The last time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, DC, it was widely reported that he was snubbed by President Obama. I can’t recall the specifics, but I think it had to do with the fact that Netanyahu had announced, right before heading into peace talks, that Israel would be greatly expanding its roundly despised settlement program in east Jerusalem. Given this, one wonders what’s in store for Netanyahu tomorrow, when he’s scheduled to visit Washington and meet with Obama. One would think, given the fact that Israeli forces last night killed at least nine peace activists in international waters, that his reception at the White House would be similarly chilly… Here, by way of background, is a clip from Glenn Greenwald:
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 (many reports now put the numbers at 19 dead and 60 injured). The Israeli Defense Forces is claiming that its soldiers were attacked with clubs, knives and “handguns” when they boarded the ship without permission, but none of the Israeli soldiers were killed while two are reported injured. Those on the ships emphatically state that the IDF came on board shooting… An IDF spokesman said: “Our initial findings show that at least 10 convoy participants were killed.”
And here’s a clip from Foreign Policy magazine’s blog about the probable outcome of these actions:
…(T)he international response has been swift. Turkey has recalled its ambassador and warned of “consequences,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an investigation, European governments have expressed shock, and I imagine thousands of outside observers like me are wondering just what possessed the Israeli government to risk such an outcome when it sent naval commandoes to board the vessel.
As Haaretz’s Amos Harel puts it, “The damage that Israel has caused itself internationally can hardly be exaggerated.” Harel warns that the rumored presence of an Israeli Arab activist among the victims could lead to riots and perhaps even “a third intifada”…
As was alluded to above, there’s some discrepancy as to what happened when. And, both sides are releasing video. Israel Defense forces have released footage showing their commandos being beaten with what look like pipes upon being lowered to the ship by helicopter and otherwise roughed up by an unruly mob. The international aid workers and peace activists onboard the ship, however, claim that shots were fired before the commandos hit the deck. Given the fact that no members of the Israeli Defense Forces were killed, while at least nine peace activists were, however, seems to indicate to some that the actions of the IDF, even if they came in response to aggressive behavior on the part of peace activists, were disproportionate to the threat.
I don’t know how much stock I put in it, as it sounds suspiciously like a hail Mary pass in the wake of overwhelming international blow-back, but Israeli spokespeople are now suggesting that they responded how they did due to evidence that al Qaeda was somehow involved.
One more thing to chew on… What if this wasn’t a huge PR blunder at all, but something that was done very deliberately? That, according to U-M professor Juan Cole, is a distinct possibility. Here’s a clip:
…There are two possible reasons for the violence. One is that the Israeli troops boarding the vessels met some sort of resistance and over-reacted. Aid volunteers are unlikely, however, to have posed much real challenge to trained special forces operatives.
The other possible reason is that the far rightwing government of Binyamin Netanyahu and his foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman gave a green light to the commandos to respond with excessive force. That is, the deaths and woundings may have been a brutally frank warning to any future Gaza aid activists that they are taking their lives in their hands if they plan any more flotillas to help the Palestinians. The Israeli far right may have felt that there was otherwise a danger that in a few months there would be an even bigger flotilla and that eventually the blockade of Gaza would be broken.
Although we outsiders would welcome this development because we are concerned about the health and well-being of Palestinian children under blockade, the Israeli Right views all Gazans as terrorists and sees besieging them as the only way to safeguard Israelis from attack. The Israeli Right is being paranoid and inhumane in this belief. There is no reason to think that denying Palestinians enough food or medical supplies or concrete will actually deter the small number directly involved in violence.
It is worth noting on Memorial Day that the Israeli attack deeply complicates the task of the US military in the region. It is a propaganda boon for Sunni extremists and Shiite activists such as Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq, and for the Taliban in Afghanistan. It undermines the authority of the Egyptian and Jordanian governments, which have US-brokered peace treaties with Israel, treaties that are deeply unpopular with ordinary people in both countries. That some demonstrations are being held in front of US consulates and not just Israeli ones tells us who will get the blame for Netanyahu’s machismo…
I know Israel has a huge and powerful lobby in this country, and I’m truly sympathetic to their safety concerns, but, at some point, if they keep behaving in this manner, I’d have to think that we as a nation would be forced to recognize that our interests and theirs do not necessarily coincide. Fortunately, I know that there are still good people in Israel who are interested in negotiating a two-state solution in good faith. And, my hope is that someday soon they’re given the opportunity to do so. I haven’t seen any Israeli polling data to confirm this, but my sense is that these most recent actions by the Netanyahu government may not just be upsetting the rest of the world, but people within Israel as well. At least that’s what I hope.
update: Netanyahu has apparently backed out of tomorrow’s scheduled meeting with Obama.
20 Comments
I think your faith in the good people of Israel is misplaced.
My evidence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze5dbxPO8cU
To answer your question, I don’t think the Israeli government thinks at all abut how their actions will be received by the international community.
The Israeli government is thinking, as Salon.com states,:
“the most crucial relationship Israel has is with the United States, and there isn’t much indication yet of that this will alter that relationship. 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, ”
All Israel has to do is say, “Well, sure, we staged an act of piracy and killed people – but they resisted! We think they must have been terrorists.” The American people will respond with frowns and nodding, back an “investigation” (which will be difficult when Israel won’t allow access to half the story), and make another batch of popcorn to keep watching BP reality tv unfold.
Jack Bauer’s got those aid workers under control – but when are Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck going to save the gulf?!
