years ago with the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) on the Turkish Muslim charitable group Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), I didn't imagine it would get much of a response outside the academic conference in which it was presented in Copenhagen. However, as a result of this weekend's tragic Israeli raid on an IHH-sponsored flotilla of vessels attempting to break the ongoing blockade on Gaza, the group has suddenly jumped into the headlines, and has become a focus of intense debate over the intentions of the flotilla organizers and the controversial killing of at least 9 would-be participants by Israeli commandos.

Though my DIIS paper made no mention of IHH's activities in Gaza or in support of suffering Palestinian refugees, some of those angered by the Israeli flotilla raid have instead turned their emotional animus on past critics of IHH, such as myself. While I certainly can't speak with any authority on what took place on the Gaza flotilla boats, I'm rather mystified why the flotilla killings--whether right or wrong--would have any bearing on the factual question of whether the IHH has engaged in illicit financing and episodic support to extremist groups. The evidence in this regard is fairly weighty, and much of it comes directly from the Turkish government -- not the United States, nor the Israelis.

On December 5, 1997, Turkish police raided the IHH headquarters office in Istanbul and arrested its principal leaders. Following their preliminary inquiry, on April 27, 1998, Turkish investigators launched a formal legal case against the IHH. According to a report produced by French counterterrorism magistrates, the inquiry was spurred by the sale of an AK-47 assault rifle to an IHH leader by "a member of the illegal organization VASAT." Turkish police reported seizing a series of disturbing items from the IHH in Turkey, including an explosive device, two sticks of dynamite, bomb making instructions, and a "jihad flag." The French magistrates report noted that:

"It appears that the detained members of IHH were going to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya... The essential goal of this Association was to illegally arm its membership for overthrowing democratic, secular, and constitutional order present in Turkey and replacing it with an Islamic state founded on the Shariah. Under the cover of this organization known under the name of IHH, [IHH leaders] acted to recruit veteran soldiers in anticipation of the coming holy war. In particular, some men were sent into war zones in Muslim countries in order to acquire combat experience. On the spot, the formation of a military unit was assured. In addition, towards the purpose of obtaining political support from these countries, financial aid was transferred [from IHH], as well as caches of firearms, knives, and pre-fabricated explosives."
An official review of the phone records from the IHH's office in Istanbul revealed two calls to the Bosnian Mujahideen Brigade unit headquarters in Zenica, five phone calls to a member of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) based in London, and at least one call to Anwar Shaaban's notorious Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan, Italy. The IHH's connections to international terrorism have even surfaced in sworn witness testimony in the U.S. federal court system. During the trial of attempted Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressam, noted French counterterrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere took the stand and testified that IHH had played “[a]n important role” in Ressam's bomb plot targeting LAX. Under repeated questioning, Bruguiere insisted that “[t]here’s a rather close relation”: "The IHH is an NGO, but it was kind of a type of cover-up… in order to obtain forged documents and also to obtain different forms of infiltration for Mujahideen in combat. And also to go and gather[recruit] these Mujahideens. And finally, one of the last responsibilities that they had was also to be implicated or involved in weapons trafficking."

None of this information is considered sensitive or secret, nor is it particularly difficult to come by. Turkish government officials have openly acknowledged as much in major Western media outlets. In August 1999, the governor of Istanbul was interviewed in the Washington Post after he personally ordered local IHH bank accounts frozen because of suspected criminal activity. He explained at the time, "All legal institutions may have some illegal connections. This might be the case here. If they don't like it, they can appeal in court."

To his credit, the former Istanbul governor here underscores another critical point. Contemporary terror finance networks are most effectively curtailed using accepted legal sanctions and transnational cooperation between regional allies. Incidents such as the deadly Gaza flotilla raid ultimately undermine the battle against illicit financing, and weaken shared international resolve to punish those who manipulate humanitarian relief as a cover to fund terrorism. The Israeli government must be more mindful in the future of the wider political repercussions its attempts at punitive actions can have, whether technically justified or not. Those repercussions impact not only the state of Israel, but also carry implicit costs for the United States and its European allies.

(h/t Barry Simon)

Latest videos about the flotilla

New stuff that came out recently:

The IDF released (almost unusable) video and audio from during the operation where the soldiers hear and react to gunshots from the "peace activists." I'm still trying to find out more details on their arsenal (no pictures have been released) but at at least one soldier was injured from a gunshot.

