Holier than thou

We have all had to experience this: the people who strut in their ethical superiority because they disapprove of those of us who make rather black jokes about some ghastly event in the world. Just recently I found myself admonished by one of these holier-than-thou characters for making some comment about MH17 that was not simply a string of meaningless words that express horror and sorrow and yet more horror. The same person made it quite clear that in arguing Israel's case I was showing myself to be lacking in sensibility as people and, especially, children were being killed. To be fair, this person thought that those arguing the anti-Israeli case were equally lacking in sensibility. Clearly hadn't read the memo on how to be holier than thou.

As we know it is only those who are against Israel and, allegedly, support the Palestinians (see here and here) can be said to be sensitive to human suffering and children's deaths. (Well, no, since you mention it, not Israeli children being under attack.) In the same way I recall being told that my support for a nuclear deterrent showed my hatred for peace, love of war and carelessness about potential deaths. It could not possibly have shown that I did not think appeasement of a militant totalitarian system was unlikely to create peace or prevent deaths.

The holier than thou attitude over the Middle East or, to be quite precise, the bit of the Middle East that concerns Israel is fed by Hamas propaganda and, above all, those pictures. Those terrible pictures of people being shot, bombed, killed, their homes destroyed, their children killed, over and over again.

James Delingpole, never the most patient of men, has definitely lost his temper over the whole question, telling people to "spare him the sick manipulative dead baby propaganda photos". I know how he feels.

The boy - no older than five - was on a hospital bed. It must have happened very recently because there was still colour in his face. His eyes were closed and his expression - he can't have seen it coming, thank God - was serene. You might almost have imagined him asleep, if it weren't for the fact that his body was in bits: head and severed torso; an arm; legs and lower body; entrails.

Whoever did this, I thought, is really, really sick.

But I didn't mean the Israelis - who, I imagine, were the people I was expected to blame. Rather, I meant the sicko who scooped up the boy's remains while they were still fresh and insisted on laying them out, like some grotesque jigsaw, in order to snap them artfully for a propaganda shot. And also, all the sickos out there who have been reposting photos like these all over the internet in order to make what they seem to imagine is an unarguable point about Israel's war on Hamas.

The point they are trying to make goes like this: here is a dead child; killing children is evil; Israel killed this child; therefore Israel is evil.

Are you buying this argument? I'm not. I don't even think it qualifies as an argument. In fact, I think it has about as much insight and depth as one of those posters with kittens on it saying: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

Yet, that is precisely the way the argument runs, just as it ran back in the days of the old Cold War: if there is a war people might get killed so if you do not think we should disarm thus making it impossible for us to defend ourselves, you are in favour of people being killed.

Delingpole goes on:

What I loathe about it is its mixture of hectoring presumption and manipulative dishonesty.

Presumption: "If you support Israel, then you clearly don't care about dead children," it says. (Is there anyone in the world who isn't moved by the sight of a dead child? I don't think so. The people who are implying otherwise are beneath contempt).

Dishonesty: other than the truism that war is hell, the photograph actually tells us nothing.

We have no idea whether this boy was actually a victim of the fighting in Gaza - or of the far bloodier and uglier civil wars in Syria and Iraq.

If he was indeed a Palestinian, we have no idea whether he was killed by Israeli fire or by Hamas ordinance.

Nor, even if he was killed by Israeli fire, do we know the circumstances. Maybe it was a tragic mistake; maybe, he was one of those innocents that Hamas likes to use as human shields in its rocket launching sites; maybe he was being used as a "tunnel rat"; maybe he'd tried to flee with his family to a shelter only to be driven back to his apartment by Hamas who recognise the propaganda value of dead children.

Read the whole piece. It is not long and he does not think killing children is a good idea. Trust me.

This time even the BBC noticed

There is a reasonable argument that this time round Hamas has overplayed its hand. Not that we don't see the usual fanatical and usually quite ignorant anti-Israeli comments but, as this piece on Bloomberg points out, the voices that usually pressurize that country have been mooted somewhat. It also places the blame for this round of fighting firmly on the Hamas leadership, who have stirred up Israeli reprisals without endangering themselves very much. Well, perhaps, the day will come when the Palestinians will finally realize who their real enemy is and go after the leaders.

It seems that Hamas is being blamed by the Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as well. Then there is this curious clip that indicates a certain dissatisfaction with Hamas on the part of Arab states and, above all, leaders. The speaker is the Egyptian journalist, Abdel Bari Atwan. More on the Egyptian media here. There have been other similar pronouncements and a certain lack of enthusiasm for Hamas and its fight.

That has not prevented a number of very violent demonstrations in the West, which degenerated into torchings and riots (a picture from Paris but there are many more) and were accompanied by vicious anti-Semitic and Judaeophobic slogans that invoked positively Hitler and the Holocaust, expressing the wish that it will now be completed by Islamists. (One can't help laughing at the thought of these losers, for what else have the Palestinians been all this time, completing what Hitler did not manage but the intentions and slogans are nasty enough.)

Naturally enough, we have seen many pictures of dead Palestinian children, something that we are used to though some of us have been asking questions about those pictures for some time. Remember Green Helmet Guy? Similar stories were uncovered by other bloggers but these were left severely alone by the MSM though little by little some acknowledged the word Pallywood. Come to think of it, remember the whole saga of Mohammed Al-Dura?

