Comment & Debate
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren Statement. IsraelPolitik. May 31, 2010: “Israel regrets the casualties on both sides of this tragic incident, although responsibility rests solely with Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, and the participants who organized this flotilla. Israel labored intensely to persuade the demonstrators to convey the flotilla’s cargo to Israel where, after proper screening, it would be transferred to responsible parties in Gaza. Unfortunately, the organizers were not interested in providing humanitarian aid to the civilians of Gaza, but rather in staging a premeditated and highly publicized provocation of Israel.”
Ben Caspit wrote in Israel’s Maariv daily in late May of 2010: “The Turkish flotilla is as much a ‘peace flotilla’ as (Iranian President) Mahmud Ahmadinejad is Mother Teresa.”[1] In addition, the fact that dozens of cameras and videos were brought by activists confirm that the provocation was planned. Finally, flotilla passengers interviewed prior to departure labeled themselves martyrs. [2][3]
Alan Dershowitz. “Israel obeyed international law: Legally, the Gaza flotilla conflict is an open-and-shut case”. NY Daily News. June 2, 2010 “Were those onboard the ship simply innocent noncombatants? The act of breaking a military siege is itself a military act. And let there be no mistake about the purpose of this flotilla; it was decidedly not to provide humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, but rather to break the entirely lawful Israeli military blockade. The proof lies in the fact that both Israel and Egypt offered to have all the food, medicine and other humanitarian goods sent to Gaza, if the boats agreed to land in an Israeli or Egyptian port. That humanitarian offer was soundly rejected by the leaders of the flotilla, who publicly announced: “This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it’s about breaking Israel’s siege on 1.5 million Palestinians.”
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu: “This was not a love boat. This was a hate boat. These weren’t pacifists, they weren’t peace activists. These were violent supporters of terrorism.”
Joel Leyden. “Hamas Gaza jihad flotilla organizers not humanitarian, wanted massacre for propaganda purposes.” Israel News Agency. May 31, 2010: “Hamas Gaza jihad flotilla organizers not humanitarian, wanted massacre for propaganda purposes.” “The Israel Navy this morning blocked the Hamas backed ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla’, a group of ships carrying up to 800 people from entering the Gaza Strip.
Israel was well aware that this was not a humanitarian love boat trek but rather an exercise in Islamic digital PR.
The organizers of the Palestine Flotilla to Gaza consisted of some of the worst global terror groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and their fund raisers the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
What made this Palestine PR stunt or electronic Jihad exercise even more barbaric was the blatant use of volunteers on the ship who had good and true humanitarian intentions.”
“The Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel was not humanitarian.” Spero News. June 2nd, 2010: “According to a backgrounder by the America-Israel Cooperative Enterprise, Israel and Egypt have imposed an embargo on the importation of weapons and certain dual-use items into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel has allowed regular convoys of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, provided Palestinians access to medical care, continued to provide most of Gaza’s electricity, and transferred funds for the ongoing activity of international organizations and to pay the salaries of Palestinian Authority workers. Photos that appeared in a Palestinian newspaper showed bustling marketplaces full of consumer goods and fruits and vegetables.378
Hamas has nevertheless allied with various critics of Israel to promote the idea of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza for the purpose of embarrassing Israel and stimulating international pressure on Jerusalem to end its blockade. The latest provocation involved the mobilization of a flotilla of ships, which was advertised as an aid mission, but behaved in a manner that showed their true interest was to achieve a propaganda victory through a public confrontation with Israeli forces.
In the days before the ships left Turkey, the Israeli government informed the organizers of the mission that they would not be allowed to enter Gaza because it was a closed military zone. They were told that they would be welcome to dock in the Israeli port city of Ashdod where, after inspection to ensure no weapons or prohibited articles were included in the cargo, the goods would be handed over to the UN for delivery to Palestinians in Gaza. The organizers of the mission refused. They made clear that this mission was not about delivering aid, but was in fact a political demonstration to ‘break the siege on Gaza.'”