Gaza and the lessons learned

How many times must we explain this to you? We can do as we please, because we're the Chosen People. Look, your very own Christian loonies confirm this truism. You remember the mantra of these good evangelical folk: "We're all Israelis now."

You know that anything we do, we're going to be protected, by your very own. First of all, by that Congress of yours, of which we control all 531 members. They'd better toe the line, since each and every one of them knows that it's curtains to another term in office, if they make an attempt to cross us. Each of your Presidents, needless to say, has always understood his place. This goes ditto for those worthless members of Europe's many Parliaments.

Our major protector, of course, is your media, not only most of which we control, but almost all of which our ethnic compatriots own. The few who are not in our camp might as well be, since they're smart enough to know that they had better go along, if they want to get along.

Look, remember how we explained it to those miserable Palestinians, who we've worn down to a frazzle? Why don't you leave, already? We've warned them over and over again, that if they insist on building and maintaining their homes and replanting those olive trees, we're never going to stop bombing their behinds, bulldozing their homes, and burning their fields and orchards. But they keep ignoring us. And then, inevitably, one of their sons bursts a gasket and retaliates in venomous anger. Nothing delights us more than these "terrorist" incidents, since we, with out trusty media apologists, get to tell the story of what happened through the lens of our propaganda machine -- in each and every incident.

Whether we're bulldozing their homes and land or preventing them from making use of their natural shoreline to engage in trade or receive shipping, we get to determine when these Palestinians can breathe and when they cannot. And when we choose to board those "flotillas" that you help them arrange, you along with them will always be accused of responsibility for whatever conflict ensues, and we will laugh and laugh as you attempt to get your side of the story out. Out to whom? Even with all this expanded Internet media, do you notice how we prevail anyway?

Don't you know by now there's not a thing you can do, because your feckless "leaders," who do possess some iota of power, are too deceitful, too greedy, and much too chicken to oppose us. They are too stricken with fear of our power to even consider taking an opposing stance. As one of our illustrious Prime Ministers put it, back in the 1990s, you gentile fools are in his back pocket. You're in all of our back pockets.

Oh, yes, we allow some faux display of anger on the part of a few stray opponents, who pretend toughness by engaging in a wee bit of finger-pointing at the naughty, naughty Israelis. But then they remember who we are, and they soon suck it up. And in no time at all, the current episode blows over and everything returns to normal. In case you hadn't noticed, Normal is our total control of everything we consider in our best interests.

We must not allow these Palestinians to acquire supplies of any kind, for if we do, they will have the means to live on and on and on. That's not going to happen on our watch. For 60 years we've spent too much of our energy and resources (and yours, too, of course) to guarantee their ultimate demise. And their demise will come.

Remember, back in the late 1990s, when all those cameras were rolling, and that frightened father and young son were cringing against that wall, and our soldiers first shot the father -- and the cameras kept rolling? And, while the father was leaning over in an attempt to protect his son, our illustrious military heroes then shot the boy -- and the cameras kept rolling. Remember that?

What we learned from that incident, and others like it (remember Sabra and Shatila?), is that "world opinion" doesn't mean a damn thing. If we got away with that very public event, we were assured that the atrocities we pull off on a daily basis, away from rolling cameras, would never be challenged. All we have to say about any conflict that makes the news is, "The Palestinians started it first. We were simply defending ourselves." Then our propaganda machine goes into overdrive and sees to it that most of the world will hear only our side of the story.

We are the Chosen People.
• • •
Before the Journey to Gaza

From American Chronicle:

On to Gaza

5/8/10 -- A "Freedom Flotilla" is planning to sail for Gaza by the end of the month. It will be the ninth expedition to try to reach Gaza by sea. According to the Free Gaza movement, this time it will be bigger and better than ever. This time, there will be Turkish involvement.

The Free Gaza movement is calling it "the biggest internationally coordinated effort to directly challenge Israeli´s ongoing occupation, aggression and violence against the Palestinian people." The organizers apparently believe that, even if they don't succeed in reaching their destination in Gaza, the publicity value alone, highlighting the blockade of Gaza, sufficiently justifies this attempt.