So what of the various pictures of the children and the "innocent civilians" of Gaza? Well, something odd has been happening. As the Blaze points out, no less than the BBC found that a number of them have been recycled from previous wars in Gaza, from Iraq and from another war of which we hear next to nothing from these angry twitters and Facebook posters, and that is the far more ferocious one in Syria.

Here is the BBC's report on the subject. If these people have lost the BBC they are in a bad state.

So let me end this posting with a picture of a singularly unfortunate lady who seems to have been wounded in Syria and in Gaza in precisely the same way, in the company of the same old lady. Some people have no luck. (Ignore the comment on the green strip, which is superfluous in my opinion.)

Things seem a little different this time round

I mean PR-wise in Gaza. Yes, of course, the BBC refers to retaliation when Hamas sends rockets towards Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in response to the killing of top level terrorists that, in itself, was in response to many thousands of rockets fired into Israel over the last few months and even years. Yes, of course, the usual so-called anti-Zionists or anti-Israelis appear from nowhere weeping over the plight of the Palestinians, something they never do when the said Palestinians are murdered by Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah or other Arab militias.

Nevertheless, the media seems remarkably ready to acknowledge that maybe Israel has a point and leading politicians in the West are not pretending to be balanced in their judgements. Hamas is being blamed.

I can't help wondering whether this has anything to do with the sudden realization that the Gazans, poor benighted people that they are who cannot manage without huge amounts of aid, have acquired long-distance rockets. Hmm, where could those have come from? Who is playing desperate politics in that part of the world and are Hamas, Hezbollah and the others equally desperately scrambling to retain their position both with their own people (a tough call in the circumstances) and with their patrons?

Stratfor has kept up a supply of very rational analytical pieces. I was particularly taken with this picture that shows FAJR-5 impact locations.

A piece about Iran's agenda (so who did you think I was talking about?) goes through the various ramifications with special emphasis on those long-range rockets and the possibility that Hamas had not realized that Israel has known about them for some time.

On Nov. 14, Jabari was assassinated, and Hamas had to work under the assumption that Israel would do whatever it took to launch a comprehensive military campaign to eliminate the Fajr threat. It is at this point that Hamas likely resigned to a "use it or lose it" strategy and launched Fajr rockets toward Tel Aviv, knowing that they would be targeted anyway and potentially using the threat as leverage in an eventual attempt at another truce with Israel. A strong Hamas response would also boost Hamas' credibility among Palestinians. Hamas essentially tried to make the most out of an already difficult situation and will now likely work through Egypt to try to reach a truce to avoid an Israeli ground campaign in Gaza that could further undermine its authority in the territory.

And talking of Egypt, whose new government is presiding over an unstable country, which expects some of what was demanded in that Spring, that is better life and a stronger economy, to be delivered at some point, here is an analysis of the relationship between it and Israel with some reference to Sinai where the Egyptians, too, have had problems with militants.

Then there is Hezbollah, who appear to be taking a cautious approach at the moment.

With Hezbollah uncertain how the Israeli-Hamas battle will play out, the group appears to be taking a cautious approach. Stratfor has received indication that Hezbollah has prevented radical Palestinian groups in southern Lebanese refugee camps from firing rockets into northern Israel. In addition to an increase in the number of patrols by the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Hezbollah has been deploying numerous operatives in plainclothes along the border to monitor the situation. Hezbollah has also installed cameras around the Ain al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon to monitor traffic from the camp to its outside environs. Whereas Hezbollah completely controls movement into and out of Palestinian refugee camps in the deep south, Ain al Hilweh lies completely within a Sunni neighborhood. For this reason, Hezbollah has rented a number of apartments around the camp, especially in al Ta'mir area, to keep a close watch there.

Much will depend on whether there is a ground war in Gaza and how that works out as well as on developments in Syria.

Another war looming

Just as the United States re-elected the man who must rank among the most incompetent Presidents in its entire history, the Middle East is set to explode into war yet again. Post hoc is not necessarily propter hoc, I know, but one cannot help wondering in this case.

Of course, the Gazans have been using their independent status and the umpteen million pounds that they receive in aid and is not stolen by the Hamas leadership to send hundreds of rockets into Israel for many months and, even, years. The presidential election has not made any difference to them. But has it to Israel? Did they decide that with Obama back in the White House, they have little to lose and much to gain by striking back rather neatly and killing the leader of the Hamas terrorist wing in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari, as well as eight other known terrorists? Hard to tell.

Naturally enough, there have been "reprisals" and Hamas has killed three Israeli civilians as well as fired rockets into the vicinity of Tel Aviv. At least, we think it was Hamas as "both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for the attack". The BBC reported it, too. And the reprisal for that may well be Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza. Let us hope this time they will think a little more carefully about public relations than they have done in the past. At least they have taken with gusto to the twitter war that is raging between the two sides.

They have not started badly. For the first time in I don't know how long we are getting news stories that start with the fact of those Hamas rockets that have been raining on Israel. The Foreign Secretary's statement blamed Hamas for the situation that is rapidly spinning out of control though it called on Israel to preserve stability. Fair enough.