UPDATE: It appears that two guns were taken from soldiers as they were being beaten, and their clips were emptied in the course of the fighting (from the IDF spokesperson via email)

Free Gaza, whenever they were asked why they do not cooperate with Israel to get the aid to Gaza, would answer that they "knew" that the IDF would not allow their aid to get there.

Here is at least some of the aid from the ships heading to Gaza:

Here is an Israeli sailor describing first hand what occurred:

Suzanne notices an Al Jazeera video where an Egyptian "legal expert" explains why the world is legally obligated to provide Hamas with weapons:

Egypt opens Rafah border.So where are the aid convoys?

From the Telegraph (UK):

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has ordered the opening of the Rafah border crossing to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has given orders to open the Rafah border crossing to allow humanitarian and medical aid into the Gaza Strip, as well as to receive medical cases which require access to Egyptian territory," said Egyptian news agency MENA.

"This comes as part of Egypt's moves to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

The move, urged by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against whom the embargo has been directed, prompted dozens of people to race to the crossing point in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, though the gates appeared still to be closed.

According to Egyptian security sources in Rafah, the border opened on Tuesday at 1.30pm (1030 GMT). No date has been set for it to close again.

This happened a few hours ago.

Yet I cannot find a single Gaza aid group that is quickly organizing to send supplies to Gazans.

Here is an unprecedented opportunity to help Gazans get the medical supplies, paper, toys and chocolate that we are told Israel is cruelly withholding from them. (Not electric scooters, though.)

No one knows for how long Egypt will keep the border open. So now would be the time to organize an emergency airlift of supplies to Cairo, right?

Where is Free Gaza? Where is IHH? Where is Viva Palestina? Where is the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza? Where is Tikkun? Where are all the European NGOs dedicated to helping poor Gazans? Where are the Facebook groups and Twitter topics that should be popping up to organize the golden opportunity to show the world how much they care about actual, real Gazan residents?

Hmmm. I guess that if vilifying Israel isn't part of the "aid," it is not worth giving.

Caption fun

Daylife reproduces this picture and caption from Getty Images:

Activists of Pakistan's outlawed religious party Sipah-e-Sahaba chant slogans and burn an Israeli and Danish natioanl [sic] flag during a protest against Israel, in Islamabad on June 1, 2010. Pakistan condemned an Israeli commando attack on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip, describing the killings of up to 19 activists as 'brutal and inhuman.' Israeli naval forces stormed the aid flotilla in international waters before dawn on May 31, killing up to 19 pro-Palestinian activists.

First of all - what did poor Denmark do to be lumped in with Israel? Sounds like the IDF was dropping cartoons of Mohammed on the "aid" ships!

Secondly, 24 hours ago it was unclear how many people were killed. Now we know how many: 9. Why is Getty still mentioning "up to 19"?

Thirdly, it was not an "aid flotilla" - it was a political stunt masquerading as aid.

Fourthly, the activists aren't pro-Palestinian - they are anti-Israel. If they were pro-Palestinian they would also try to help those who are still in Lebanese and Syrian camps for six decades to become citizens in the Arab countries they were born in.

Fifth - notice that the Israeli flag uses the thin/thick blue line more commonly associated with a Jewish prayer shawl rather than the actual Israeli flag.

More on international law /blockades

Richard (I believe it is Richard Landes from the Augean Stables blog) points out more parts of the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea that seem relevant, and that show that Israel has complied with international law to the letter.

Paragraph 47 lists ships that are exempt from attack. Presuambly, the flotilla organizers consider themselves to fit under sub-paragraph (c)(ii):

(c) vessels granted safe conduct by agreement between the belligerent parties including:

(ii) vessels engaged in humanitarian missions, including vessels carrying supplies indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and vessels engaged in relief actions and rescue operations;

The flotilla does not meet the minimum requirement because it was not granted permission by the other party of the blockade, Israel.

Even if it had been, the next paragraph mentions a major exception:

48. Vessels listed in paragraph 47 are exempt from attack only if they: (a) are innocently employed in their normal role;
(b) submit to identification and inspection when required; and
(c) do not intentionally hamper the movement of combatants and obey orders to stop or move out of the way when required.