The last attempt to reach Gaza by sea was in June 2009 -- then, Free Gaza ships were intercepted by the Israeli Navy off Gaza, and forced to proceed to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, where the cargo was impounded. ... According to the organizers' plans, the Freedom Flotilla will include as many as nine boats, including several cargo ships, and perhaps five passenger ships with up to 600 high-profile international personalities, activists, and journalists aboard.

Some of the ships will reportedly be flying the Turkish flag. This means that any Israeli attack on those ships would be considered tantamount to an attack upon Turkey.

Another one of the cargo ships, refurbished and outfitted in Ireland, has been re-named the MV Rachel Corrie, after the American solidarity activist who died, crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer (the IDF said the driver could not see her) while she was trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in southern Gaza.

From Israel Shamir:

Gaza Ahoy! Godspeed to Gaza.

5/29/10 -- The Turks did it! The world as we know it has changed with the new-found independence of Turkey. Within one month, this erstwhile American semi-colony under the charismatic leadership of Recep Erdogan has made two strong moves that have brought it to the forefront of policy-making:

Together with Brazil, Turkey has arranged and signed the Tehran Declaration of a nuclear fuel swap deal with beleaguered Iran. This declaration derails the Israeli plans of sanctioning Iran to death prior to bombing it. ... However, world policy-making has changed, and decisions are not made exclusively in Washington, London or Moscow any more. Mid-size countries – regional powers – are back in vogue, and it is much better for all of us. ...

After derailing the sanctions against Iran, the indomitable Turk sent his vessels to relieve the siege of Gaza. A whole flotilla of small and medium boats is on its way to Gaza now, and among them, a large boat from Turkey, accompanied by a boat bought and equipped by another great friend of Palestine, Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia. ...

This is the first time that the steering of this freedom regatta has passed from the hands of nice European volunteers to the locals, to the peoples of the region. This is a vast change, and a change that means a lot. While the Palestinian cause was only the cause celebré of Europeans with conscience, it was containable. Now, when it has become the concern of the local region, the countdown for the freak Zionist mini-Empire has begun.

From Nadia Kevorkova:

Freedom flotilla ready to break through blockade

5/30/10 -- The parliamentarians made up of Ireland’s Chris Andrews from ruling party Fianna Fail, Aengus Snodaigh from Sinn Fein, and senator Mark Daly; Swiss PM Mehmet Kaplan; former Italian senator Fernando Rossi; Hedy Epstein, an 86-year old US citizen whose parents were killed in the Holocaust; Kiriyak Tsonev, a former Bulgarian envoy to all Arabic countries; Oslo city council member Erling Folkvord; as well as Swedish journalists and writers from Sweden and France – all these people had spent 18 hours trying to board ships in Cypriot harbors to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was waiting for them.

The flotilla, made up of nine ships, is to bring 10,000 tons of humanitarian cargo into Gaza, including medicines and notebooks, along with about 700 people: MPs from Israel and Germany, writers, scientists, two Al-Jazeera camera crews, newswire writers and TV journalists from Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria and France. ...

[Greta] Berlin believes that, regardless of whether the last group of campaigners will manage to join the rest of the flotilla, Israel’s blockade of Gaza will be breached. The world community’s attention is focused on the flotilla’s actions and plenty of resources have been gathered that are to go to the Palestinians.

The public isn’t quiet at all, however. One of the flotilla’s ships has been furbished by the European Union. European Union MPs and diplomats are present on board some of the ships. ...

Hedy Epstein, 86, who lost her parents in the Holocaust, is trying to enter Gaza for the fourth time. Yesterday, in Port Alaminos around 19:00 the group was blocked by four police cars, motor boats and a helicopter. The group had been urged to arrive in Port Alaminos by the Cyprus negotiators from the local government, who promised that from that point they would be able to send people to the flotilla.