There seems no point in this blog trying to outdo the news agencies on the subject, so let me link to one or two interesting stories, instead. Firstly, a posting by Stephen Hoffman (yes, yes, I know the lad) that tries to explain to the readers of the Young Britons' Foundation site that Israel, like other countries, has the right to defend herself. Personally, I find it odd that anyone should need to argue that. Every country has the right to defend itself and Israel has been remarkably patient with those rocket-firing Gazans. Would any other country put up with it or, more to the point, expect to put up with it? (In parenthesis, let me add that I also supported Bosnia's right to defend herself back in the nineties.)

Phyllis Chesler has an interesting round-up of reactions from various tranzis and NGOs. They are what you would expect but it is still fun to read them:

So far, the governments of the United States, Britain,Germany, and Canada have asserted that Israel has a right to defend itself. The liberal democracies in the West are speaking out.

But, Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations stated that“Israeli reactions need to be measured so as not to provoke a new cycle of bloodshed.” International groups are urging "restraint."

Amnesty is calling on "all sides must step back from the brink to protect civilians;" Physicians for Human RIghts say: "Israel's decision makers (should) refrain from an attack on Gaza which may cause many victims in Gaza and Israel;" Oxfam International calls for "immediate restraint as Gaza-Israel violence escalates."

These groups did not call for restraint when Hamas launched their 700 rockets into heavily populated Israeli cities such as Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ber Sheva.

Do Ban Ki-Moon and Amnesty and the allegedly medical groups know that Israeli civilians have been murdered and wounded in these current rockets attacks—including a pregnant Chabad representative who was visiting Israel for a memorial service for the Chabad rabbi and rebbitzen z”l who were murdered in an Islamist terrorist attack in India? Do they care?

The answer to that last question is "of course not" but neither do they care about the Palestinians or they would speak up a little more loudly about the oppression imposed on them by Hamas.

The Prime Minister of Egypt is off to Gaza to support Hamas though not so long ago the Egyptian security forces had their own problems in the area. This is a particularly good time for the Egyptian government to show support for warmongering terrorists as the EU has just approved an aid package for the country's "battered economy" (though that description implies that it ever functioned satisfactorily) worth 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion or £4.02 billion). Presumably, there is just too much money floating around in the EU and we can all spare it to shore up the rickety and hostile structure called the Egyptian government.

Finally, something to make us all chuckle. Pallywood is back and the BBC happily fell for it. Do watch this interview and news story if you have not seen it yet, paying particular attention to the writhing in pain wounded man who is being carried away around 2:10 or just after and his miraculous recover around 2:42.

This and that

Why, readers might ask, does she not write more about the European Union? Is that not the most important issue around? Well, yes and no. There are many issues and I have been a little remiss in handling most of them. As for the EU, well, the more I see soi-disant eurosceptics and the more I listen to their bleating, the more I think that maybe it is time either to retire from the fight or join the other side. Probably I shan't do either but it is very tempting, particularly when I see those ridiculous campaigns for an In/Out referendum, which we are bound to lose or listen to vacuous MPs.

Enough already. Let us turn to some other issues. It is summer so the Gaza flotillas are about to set off. Everything we said last year can be said this year, with additional references to the Arab spring that seems not to be resolving into high summer but has caused a great many casualties in various Arab countries as tyrannical dictators (no, it is not a tautology) cling on to power by slaughtering as many of their people as they can manage.

Syria is a particularly good example, as the Irish Examiner points out.

If the Assad regime were deposed, it would represent a major setback to both the Iranian regime and Hezbollah. Conversely, Lebanon’s March 14 democracy campaign and the Iranian Green Movement would be emboldened by the overthrow. Since March, 1,400 demonstrators have been killed by the Syrian security forces. Assad says his people love him and promises change but the reality is bullets in the backs of women mourning their sons.

The Assads have, successfully, put down dissent before. In Hama, upwards of 10,000 people were massacred on Daddy Assad’s orders in 1982, many times more than infamously died in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps the same year.

Following in his father’s footsteps, the current Assad deployed his air force against the Kurdish minority in 2004. Scores were killed and thousands were arrested and tortured. Nevertheless, somehow Assad – like the younger Gaddafi — has managed to create an image for himself as a good guy in bad guy’s clothing. He behaves like another Gaddafi but Hillary Clinton calls him "a reformer".

The fear is, of course, that if Assad went, the Muslim Brotherhood would take over. But in the Syrian case, unlike Egypt’s, is that necessarily a step backwards? It’s tempting to think it would be a good thing if Assad were allowed to cling precariously to power. But history suggests dictators like Assad become externally aggressive in response as they try to earn legitimacy in their citizens’ eyes. Right now, compelled to devote his energies to staying in power, Assad has little time to stir up fires elsewhere. But for how long?

A nasty, bloody regime with many links to terrorists organizations and a tendency to ... well, not to put too fine a point on it, massacre the people of Syria.

The more immediate question is, why is the MV Saoirse and its assorted passengers heading for Gaza and not the Syrian coast? Surely, if anyone could use some solidarity right now, it is the Syrian opposition forces who are being murdered on a daily basis?

Yes, Israel is maintaining a sea blockade to prevent the smuggling of Iranian weaponry into Gaza. But can we really blame them? Ireland has special reason to understand the need to prevent the entry of weapons by sea for terrorist purposes, having had the experience of the IRA’s attempts to import arms and explosives on ships from Libya in 1973 (the Claudia) and 1987 (the Eksund), and — with Martin Ferris’ help — on the Marita Ann from the US in 1984.