In addition, such actions in international waters are legal:

96. "The force maintaining the blockade may be stationed at a distance determined by military requirements."

More relevant sections:

98. "Merchant vessels believed on reasonable grounds to be breaching a blockade may be captured. Merchant vessels which, after prior warning, clearly resist capture may be attacked."

103. "If the civilian population of the blockaded territory is inadequately provided with food and other objects essential for its survival, the blockading party must provide for free passage of such foodstuffs and other essential supplies, subject to: (a) the right to prescribe the technical arrangements, including search, under which such passage is permitted; and (b) the condition that the distribution of such supplies shall be made under the local supervision of a Protecting Power or a humanitarian organization which offers guarantees of impartiality, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross."

Israel does all of these things. Last week, Israel delivered more cement to Gaza than the flotilla wanted to provide - but Israel gave the cement to UNRWA under strict conditions and ensuring that they are used only for the purposes they are earmarked for.

Also, see Julian Ku, about the absurd claims of "piracy":

Let’s go to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 101:

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(emphasis added). I don’t think even the Gaza flotilla defenders claim that the IDF raid was “committed for private ends.” (Just the opposite, actually). And, in general, piracy cannot be committed by a national ship, only by private ships or by national ships that have been taken over by their crews.

So can we drop the stupid piracy meme? There are some very hard legal issues here: Is Israel’s naval blockade legal? (Probably). If so, was the boarding in international waters legal? (Maybe). And even if so, did the IDF use disproportionate force? (I have no idea). This last question is really the key issue here, and it is also the one that is never going to be resolved with any certainty given that it is dependent on neutral factual determinations that will never happen here.

Turkey banned IHH from doing earthquake relief

Even Turkey understands how the IHH is a jihadist organization masquerading as humanitarian.

From the Danish Institute for International Studies report I quoted yesterday:

Organizations such as IHH are quick to respond to natural disasters and other human catastrophes. Unfortunately, these groups often seek to use these situations to gain leverage with destitute Muslim refugees. In August 1999, when a devastating earthquake struck Turkey, IHH reached the affected zones, in some cases, even before the Turkish government. Friction quickly grew between authorities tasked with relief and independent Islamist “humanitarian” groups. Ultimately, Turkey was forced to ban the IHH from participating in earthquake aid efforts because it was counted among several “fundamentalist organizations” operating “secret bank accounts” that were refusing to allow local authorities to oversee the distribution of their aid resources.60

This is besides IHH's known involvement in gun smuggling and recruiting mujahadeen that the paper describes.

Videos doing well on YouTube

The first video I posted yesterday of the "humanitarian workers" attacking Israeli soldiers with clubs has received over 22,000 views.

The second video showing the Israeli soldier being stabbed is up to 63,000 views.

"Soldiers didn't shoot for 40 minutes"

The Hebrew Channel 2 news site interviews a number of soldiers who were dropped onto the Turkish ship. Among the details is that it took 40 minutes before they finally were given permission to open fire.

"We went down with our bare hands and met passengers with glass bottles and clubs," said one fighter squadron participated in the operation.

"We were lynched," testified one of the fighters in the hospital. "For every person that came down, three or four people beat him. They were all with metal batons, knives, glass bottles. At one point there was live fire."

"In fact I got there last," said a fighter squadron in an interview with Channel 2 News. "I saw the guys scattered on the deck surrounded each of them with about four people beating him."

"Trying to defend myself I probably broke my hand . All who got on board had no weapons in hand, but their bare hands," explained the soldier. "We came to work things out, but they came for war - the gun was absolutely our last resort."

One of the "peace activists"

Commenter Jed points out an Al Watan article on what appears to be the only Syrian aboard the flotilla, a woman named Shatha Barakat.

Her husband Ayman describes how he was born in Gaza and she wanted to use the flotilla as an opportunity to visit his family home. She was also working on a drama about the life of terrorist leader Sheikh Yassin.

Ayman was worried for his wife in Israeli hands. "She is not the conciliatory type. She is a tough woman from Syria, and she cherished a dream of striking a blow against Israel."

"What was Israel thinking?"

Stephen Walt, of Walt/Mearsheimer fame, unsurprisingly uses the commando raid on a terrorist-aligned ship as more ammunition to sever the US/Israeli alliance.