After the Attack on the Freedom Flotilla

From Glenn Greenwald:

Israel attacks aid ship

5/31/10 -- Late last night, Israel attacked a flotilla of ships in international waters carrying food, medicine and other aid to Gaza, killing at least 10 civilians on board and injuring at least 30 more. ... The six-ship flotilla was carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid along with 600 people, all civilians, which included 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland and European legislators. ...

At the end of 2009, a U.N. report found that "insufficient food and medicine is reaching Gazans, producing a further deterioration of the mental and physical health of the entire civilian population since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against the territory," and also "blamed the blockade for continued breakdowns of the electricity and sanitation systems due to the Israeli refusal to let spare parts needed for repair get through the crossings."

It hardly seemed possible for Israel -- after its brutal devastation of Gaza and its ongoing blockade -- to engage in more heinous and repugnant crimes. But by attacking a flotilla in international waters carrying humanitarian aid, and slaughtering at least 10 people, Israel has managed to do exactly that. If Israel's goal were to provoke as much disgust and contempt for it as possible, it's hard to imagine how it could be doing a better job. ...

Israeli actions are a direct reflection on, and by-product of, the U.S. Government, because it is the U.S. which enables and protects the behavior. The one silver lining from these incidents is that the real face of Israel becomes increasingly revealed and undeniable. Not even the most intense propaganda systems can prettify a lethal military attack on ships carrying civilians and humanitarian aid to people living in some of the most wretched and tragic conditions anywhere in the world. ...

As Americans suffer extreme cuts in education for their own children and a further deterioration in basic economic security (including Social Security), will they continue to acquiesce to the transfer of billions of dollars every year to the Israelis, who -- unlike Americans -- enjoy full, universal health care coverage? ... How much longer will Americans be willing to pay the extreme prices for its endlessly entangled "alliance" with its prime Middle Eastern client state, whose capacity for criminal and inhumane acts appears limitless?

What does Israel fear from media coverage?

6/1/10 -- The New York Times reports: "A day after Israeli commandoes raided an aid flotilla seeking to breach the blockade of Gaza, Reuters reported that Israel was holding hundreds of activists incommunicado in and around the port city of Ashdod, refusing to permit journalists access to witnesses who might contradict Israel's version of events." ...

Isn't it strange how Plucky, Democratic Israel goes to such extreme lengths to prevent any media coverage of what they do, any journalistic interference with their propaganda machine, in light of the fact that -- as always -- They Did Absolutely Nothing Wrong? Is physically blocking the media from covering what happens the act of a government that is in the right? ...

Israel is now not only detaining the victims of its aggression, but also threatening to prosecute and imprison them. Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said yesterday: "All those who lifted a hand against a soldier will be punished to the full extent of the law." So when Israel seizes ships in international waters and kills anyone who resists (and others standing near them), that is an act of noble, plucky self-defense. But those who fail to submit completely to this lawless and barbarous act of aggression are the Real Criminals who will be prosecuted and imprisoned "to the fullest extent of the law." ...

But doesn't the victim of a crime usually want media coverage of what the criminal did? How odd for the victim in this case to take such extreme steps to ensure that the world cannot hear from the witnesses. ... "There won’t be any daylight between the US and Israel in the aftermath of the incident on the flotilla yesterday, which resulted in the deaths of 10 activists," ABC News reported today, in case that wasn't already obvious. ...

Finally, Newsweek's Ben Adler explains why the U.S. will never criticize Israel no matter what Israel does: because huge numbers of Republican and Democratic politicians are vehemently devoted to that foreign country, and the ones who aren't are petrified, especially in an election year. That, too, is some rare candor on the subject.

From Stephen Walt:

Israel's latest brutal blunder

5/31/10 -- By now you'll all have heard about the IDF's unwarranted attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a fleet of six civilian vessels that was attempting to bring humanitarian aid (i.e., medicines, food, and building materials) to Gaza. The population of Gaza has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2006. Israel imposed the blockade after Gaza's voters had the temerity to prefer Hamas in a free election held at the insistence of the Bush administration, which then refused to recognize the new government because it didn't like the results. ...