As the deputy director of the Red Cross in Gaza stated in April this year: "There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza." But there most certainly is a humanitarian crisis in Syria. The Gazan economy is clipping along and tonnes of consumer goods and food arrive daily. For sure, life is probably not very pleasant there by our standards but the oppression comes from the ruling Hamas regime, not Israel which pulled out every last settler and soldier years ago.

So how about it, Fintan Lane, Barry Andrews, Sinn Féin, and your far-left buddies? Why not divert a couple of hundred miles north to Latakia where President Assad is mowing down his own people because they dare to demand dignity and democracy? Surely, there is no contest in terms of suffering?

One could and should address the same question to all those who are setting out in their flotillas to demonstrate something or other by sailing to Gaza.

Phyllis Chesler has harsh words:

These self-styled activists and presumed anti-racists are slumming, partying, cruising for cheap thrills and even cheaper publicity. They yearn for cut-rate, no “burn” glory. They are ultimate conformists, careerists, “making their bones,” adding to their activist resumes by sticking it to the Jews. This is meant to prove that they are brave and principled.

In essence, they are engaged in a highly self-destructive form of political theatre: they are concretely manipulating symbols in the same way that Osama bin Laden did on 9/11. In the name of “caring,” these activists are surrendering to the most dangerous totalitarian and misogynist Islamist regime—but in the name of “freedom” and “justice.”

Indeed. And they also have a tendency to whimper when Israel exercises every country's right to defend itself. And, of course, none of them have the slightest idea of what the situation in Gaza is really like or who is really oppressing the people of Gaza. Hint: the Israelis are not there but Hamas is.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has backed Syrian tyrant Baby Assad (to distinguish him from previous Syrian tyrant, Daddy Assad), naturally enough, since he has been their patron and supporter for many year.

Hezbollah has thrown in its lot with Assad against the Syrian people, supplying gunmen to execute Syrian soldiers who refuse to take part in the killing of Syrian citizens. By siding so unequivocally with the Alawite dictator over his captive, predominantly Sunni population, and in a dispute that has nothing to do with Israel no less, Hezbollah has exploded its carefully constructed image as the standard-bearer for the Muslim common man against the Zionist enemy. Outraged Syrians are now being filmed burning posters of Hezbollah’s chief, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

The big question is will either Baby Assad or Hezbollah or the two together instigate a war with Israel in order to take away attention from internal dissent of both country and organization?

ADDENDUM: Another excellent piece on the subject, this time by Kevin Myers, one of the sanest journalists around (though he is in Ireland not in Britain). He asks quite rationally "How can do-gooders possibly think that Gaza is the primary centre of injustice in Middle East?". He is, as all decent people must be, stunned by the visceral hatred Israel excites in people who ought to know better (for example Brian Keenan who was held hostage for four years by Arab terrorists).

But how can anyone possibly think that Gaza is the primary centre of injustice in the Middle East? According to Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the International Red Cross in Gaza, there is in fact no humanitarian crisis there at all. But by God, there is one in Syria, where possibly thousands have died in the past month.

However, I notice that none of the Irish do-gooders are sending an aid-ship to Latakia. Why? Is it because they know that the Syrians do not deal with dissenting vessels by lads with truncheons abseiling down from helicopters, but with belt-fed machine guns, right from the start?

What about a humanitarian ship to Libya? Surely no-one on the MV Saoirse could possible maintain that life under Gaddafi qualified it as a civilised state. Not merely did it murder opponents by the bucketload at home and abroad, it kept the IRA campaign going for 20 years, and it also -- a minor point, this, I know -- brought down the Pan Am flight at Lockerbie. Yet no Irish boat to Libya. Only the other way round.

One reluctantly assumes that these people are not motivated with feelings of humanitarian charity towards Arabs but something very different and far more pernicious.

People seem to forget about this border

The ruling Egyptian military government has announced that the border between Egypt and Gaza, the one most Western media has forgotten, will be opened this week-end. This may be a sop to "growing sentiment here in favor of distancing the country from Israel". But one can't help wondering which way popular sentiment and, indeed, the government will go when Gazan Palestinians rush into Egypt in large numbers as has happened before. After all, we still don't know how long the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, which is alleged to have prompted the move, will last. There is also the interesting question of how many of those peaceful Gazan Palestinians will use this development to build up an arsenal against Israel and to try to get a few suicide/homicide bombers into that country. Anything rather than do some hard work to make Gaza work.

Then again, do they need to make Gaza work with all the money that is pouring in. Apparently, this poverty-stricken region, this concentration camp, this latter-day Warsaw ghetto is about to acquire a huge shopping mall.

The biggest Palestinian shopping mall is scheduled to open in the Gaza Strip in mid-June.

This will be the second shopping mall to open in the Gaza Strip in a year. Last July, Palestinians opened a two-story mall that includes a supermarket, international clothing stores, a food court, beauty products, a children’s playground and a restaurant.

The modern three-story complex is the first of its kind in the Palestinian territories, said Ehab al-Issawi, executive director of the Al-Hayat Tureed Company that owns the mall.

Where exactly is the money coming from for this shopping mall and for the shopping that will be done in it?

Let me get this straight ...