Notwithstanding his factual errors (saying that enforcing a legal blockade in international waters is illegal, for example) he asks a basic question that has not been adequately answered yet by the Israeli government:

My first question when I heard the news was: "What could Israel's leaders have been thinking?" How could they possibly believe that a deadly assault against a humanitarian mission in international waters would play to their advantage?

Notwithstanding his inflammatory spin (it was obviously not intended to be a deadly assault, the deaths are directly attributable to deadly force being employed by the "humanitarian mission," and it was not a humanitarian mission to begin with but a political one) the basic question remains. And the question makes sense - if you assume that PR is the uppermost consideration for Israelis.

However, this was not a PR game. This decision to enforce a blockade on Hamas is essential and lifesaving.

Back in 2002, Israel intercepted the Karine A ship filled with weapons meant for Palestinian Arab terrorists. At the time Israel still had troops on the ground in Gaza, but the way that the weapons were going to be smuggled was through small inflatable canisters released by Egyptian and perhaps Lebanese "fishing boats."

In other words, the sea is the best way to smuggle in large quantities of arms meant to destroy or terrorize Israel.

This was not the only time that Iran attempted to smuggle weapons to Hamas or Hezbollah by sea. An Iranian arms ship was destroyed, probably by Israel, off the coast of Sudan last year.

In early 2009, the Cypriot navy intercepted an arms shipment from Iran meant for Hamas.

And late last year, in an event that the world has forgotten with astonishing speed, the Francop vessel filled 500 tons of weapons meant for Hezbollah, disguised as civilian cargo, was intercepted.

In other words, the Israeli blockade is the only way to prevent Iran or Syria from illegally shipping in mass quantities of the next generation of weapons to Hamas.

This is not about PR - it is about a real need for defense. The "humanitarian aid" workers will say publicly when asked that they believe that Hamas has the absolute right to acquire whatever weapons it desires - and to use them.

The Francop episode also underlines how easy it is to hide weaponry as innocent commercial goods.

From a public relations perspective, Israel was doomed at the start, something that the flotilla organizers gloated about. The decision to stop any direct shipping lanes from the world to Hamas is not a PR decision but a sound defense decision, one that must be upheld in order to save lives.

The priority of the world should be how to get a terrorist group out of power in Gaza so that a blockade is not necessary. Somehow, that is no longer a priority for anyone except Israel.

As soon as Israel allows Hamas to have its own independent means moving goods in and out of Gaza, Gaza turns into the same heavily armed Iranian satellite state that southern Lebanon has turned into - under the noses of thousands of UNIFIL observers.

Sorry, but Israel is not going to outsource its defense given what happened to Lebanon. PR is important, but stopping Iran from establishing a beachhead in Gaza to surround Israel from the north and the south is a bit more important.

It just so happens that a slow-moving commercial vessel filled with cement and consumer goods, headed towards a place whose government extols suicide terror as the ultimate goal, is the best delivery mechanism for an Iranian atomic bomb.

(h/t J. E. Dyer)

A response to the critics (Danny Gordis)

Danny Gordis, who wrote a book I reviewed favorably, sums up the events of the past 36 hours:

An old high school friend, who’s taken great exception to a couple of my most recent Jerusalem Post columns, has been telling me of late on my Facebook page how out of touch with American Jewry I am. He let loose again today. Here’s what he had to say:

Hey Danny….yet again a misguided Israeli political and military mission with regard to Gaza that American Jewry will be asked to stand by and support. All over the news Israel will be referred to as “the Jewish State” as worldwide condemnation will pour in. As a Jew I will be on the defensive despite the fact that I have no vote and no say in whatever the politicians in Israel decide. Again, you will no doubt ask for solidarity by Jewish folk worldwide and we will answer for Israeli decision-making. I love Israel as my religious base, but the policies do not reflect my peace loving values. I support Israel with bonds and donations and visits, but the thriving American Jewish experience is independent of it.

OK, there’s a lot there, and most of it I won’t respond to now. But this is one of those moments when I don’t think we have the luxury of writing a column over days, printing it out and editing it, sleeping on it and editing it again. Too much is happening, and people are too hurting and too confused for something not to be said.