Based on their history, there is really no reason to think that this action was not deliberate. Calling Israel out for their truly awful policies is still the great taboo in this country. Even the most provocative, seemingly left of media figures in this country (Bill Maher for example) are lightning quick to defend the Israeli government when someone dares to speak some of these truths in the major media. They get very, very nervous and change the subject quickly. Without electing some monster, white-supremacist thinking leader, it would be nice to see our government stand up to Israel and cut off aid completely until they make real efforts to give these people a fair settlement. During the campaign it was hinted that Obama sort of thought this way. But there is no reason to expect him to do anything like it based on his pretty timid actions so far.
Maybe they were thinking that they have a right to survive even though they are surrounded by countries that would like to wipe them off the map. Maybe they realize that they need to inspect the flotilla of boats parked offshore so that they aren’t used to bring in more rockets that will be used against their civilian population. Maybe they were thinking that British Palestine has already been divided up and 80% is now considered Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon and that further dividing Jerusalem is not in their best interests. Maybe they were thinking that they have to provide for their own defense, since the rest of the world is not going to help. Maybe they were thinking that the next “Peace Proposal” is always one more Muslim majority country and further loss of land of the only Jewish majority country. If we really want a two state solution, we’ll need to eliminate dozens of Muslim states.
Maybe it’s that the Israeli military is largely disorganized and fractious and prone to heavy handed stupidity.
Maybe they were thinking that they have to provide for their own defense, since the rest of the world is not going to help.
God damn you’re an idiot.
Why don’t you try to get some dumbass teatard member of congress to officially declare Israel a fetus.
You also forgot to mention how those poor defenseless Israeli bullets were savagely attacked by the bodies of anti-semites.
Rahm Emanuel, our White House Chief of Staff, isn’t the guy to play hardball with Israel. Here’s something about his dad from Wikipedia:
His father, the Jerusalem-born Dr. Benjamin M. Emanuel is a pediatrician who was active in the Irgun (Hebrew: ארגון), a hardline group that fought for Israeli independence until 1948 and was branded as a terrorist organisation by the British colonial authorities.
Turkey says there will be another flotilla, and it will have Turkish military escort.
Allow me to interject a little Finkelstein.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5drXEXkf9s
The flotilla may not have worked, but, as a result of it, “Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has ordered the border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to be opened.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10201165.stm
Another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, is on it’s way to Gaza for Ireland. Which makes me think that maybe that’s the reason Egypt agreed to open up its border. I think maybe Obama asked them to so that the Rachel Corrie could be rerouted, avoiding another bloody attack.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0601/breaking33.html
From the Progress Report:
Israel acknowledged big mistakes today concerning the bungled boarding of a Gaza-bound aid ship. They didn’t go in hard enough, fast enough and in sufficient numbers to establish overwhelming control. Though they were within their legal rights to board the ship and inspect the cargo, they didn’t expect that the “peace activists”, who were purportedly bringing only humanitarian aid and who vastly outnumbered the few soldiers who boarded, to immediately begin to beat the soldiers with metal rods.
Israel has a right to defend itself, including the continuation of its UN and Egyptian sanctioned blockade on Gaza, a terrorist-controlled enclave on its border. The blockade prevents more sophisticated arms from reaching the hands of the Hamas terrorists who continue to conduct terror attacks and fire missiles at Israel. Since June 2007, rival terrorist groups, Hamas and Fatah, have wrestled for control of the Palestinian Authority, with Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank. Former Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas long ago announced the dissolution of the former unity government and declared a state of emergency. Hamas and Fatah accused each other of a coup d’état; neither recognizes the authority of the other government.
To defend human rights, the people of the global community must take action and eliminate the terrorists and relocate the Palestinians to countries where legitimate governments exist to secure their rights. We wouldn’t allow terrorists to conduct raids on the U.S. from neighboring countries and we shouldn’t look the other way when they attack Israel either.
It’s taken me literally years to come to an opinion on Israel/Palestine. I find it to be one of the most complicated political situations on the planet.
I am amazed that people are able to approach it in such a simple and black and white fashion and still get out of bed in the morning.
FYI: Human rights does not usually entail forcibly removing people from their homeland and sending them to other countries.
“We expected them to shoot people in the legs, to shoot in the air, just to scare people, but they were direct. Some of them shot in the passengers’ heads. Many people were murdered – it was unimaginable.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/02/gaza-flotilla-raid-gunfire-ship-blood
Looks like Obama killed the UN security council’s demand for an investigation.
Turkey has led criticism of the raid, accusing Israel of committing a “massacre”, and the UN security council demanded an impartial investigation. There were reports in the Israeli media today that Israel had ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of Turkish anger at the raid.
Washington blocked an attempt at the UN security council for an international inquiry yesterday, issuing a mild statement regretting the loss of life. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, later called the situation in Gaza “unsustainable”.
more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/02/gaza-flotilla-activists-deported-jordan
From the Washington Post –
An American citizen of Turkish origin was among the nine Turks killed in a botched Israeli effort to stop a Turkish aid ship from reaching the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a Turkish official said on Thursday.
“It’s a Turkish origin, American citizen. We know that,’’ the official said by phone from Turkey, adding that more details were not yet available.
The nine bodies were flown home from Israel to Turkey, along with hundreds of activists, aboard a Turkish plane yesterday. Israel was not able to identify the bodies because the dead had no identification on them, Israeli officials said.
The killing of nine Turks has created enormous tensions in the relationship between Israel and Turkey.
Israel has come under widespread criticism following the operation, aimed at maintaining a blockade of Gaza. Israel accused the Turkish contingent of being part of a radical Islamic movement and showed video of passengers attacking naval commandos as they landed on board.
I propose changing the name of this post to what in the hell is joe biden thinking?
Shit’s gonna get interesting now.
Iran has offered to escort the next aid convoy into Gaza.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/gaza-blockade-iran-aid-convoy