The UNWRA exists solely to campaign on behalf of Palestinian refugees or people they deem to be refugees, spending a great deal of time, money and energy on attacking Israel. Yet they turn to Israel when they need protection against Palestinian Islamists in Gaza who seem to feel murderous against UNWRA. Fascinating.

The height of hypocrisy

It is not often that I link to an article signed by a politician but I shall make an exception for this one by Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon in the Wall Street Journal of about a week ago that has, rather belatedly, come my way. It is, in some respects, out of date as the promised flotilla from Lebanon from Gaza did not actually set out though it seems that the Irish Ship to Gaza Committee is planning to revive the glory days of early summer. It might be a good idea for the tender-hearted Irish organizers to read this article with its description of the life of Palestinians in Lebanon first.

Today, there are more than 400,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who are deprived of their most basic rights. The Lebanese government has a list of tens of professions that a Palestinian is forbidden from being engaged in, including professions such as medicine, law and engineering. Palestinians are forbidden from owning property and need a special permit to leave their towns. Unlike all other foreign nationals in Lebanon, they are denied access to the health-care system. According to Amnesty international, the Palestinians in Lebanon suffer from "discrimination and marginalization" and are treated like "second class citizens" and "denied their full range of human rights."

Amnesty also states that most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have little choice but to live in overcrowded and deteriorating camps and informal gatherings that lack basic infrastructure.

Perhaps, something should be done to help them. Hmmm?

Then again, little enough was done or said at the time of the ferocious war waged between the Lebanese army and the Palestinian militants who were said to have infiltrated the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp back in 2008, a war that claimed something like 500 lives many of them civilians, and displaced many thousands of people into even worse conditions.

I am glad to say that I wrote about it several times on EUReferendum at the time here, here, here, here and here. The last of those postings was also about the Mohammed al-Dura hoax but at the end I said:

Nobody is going to compare Nahr al-Bared to Stalingrad or any other important battle.

The Palestinians may be perennial victims but some victims are more equal than others. If you want the West to pay attention to what is happening to you, try to ensure that you get under the Israelis' feet. Then it really does not matter that you are treated far better than your brethren in Lebanon or Gaza – the world will know with many advantages of your plight.

All of that remains true.

The world out there

I do not want to write endless predictions about the Budget and I do not want to write about football (a game I rather like) though I have, in the past, written reams about various international competitions and the fact that they do not exactly foster what we call sporting instincts. But then, George Orwell said it so much better than I can.

So, what is there to blog? Well, for a start there is this posting by Clarice Feldman on American Thinker, with which I agree completely. (I often do agree with Clarice Feldman.) She links to another fine blog that I, shamefully, discovered but a few weeks ago, Legal Insurrection, on which Professor Jacobson argues very cogently that Israel has outmanoeuvred the Hamas flotilla stunt organizers.

While The NY Times and others portray this as a loss for Israel, which had to bow to world pressure, in reality this outcome would represent a victory for Israel because the most important goal of the blockade -- the inspection of all goods whether brought by land or sea to prevent military supplies -- now has international legitimacy.

To the extent there were purely consumer goods which were barred, such system was ineffective and senseless anyway, and Israel loses nothing by loosening up.

The naval blockade is not affected, which is the key because it was by sea that Iran was planning on supplying Hamas with more effective and deadly military supplies. Such supplies cannot get through on land in the quantities and size Hamas desires, although many smaller military supplies do get through smuggling tunnels.

Also unaffected are so-called "dual use" supplies, such as concrete, which Hamas desperately wants to build fortifications.

In the meantime, the various ships promised or threatened have not arrived from Iran and the ones from Lebanon do not even seem to have left port. I remain convinced that in Turkey this stunt has strengthened the secularists but, of course, we need to watch what happens in that country during the summer.

Those photos

The Boss has written on EUReferendum about the photos from Mavi Marmara. The most interesting story is not the cropping of the picture by Reuters but the fact that the full photos first appeared in the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet. Could this mean, I wondered, that there is some sort of a power struggle going on in Turkey? After all, not everybody is happy about the AK government's move away from secularism and traditional pro-Western foreign policy or about its support for Hamas.

Der Spiegel gives an account of how those pictures got to the newspaper and why they were published as well as reactions in Turkey and Israel. I was not too far wrong: there are strong feelings that the government has gone too far. It should not have supported Hamas or become embroiled in a very messy situation.

The fact that "the moments when the Israeli soldiers were beaten up," as Hürriyet put it, were published in a Turkish newspaper of all places is the climax of a bizarre war of interpretation that pro-Palestinian activists and the Israeli government have been waging against each other ever since the deadly raid.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan railed against Israel's "banditry and piracy." But Hürriyet belongs to the media group of entrepreneur Aydin Dogan which has been critical of the government in the past. Initially, Dogan's newspapers had criticized the Israeli raid just like Turkey's pro-government papers. But since then they have been warning against excessive Israel bashing and against the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style of government.

There could be some very serious developments in Turkey in the near future.

I wonder why ...

... The Hindu can provide a story, which is reasonably accurate, full of facts and gives both sides while Reuters and AFP merely give propaganda.

Incidentally, I am intrigued by what the White House, which against American opinion is siding with the terrorists on board those ships aid flotilla, thinks it can achieve. According to Reuters and I presume this is accurate:

"We are working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and other international partners to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistance to Gaza," a spokesman for the White House National Security Council said.