To be sure, there’s much more that we don’t know than we do. We’ll learn a lot in the days and weeks to come. But we do know that this was a tragic day and an excruciatingly painful one in Israel. At the fruit market, and at the dry cleaners, I asked people working there how they were, and all I got was a sigh. And then, “Yom kasheh. A tough day. They’re going to eat us alive.”

They will, indeed, eat us alive. It’s taken a full day for the Israeli government to say anything coherent at all, riots are breaking out in Israeli Arab towns, Israelis in Istanbul have been warned by the Foreign Ministry not to leave their hotel rooms, and the international community is raining down condemnation.

But I jump to conclusions very different than those of my high school friend, and I responded to him in language very close to this:

David – we couldn’t disagree more strongly. Israel’s actions were “misguided”? Let’s take that first. Were there tragic outcomes? Obviously. But “misguided”? Gaza is under the malicious and cynical rule of a terror organization sworn on Israel’s destruction, that is holding an Israeli soldier captive in contravention of all international treaties, and that oppresses its own population while even Palestinian witnesses there acknowledge that there is no food shortage. Given Hamas’ military objectives, Israel would be crazy not to check what’s going in. But Israel had already pledged to pass on any humanitarian goods after they were inspected, and told the boats the same thing. So, no, I don’t think that the idea of stopping the boats was misguided.

What we know is that on five of the ships, the commandos (among them friends of our kids, by the way) boarded the boats, and there was no resistance and no fighting.

On one boat, however, the first soldiers to land on the boat were attacked with metal rods and knives. There’s video of it. It’s playing all over Israeli and all over the internet. In some cases, soldiers’ weapons were stolen and used against them. One was stabbed, apparently in the abdomen. Another was tossed from a desk and trampled when he landed. There were a handful of commandos there, and 600 “peace activists.” On Israeli news tonight, the soldiers on helicopters taking them to the hospital were interviewed. They descended the ropes, they said, planning to talk the “activists” into going to Ashdod. Their weapons were not in their hands, but strapped to their backs. “We went into war,” one in his 30’s said bitterly tonight, “and all we had were toys.” They were beaten, trampled, shot (yes, there were bullet injuries) but only after forty minutes of combat did they resort to live five. They were going to get lynched if they didn’t fight back, they said.

Was I there? No. Do I know what really happened? No. But do I trust these kids and their officers? Yes, I do.

As for “peace activists,” David, how much do you know about the IHH? It’s a terror support group, supported by Turkey (among others) and it was ent to provoke. If they just wanted the goods to get to Gaza, they could have agreed to transfer them to an Israeli ship, or to unload them in Ashdod, as the Navy personnel asked them to. But they didn’t want that. They just wanted to break the blockade. Why? For food? Even a few Palestinian journalists with some guts are reporting that there’s no humanitarian food crisis in Gaza. No, it wasn’t about food. They want the blockade broken so that after that, non-humanitarian items (read weapons) could brought in. Why should Israel allow that? So that they can be better armed the next time we have to send our kids into Gaza?

As for “being on the defensive,” you “will be on the defensive” only because you totally don’t get it. For if you did get it, you wouldn’t feel that way. There’s only one country anywhere on the planet about which there’s a conversation about whether it has a right to exist. Do you ever think about why that is? What, the fate of the Palestinians is worse than that of aborigines in Australia? Or people in the Congo, or Rwanda? Why all the attention on Israel? Do you really not get it? You think that New Zealand just coincidentally decided this week to make kosher slaughtering illegal? You think it’s really about humanitarian commitments? Come on.

No, David, you really don’t have to defend Israel. No one’s asking you to. We know that it’s too late to expect many Americans like you to assume we’re right before you assume we’re wrong. As we look out at Jews across the world, we’re just assessing who gets Jewish history, and who’s so thoroughly intellectually assimilated that they’re actually embarrassed that that Jews don’t have to continue to be victims. I’m horrified by what happened on the ship, and I’ll be shocked if after all is in, we find that Israel made no mistakes. (This was pretty clearly an intelligence failure, at the very minimum, sending those soldiers into something for which they had not at all been prepared or armed.) But if that had been my kid on the ship, and he’d gone in to prevent the blockade from being broken, but had no intention of fighting, and had then been attacked, I’d want him to defend himself. No matter what. I’d want him to come home whole, because that’s part of the new Jewish reality that this country is supposed to make possible.