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? Israel's government and its hard-line supporters frequently complain about alleged efforts to "delegitimize" the country, but actions like this are the real reason Israel's standing around the world has plummeted to such low levels. ...

My second question is: "Will the Obama administration show some backbone on this issue, and go beyond the usual mealy-mouthed statements that U.S. presidents usually make when Israel acts foolishly and dangerously?" ... Attacking a humanitarian aid mission certainly isn't consistent with American values -- even when that aid mission is engaged in the provocative act of challenging a blockade -- and doing so in international waters is a direct violation of international law. Of course, it would be politically difficult for the administration to take a principled stand with midterm elections looming, but our values and commitment to the rule of law aren't worth much if a president will sacrifice them just to win votes. ...

Because the United States provides Israel with so much material aid and diplomatic protection, and because American politicians from the president on down repeatedly refer to the "unbreakable bonds" between the United States and Israel, people all over the world naturally associate us with most, if not all, of Israel's actions. Thus, Israel doesn't just tarnish its own image when it does something outlandish like this; it makes the United States look bad, too. ...

It will also cost us some moral standing with other friends around the world, especially if we downplay it. This is just more evidence, as if we needed any, that the special relationship with Israel has become a net liability. In short, unless the Obama administration demonstrates just how angry and appalled it is by this foolish act, and unless the U.S. reaction has some real teeth in it, other states will rightly see Washington as irretrievably weak and hypocritical.

From Gabriel Winant:

Why Israel will get away with it

6/1/10 -- The violence on the flotilla headed for Gaza would seem to be unambiguously bad news for Israel. In boarding a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid supplies, and involving themselves in an incident that led to at least ten civilian deaths, it seems clear that the Israeli Defense Forces have incurred a political cost for Israel that far exceeds whatever national interest they thought they were protecting. Europe is outraged, Turkey is cutting off ties, and an explosion in the occupied territories looks possible. ...

The hard consensus at the elite level in favor of tolerating whatever Israel wants to do rests on a soft consensus in American public opinion. Both are likely to survive this in some slightly diminished form, as they've survived the two Lebanon wars (complete with thoroughly unprovoked massacres), the small Gaza war and the formation of an Israeli government including a quasi-fascist foreign minister.

Plus, even though Israeli commandos Israel boarded the ships as part of a broad, explicit, and indefensible effort to keep basic supplies out of a desperately needy Gaza, Israel's supporters are aggressively pushing a blame-the-victims counternarrative. ...

American conservatives are already doubling down on their attacks on the ship passengers. Writing at Commentary, Noah Pollak actually calls them "terrorist blockade runners." Apparently, you can be a terrorist even on the receiving end of the gunfire. At the National Review Online, Daniel Pipes writes, "Israel’s enemies… turned to other means -- weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and (most recently) political delegitimization. ...

Seeing conservatives rally to Israel's defense and liberals agonize and waffle, Americans who are paying even moderate attention will probably just figure that this is more of the usual. While the Obama administration has been trying to apply pressure to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we've yet to see any willingness to expend significant political capital on the effort. This latest might give President Obama more leverage, and lend weight to his warnings that Israel is undermining its own long-term political standing. But it seems equally likely that it won't have any significant short-term consequences, and Israeli conservatives will figure that everything turned out for the best. ...

But if the killings at sea do spark a new uprising or a wave of terrorism, Israel is likely only to entrench further, and the American and Israeli right wings will both once again blame the Palestinians for obstructing peace. ... Obviously, the situation is open. Prediction is something of a mug's game. But this mug, at least, thinks that Israel is going to get away with it. ...

At the moment, for [Netanyahu] and his allies on the right, the basic model of governance is to borrow against Israel's future position, in exchange for short-term gains of security or territory. In other words, in the long term, getting away with it is bad news for Israel. But, for the time being, that isn't especially important to the Israeli government.