Ahem, Hamas? Remember, the organization that took power after a bloody coup directed exclusively at other Palestinians, that continues to oppress the people of Gaza and whose leaders have no problem in using aid that pours into the area for a very pleasant life for themselves? Oh yes, the organization, whose aim it is to destroy Israel because then all the Palestinians' problems will magically vanish.

Charles Krauthammer has an excellent article in the Washington Post that gives some indication (with links) of a good deal of American opinion. (Not the White House, though.) You cannot better his summary of "world opinion":

What's left? Nothing. The whole point of this relentless international campaign is to deprive Israel of any legitimate form of self-defense. Why, just last week, the Obama administration joined the jackals, and reversed four decades of U.S. practice, by signing onto a consensus document that singles out Israel's possession of nuclear weapons -- thus de-legitimizing Israel's very last line of defense: deterrence.

The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million -- that number again -- hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists -- Iranian in particular -- openly prepare a more final solution.

Is "world opinion" actually embarrassed by a country that prefers to defend itself and by a people who really mean that trite slogan: Never Again?

Aspects of hypocrisy

In the first place, here is an excellent cartoon by A. F. Branco, which came my way through Facebook, so I am stealing it quite unapologetically.

Secondly, as one reader of this blog pointed out to me, not so long ago (just about a week, in fact), Turkey, whose government (though not, I think, the armed forces) backed that Gaza flotilla and financed one of the boats as well as huffing and puffing with indignation, was censured for its unpleasant habit of imprisoning Kurdish children for alleged terrorist acts.

Now you might argue what business it is of the Council of Europe and of its envoy what Turkey does with its own citizens even if said citizens are still children. I wouldn't myself argue that but other people might. However, there is a corollary: what business is it of Turkey's that Israel refuses to allow people to land arms in Gaza?

Thirdly, a news item from another reader. There is, indeed, another blockade going on in the Middle East, one that is not receiving any attention from the world media. Yemen has been blockading South Yemen for over three weeks. And that, my friends, is a real blockade. No pussyfooting with aid or medication or basic necessities being let through.

The blockade began 17 days ago when the Western Armored Division established new checkpoints on roads and at city entrances preventing the flow of persons and commerce including food, medicine, oil and water. The blockade has cut off Radfan, Yafea, al Dhala, al Melah, al Habeelan, al Shaib, Gahaf, Lazarik, and parts of Shabwah.

The main road between Aden and al Dahlie is closed. Al Habaleen, Lahj was indiscriminately shelled three days ago after two soldiers were killed in an ambush. Another ambush in al Melah killed one soldier, and authorities have accused renegade elements of the southern independence movement with the attacks.

Nearly one thousand have fled Radfan, al Habaleen and al Bilah seeking safety. Like the 250,000 internally displaced by the Sa’ada War, these are mostly women and children. On May 24, a pregnant woman en route to a hospital in Aden was stopped at a military checkpoint and later died in childbirth.

Where, one wonders, is the outrage? The furious demonstrations? The angry denunciations and feeble condemnatory statements? Oh yes, there was one. Yemen condemned Israel for its inhumane treatment of the flotilla denizens.

Humanitarian disaster, eh?

Getting away, for the moment, from the organization behind the flotilla or what was actually carried on those boats, let us stop to consider that famous humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which receives, as we have shown time and time again, more aid per man, woman and child than any other part of the world.

Tom Gross has an interesting description of how some people live in Gaza and links to various Arab media outlets.

One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees

One does, indeed.

Bwa-ha-ha!

Oh this is too funny for words. The BBC has been misreporting the Middle East for years as its own (unreleased but leaked) report acknowledged. It has refused to acknowledge the truth about the Gaza flotilla or its participants and still refers to those heavily armed thugs as "humanitarian aid workers". As Charles Krauthammer says, there is no humanitarian disaster in Gaza (well, apart from its bloodthirsty, oppressive government run by Hamas.

There’s no one starving in Gaza. The Gazans have been supplied with food and social services, education, by the U.N., by UNWRA, for 60 years, in part with American tax money.

Second, when there are humanitarian needs, the Israelis allow — every day — food and medicine overland into Gaza. The reason that it did not want to allow this flotilla is because, as the spokesman for the flotilla said herself, this was not about humanitarian relief. It was about breaking the blockade.

And the reason the Israelis have a blockade is because they only want to allow humanitarian supplies and not weaponry. Look, the proof of that is the fact that if you look at a map of Gaza, you'll see that Israelis only control three sides of this rectangle. There’s a fourth side on the Egyptian side. So it is an Egyptian-Israeli blockade.

Well, the BBC does not see it that way.

Yet the BBC's supine attitude is not good enough for some people.

Protesters demonstrating against the Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship have attempted to storm the BBC in Manchester.

More than 800 people marched through the city centre and down Oxford Road, where the crowd surged at the BBC's entrance, smashing its front doors.

One man climbed to the top of the building to plant a Palestinian flag and there were at least three arrests.

Protesters said they were also angry about the BBC's coverage of Israel.

One can't help feeling for those BBC inmates. Just what exactly do these demonstrators want, they might ask. What sort of coverage would satisfy them?