The loss of life is tragic. So are the injuries to soldiers, including serious head wounds. But most tragic of all is that the world is so willing to be blinded to what’s really going on here.

At the end of this excruciating day in Israel, at least given what I know at this moment, I’m saddened but not apologetic. I’m not surprised by most of the world’s reactions. But I haven’t lost sight of who provoked this, and why they did that. But you’re a very smart guy. Why have you?

Video of weapons found aboard terror ship

From the IDF:

The iron bars, Molotov cocktail and dagger are especially interesting.

No doubt the anti-Israel terror-supporting "peace" activists would say that most of the knives are ordinary kitchen knives. Yet we have seen them used against people.

UPDATE: A reader sends me in audio, played on Israel Army radio today, of Israel's radio warnings and the terror flotilla's responses. I have not verified it.

"Jihad, Jihad, Jihad"

Free Gaza lies caused the deaths

There is an important facet of the events of last night that has not been emphasized.

The IDF soldiers went on board the ship with the expectation that they would be met with "non-violent resistance." The reason that they had those expectations was because the flotilla organizers made very clear that this is what they planned to do - as they said, "The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."

Because the IDF foolishly believed them, they dropped onto the Turkish ship armed with just riot-dispersal paint guns, plus personal handguns as a last resort.

And they fell into a well-planned ambush.

It is still unclear how many people were killed - the initial reports of 16 seem to have exaggerated, another likely Free Gaza lie - but the IDF had zero interest in killing anybody. The IDF only opened fire after first suffering from merciless, life threatening beatings and asking permission from their commanders.

At least some of the flotilla organizers, on the other hand, made clear that they wanted to become "martyrs."

The bottom line is, if the IDF had known that they were meeting with a mob of violent, crazy, suicidal Islamists, they would have prepared better for it and there would have been less loss of life. But since the Free Gaza and other sponsors of the ships made very public statements about their "peaceful" intentions, the IDF was ill-prepared for the confrontation and things went awry.

I do not know if Free Gaza knew that the Turkish Islamist ship would do what it did. Clearly they are supporting the violence after the fact. However, the FG mission was never a peace mission and was never an aid mission - it was meant to grab headlines, nothing more. The Turkish IHH mission, on the other hand, was military.

Tikkun Magazine wants to say Kaddish for terrorists

A stomach-turning article from Tikkun Magazine, which wants to say Kaddish for violent Islamists:

We regret and deplore the killings which took place as Israeli troops, in defiance of international law, boarded and assaulted, wounded many and killed some of the participants in a flotilla seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza (itself a morally outrageous policy) to bring humanitarian aid. We ask all people of peace to dedicate at least fifteen minutes today (Memorial day in the US) to silent memorial for those peace activists who have been killed (and we call upon all synagogues around the world to say Kaddish for those people at their Shabbat services this coming weekend), and for prayer for the speedy recovery of all those wounded in this attack (mostly peace activists, but also the Israeli soldiers who boarded the boats with violence). We invite all peace-loving people to attend a public memorial for those who died in this assault in Lafayette Park opposite the White House on Sunday, June 13, at 11 a.m-2 p.m., sponsored by Tikkun, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and many other groups, and which will include a larger consideration of U.S. policies. Memorial prayers and prayers for healing will be said at 1 p.m.

Somehow, I am not surprised that the peace-loving people of Tikkun cannot find a way to condemn the "peace activists" beatings of IDF commandos with chains and iron rods, throwing them over railings, stabbing them, calling for a repeat of Mohammed's massacre of Jews at Khaybar. No, those facts just mess up the Tikkun meme of righteous Muslims and evil Jews (except for Tikkun-style anti-Israel Jews, of course.)

Meanwhile, David Hazony writes

A good friend of mine is a nurse who was on duty in the emergency room at a Jerusalem hospital when some of the injured “activists” were brought in. She tells me that many of them are wearing camouflage. “Not sure they were official Turkish army clothes,” she says, “but they weren’t civilian dress, that’s for sure.”

The idiots at Tikkun don't want to believe the crystal-clear facts that it was an ambush - a pre-planned military operation, done by their "peace activists."

They want to say Kaddish for people who tried to massacre Jews.