Here we go again

Roni Sofer on Ynetnews.com calls his article: Israeli PR disaster, again. And how right he is. Read the sequence of events and the tardiness with which the IDF and the Israeli government presented evidence of what that wretched flotilla was really about. At the time I saw several Israelis posting on the internet about there being no Israeli feed from the area. Why not? Why were foreign journalists not briefed? Why were those pictures and videos that are now, belatedly, making their way round the internet not released earlier? Why were friendly bloggers not briefed? One can go on and on. It's a good thing so many of us are prepared to go on fighting for what we see as the right cause.

Follow the money

Jonathan Schanzer does in the Weekly Standard. Interesting but unsurprising links there between the non-profit (and that, in itself, covers a multitude of sins) organization behind the Gaza flotilla IHH (Islan Haklary Ve Hurriyetleri Vakfi in Turkish) and some others, who are known to be financiers of terrorism. I am shocked, I tell you, shocked.

Those great humanitarians speak out

I received this e-mail from UN Watch today. Is it not delightful to see Arab and Islamic Blocs to get so worked up about human rights that they forget the obvious fact that Israel no longer occupies Gaza? Oh, and what happened about the UN and that South Korean ship torpedoed by North Korea?

UN Watch BriefingNews and Analysis from UN Watch in Geneva

June 1, 2010

"Urgent Debate" at U.N. Human Rights Council

Arab & Islamic Blocs Prepare Resolution Condemning Israeli Reaction to High Seas Intifada

Geneva, June 1 -- the UN Human Rights Council is now holding an "Urgent debate" on the "raid on the Flotilla." For detailed, first-hand facts not mentioned by the UN, see TIP Sheet at bottom.

Below is the draft resolution submitted this morning by the Islamic and Arab blocs, co-sponsored with the Palestinian delegation. It calls for another “Goldstone Report”-style inquiry, to perpetuate and increase global political pressure on Israel. Because they enjoy an automatic majority from the council's non-democracies like China, Cuba, and Russia, the resolution is certain to pass. Changes might come if the EU pushes for it.

To date, the 47-nation council -- to which Qaddafi's Libyan dictatorship and slave-holding Mauritania were just elected -- has devoted 33 out of its 40 censure resolutions to Israel, as well as 6 out of its 9 special sessions dealing with countries. By contrast, well-publicized killings of innocent civilians this year in Iran, China, and Nigeria have been met with a yawn, indifference, and inaction.

Below that is the UN Security Council statement that was adopted early this morning in New York. Its tone is much less extreme, and includes moderate language, but one still ought to ask
Follow today's UNHRC debate live through our twitter feed at www.twitter.com/

(Ed. note: Typos below are from original text.)

Draft Resolution L.1
Submitted on 1 June 2010 at 10.01 am

By Pakistan (Organization of the Islmaic Conference), Sudan (Arab Group), and Palestine

Agenda Item 1

The Grave Attacks by Israeli Forces Against the Humanitarian Boat Convoy

Guided by the purposes and the principles of the United Nations Charter, as well as by the provisions of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights,

Taking into consideration the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian persons in times of war of 12 August 1949,

Emphasizing the importance of the safety and well-being of all civilians including humanitarian personnel,

Expressing grave concern also at the deepening humanitarian crisis in Occupied Gaza,

Emphasizing the need to ensure sustained and regular flow of goods and people into Occupied Gaza and welcoming the initiatives aimed at creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid;

1. Condemns in the strongest terms possible the outrageous attack by the Israeli forces against the humanitarian flotilla of ships which resulted in the killing and injuring of many innocent civilians from different countries;

2. Deeply deplores the loss of life of innocent civilians and expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families;

3. Requests the ICRC to seek and provide information on the whereabouts status and condition of the detained and injured persons

4. Demands the Occupying Power Israel to immediately release all detained men and material and facilitate their safe return to their homelands.

5. Calls upon the Occupying power Israel to ensure the unimpeded provision of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment to the occupied Gaza strip;

6. Welcomes the statements of the Secretary General UN and the High Commissioner for Human Rights condemning the Israeli attacks and calls for the full accountability and credible independent inquiries into these attacks.

7. Decides to dispatch an independent international fact finding mission to investigate violations of international law resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.

8. Decides to remain seized of this matter.

__________________

U.N. Security Council Statement on Gaza Flotilla

June 1, 2001

The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza. The Council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least ten civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families.

The Security Council requests the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel. The Council urges Israel to permit full consular access, to allow the countries concerned to retrieve their deceased and wounded immediately, and to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance from the convoy to its destination.

The Security Council takes note of the statement of the UN Secretary-General on the need to have a full investigation into the matter and it calls for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards.

The Security Council stresses that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable. The Council re-emphasizes the importance of the full implementation of Resolutions 1850 and 1860. In that context, it reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stresses the need for sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.

The Security Council underscores that the only viable solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an agreement negotiated between the parties and re-emphasizes that only a two-State solution, with an independent and viable Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbours, could bring peace to the region.