Gazan drowns himself "to help the flotilla"

Firas Press reports that a Gazan citizen, upon hearing of the events of last night, threw himself into the Mediterranean in an attempt to help out the brave peace activists.

Of course, the boats were a bit further away than swimming distance, and he drowned.

Even the commenters in the Arabic-language forum are laughing at this guy, saying that it was obviously a suicide that he tried to mask as martyrdom.

Yet somehow I think that he will be listed as a victim of "Israeli aggression" on some NGO list....

New video of soldiers being beaten with rods, chains

From the IDF:

And Free Gaza says these peaceful people were only waving white flags....

They are no longer the Flotilla of Fools. They are the Flotilla of Tools.

Free Gaza keeps lying

Their Twitter feed says "They were waving white flags not clubs."

Here's a peace activist!

From Ha'aretz, a picture of one of the "peace protesters" and "humanitarian aid activists" on board one of the boats.

Doesn't he look like he cares deeply about peace?

"Peace activists" threatened "Jews" before trip

From Palestinian Media Watch:

On the day before the Gaza flotilla confronted the Israeli navy, Al-Jazeera TV documented the pre-battle atmosphere created by men on board the flotilla, who chanted a well-known Islamic battle cry invoking the killing and defeat of Jews in battle:

"[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!"

Khaibar is the name of the last Jewish village defeated by Muhammad's army in 628. Many Jews were killed in that battle, which marked the end of Jewish presence in Arabia. There are Muslims who see that as a precursor to future wars against Jews. At gatherings and rallies of extremists, this chant is often heard as a threat to Jews to expect to be defeated and killed again by Muslims.

Al-Jazeera also interviewed a woman who said that the flotilla participants' goal was "one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or reaching Gaza."

h/t Guest

Video: Throwing soldier off deck, Molotov cocktails, stun grenades

The IDF released video showing what happened on the Mavi Marmara:

See how peaceful the pro-Hamas "activists" are?

Israel's legal right to blockade Gaza

From the MFA (via email):

1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such blockade has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza, which has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.

2. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.

3. A blockade may be imposed at sea, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral States.

4. The naval manuals of several western countries, including the US and England recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure and set forth the various criteria that make a blockade valid, including the requirement of give due notice of the existence of the blockade.

5. In this vein, it should be noted that Israel publicized the existence of the blockade and the precise coordinates of such by means of the accepted international professional maritime channels. Israel also provided appropriate notification to the affected governments and to the organizers of the Gaza protest flotilla. Moreover, in real time, the ships participating in the protest flotilla were warned repeatedly that a maritime blockade is in effect.

6. Here, it should be noted that under customary law, knowledge of the blockade may be presumed once a blockade has been declared and appropriate notification has been granted, as above.

7. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian and enemy vessels.

8. A State may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law. The US Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.

9. Here we should note that the protesters indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade by means of written and oral statements. Moreover, the route of these vessels indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade in violation of international law.

10. Given the protesters explicit intention to violate the naval blockade, Israel exercised its right under international law to enforce the blockade. It should be noted that prior to undertaking enforcement measures, explicit warnings were relayed directly to the captains of the vessels, expressing Israel's intent to exercise its right to enforce the blockade.

11. Israel had attempted to take control of the vessels participating in the flotilla by peaceful means and in an orderly fashion in order to enforce the blockade. Given the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla, an operational decision was made to undertake measures to enforce the blockade a certain distance from the area of the blockade.

12. Israeli personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks.

If the IDF intended to kill protesters... (open thread)

...then how come the only dead people were on the ship that attacked the IDF soldiers?

The other five ships surrendered and no one was hurt.

Just more proof of Free Gaza lies. News organizations must be careful not to trust a single word that they say. They know that their lies get broadcast as fact in real time, and FGM has a history of taking advantage of that, especially when the media is hungry for new details.

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I am not as available today to blog as I would like, so feel free to comment with any new stuff you find.

Muqata live-blogging

Jameel at the Muqata is live-blogging the events at sea. You can't do better than reading his blog right now.

2:54 PM News1 reports that the IDF soldiers were not prepared for the violence that errupted from the flotilla terrorist peace activists. The soldiers testified that Sheikh Raed Salakh was among the violent attackers. military correspondents who accompanied the soldiers said the soldiers were given paintball rifles. When they boarded the ship, they were attacked with slingshots, metal balls, chairs and live fire. The terrorists threw soldiers overboard and tried to capture soldiers. This wasn't a freedom flotilla but one of terror. It was all too reminiscent of the Ramallah Lynching of 2 IDF soldiers by a Palestinian mob.

Video of "peace activists" stabbing IDF soldier

From Channel 2 news, via Ma'ariv:

International law for armed conflicts at sea

The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea says in paragraph 67:

67. Merchant vessels flying the flag of neutral States may not be attacked unless they:

(a) are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture.

There is abundant evidence from both sides that there was prior warning, that the ships refused to stop, and that they resisted the visit and being searched. And the ships were very publicly breaching a blockade.

(h/t AB)

Video of "peace activists" ambushing, beating soldiers

It was an ambush.

"Peace activists" with guns - the IHH

Although the details are sketchy of what happened so far on the Mavi Marmara, it is clear that some of the "peace activists" who organized the flotilla were not very peaceful.

What is certain is that Free Gaza's characterization of the events is a lie:

Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep.

YNet's video shows a large crowd of these "peaceful people" with what appear to be metal bars waiting for the soldiers to arrive so they can beat them - which they proceed to do. If that is not life-threatening, I don't know what is.

Israel has announced that they found other weapons on board, including guns and knives.

The main Turkish "aid" organization, IHH, has clear ties to terror, as can be seen at Harry's Place. The CIA has documented links between that group and extremist groups in Iran and Algeria back in 1996.

A paper from Danish Institute for International Studies speaks about IHH:

[T]he phenomenon of charitable front groups that provide support to Al-Qaida is by no
means exclusively limited to the Arabian Peninsula. Indeed, elsewhere in the Muslim world,
other such entities have been established with near equal success – as in Turkey, with the so called Foundation for Human Rights, Liberties, and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). Turkish
authorities began their own domestic criminal investigation of IHH as early as December
1997, when sources revealed that leaders of IHH were purchasing automatic weapons from
other regional Islamic militant groups.43 IHH’s bureau in Istanbul was thoroughly searched,
and its local officers were arrested. Security forces uncovered an array of disturbing items,
including firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions, and a “jihad flag.” After analyzing
seized IHH documents, Turkish authorities concluded that “detained members of IHH were
going to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya."

According to a French intelligence report, the terrorist infiltration of IHH extended to its
most senior ranks. The report, written by famed counterterrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere, revealed that IHH President Bulent Yildrim had directly conspired in the mid-1990s to “recruit veteran soldiers in anticipation of the coming holy war [jihad]. In particular, some
men were sent into war zones in Muslim countries in order to acquire combat experience.”45
Furthermore, in the hopes of “obtaining political support from these countries, financial aid
was transferred [on behalf of IHH], as well as caches of firearms, knives, and pre-fabricated
explosives.”46 An examination of IHH’s phone records in Istanbul showed repeated telephone
calls in 1996 to an Al-Qaida guesthouse in Milan and various Algerian terrorist operatives
active elsewhere in Europe – including the notorious Abu el-Ma`ali, who has been subsequently
termed by U.S. officials as a “junior Osama Bin Laden."

During the later Seattle trial of would-be Al-Qaida Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressam, federal
prosecutors called French magistrate Bruguiere to the stand as an expert witness. Bruguiere
testified that IHH had played “[a]n important role” in the Al-Qaida Millenium bomb plot
targeting LAX. Under repeated questioning, Bruguiere insisted that “[t]here’s a rather close
relation”:

The IHH is an NGO, but it was kind of a type of cover-up… in order to obtain
forged documents and also to obtain different forms of infiltration for Mujahideen
in combat. And also to go and gather[recruit] these Mujahideens. And
finally, one of the last responsibilities that they had was also to be implicated or
involved in weapons trafficking.48

This was one of the major groups behind the flotilla - a charity group that is a front of Islamic terrorism.

Carpetbombing Twitter

I've been Tweeting a ton of messages today, labeling them all #Flotilla of Fools, going over years of news about Gaza that people do not know. Getting lots of retweets, too.

Check them out: http://twitter.com/elderofziyon