The Security Council expresses support for the proximity talks and voices concern that this incident took place while the proximity talks are underway and urges the parties to act with restraint, avoiding any unilateral and provocative actions, and all international partners to promote an atmosphere of cooperation between the parties and throughout the region.
(Source: Reuters)

__________________
See Gaza Footage For Yourself
Source: The Israel Project TIP SheetMay 31, 2010



Close-Up Footage of Mavi Marmara Passengers Attacking IDF Soldiers Video footage from idfnadesk, the Israeli Defense Forces' YouTube Channel, May 31, 2010

Video taken by IDF naval boat shows the passengers of the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the 'Free Gaza' Flotilla, violently attacking IDF soldiers who were trying to board the ship after having sent repeated requests for the boat to change course. [more]

Videos of today's tragic incident off the coast of Israelhttp://www.theisraelproject.org/videos
TIP will continue to monitor the situation and upload new royalty-free footage to our video player as new content is available.

MEMRI TV Clips on the Gaza Flotilla: Activists On Board Chant Songs of Martyrdom at Departure

Gaza flotilla participants created war atmosphere before confronting Israel Participants chanted Islamic battle cry invoking killing of Jews and called for MartyrdomArticle by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, May 31, 2010

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!" [more]

Statement from Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriella Shalev
The Security Council is convened this afternoon following the serious event that took place today early morning local time, when a convoy of six ships attempted to break the maritime blockage off the cost of Gaza. [ Read More ]

The Gaza flotilla and the maritime blockade of Gaza - Legal background Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 31, 2010 A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. It has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza. [more]

IDF coordinates the transfer of truckloads of humanitarian aid on a daily basis. Archive Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Behind the Headlines: The Israeli humanitarian lifeline to Gaza Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 25, 2010

Well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel over the last 18 months equaling nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza. Millions of dollars worth of international food aid continually flows through the Israeli humanitarian apparatus, ensuring that there is no food shortage in Gaza. [more]


Protesters Attack with Guns and Knives, Israel Regrets 10 Dead Injured Evacuated to Israeli Hospitals TIP Press Release, May 31, 2010

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in a press conference on Monday (May 31) regarding the Turkish-led flotilla that:"The armada of hate and violence in support of Hamas terror organization was a premeditated and outrageous provocation." [more]

Group with Terrorist Ties Attempts to Deliver Supplies to Gaza, Refuses to Deliver Letter to Captive Israeli Soldier TIP Press Release, May 28, 2010

A flotilla of pro-Palestinian demonstrators with links to terrorist groups is en route to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israeli government requests to deliver their shipment through legal channels. [more]


IDF forces met with pre-planned violence when attempting to board flotilla Previously, Israel Navy warned the flotilla that the Gaza region is closed to maritime traffic.May 31, 2010
Early this morning (31 May), IDF naval forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. This happened after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israel Navy that were issued prior to the action. [more]


Weapons prepared on the Mavi Marmara Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Behind the Headlines: The seizure of the Gaza flotilla Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 31, 2010

Despite attacks by Hamas, Israel maintains an ongoing humanitarian corridor for the transfer of food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza, used by internationally recognized organizations including the United Nations and the Red Cross. [more]

IHH head Bülent Yildirim aboard the Mavi Marmara, holding a young child. He said children were brought along to prevent Israel from attacking the ships (IHH website, May 30 2010).

The Flotilla to the Gaza Strip – Update The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) Press ReleaseMay 30, 2010As of the afternoon of May 30, five ships were located near Cyprus and had not yet set sail for the Gaza Strip. The sixth boat, Challenger II, which belongs to the Free Gaza flotilla and carries 14 members of European parliaments, was expected to join the five ships between Cyprus and Gaza. [more]

Flotilla YouTube Videos from Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
IDF - Navy Warns Flotilla (31 May 2010)
MFA Spokesman on Gaza Flotilla - 24 May 2010

More Flotilla YouTube Videos:
True Human Rights Activists don't hug Vicious HR Violators Posted by user MHLE2010, May 27, 2010

Beating the Hell Out of Israeli Naval Commandos BBC Footage posted by user LetsFreeGaza, May 31, 2010

A brutal ambush at sea Article by Ron Ben-Yishai, May 31, 2010

Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of ‘peace activists,’ and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter. [more]

Source: The Israel Project TIP Sheet

That stupid they are not

The Turkish armed forces know with whom they want to be on good terms. Reuters reports that "a diplomatic crisis with Israel after the Jewish state stormed a Turkish-backed aid convoy will not affect the planned delivery of Israel-made Heron drones to Turkey". Quite right, too.

Incidentally, how would the Turkish forces have reacted if Israel or, indeed, any other country had backed an "aid convoy" to help various Kurdish groups? Methinks somewhat more casualties would have been the order of the day.

Yes, it was a deliberate provocation

Melanie Phillips often goes over the top but this article does not just give her opinion but provides links and quotations from various sources. Well worth reading for anyone who wants to get beyond the routine hysteria of the BBC and other Western reactions such as our own Foreign Secretary, who, as ever, manages to put his foot into his mouth the moment he opens the latter.

(I particularly like the idea of Turkey getting indignant about Israel's reaction. How does this compare with their own treatment of various Kurdish organizations and, indeed, of Kurdish civilians. The people on those boats were not "civilian" by any definition.)

The problem remains, though: why does Israel not manage its PR better. Well, there is nothing for it: we all need to get involved in this propaganda war.

A slightly different show

Here is a short film from Al-Jazeera, as transmitted through MEMRI of those "peaceful" activists on board of the flotilla that was trying to reach Gaza.