With a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza expected to reach the region sometime this weekend, Israeli officials are all set to take military action to prevent those aid workers from reaching the shore of the besieged strip.
The Israeli Navy has planned to capture and seize all the vessels and detain the aid workers on board. They even have tents set up in advance for the mass processing of the aid workers, which incude a Nobel laureate, a Holocaust survivor, and several European MPs.
The planned attack on aid workers in international waters and the seizure of their cargo of medicine and building materials has taken on an air of shocking palatability in the mainstream of public discourse, with no real doubt that Israel’s military will crush the aid workers by any means necessary and no real questioning of why.
Israel’s list of banned goods is downright bizarre, and while officials claim no complete official list exists, the capricious banning of things like pencils and chocolate under its blanket ban on “luxury” items to the strip has stripped any pretense of legitimacy the blockade may once have enjoyed.
At this point, much of Israel’s blockade seems downright mean-spirited, ensuring that things like ginger and coriander never reach the shores of the tiny enclave. But the flotilla’s cargo isn’t just barrels of cumin and sesame seeds, aiming to make Gaza’s steady diet of rice, chickpeas and air strikes more palatable.
The bulk of the cargo, though no official list has been made public, seems to be building materials, long banned by Israel but badly needed since Israel’s January 2009 invasion of the strip, which left many of the buildings in ruins with no material to repair them. Some Gazans have taken to rebuilding their homes out of mud since Israel feels things like wood and cement are simply too much of a “luxury.” The remainder will be medicine that, while not actually banned, has only been allowed in in an extremely limited manner.
Somehow no question of the legitimacy of Israel’s blockade is ever raised, and when Israeli officials let out the clarion call for European nations to foil the aid ships, though many nations didn’t do so there was no real public discussion of it.
At the end of the day, Israel did manage to convince Cyprus to block the aid ships from gathering in its territorial waters, which will perhaps delay the confrontation by a few hours. Israeli officials have lauded Cyprus’ move as “an ethical deed.” As those officials order their military to seize medicine bound for the sick and building materials bound for the homeless, one wonders that anyone considers their estimation of what is ethical important at all.
After arresting the so-called "aid workers" , the Israeli Navy should scuttle the ships with their cargoes on board. And those Palestinian sympathizers should be imprisoned with Palestinian terrorists, and only released when Israel does another prisoner trade.
Jeez, you make Hitler look like a visionary!!!! you people are just Evil and should all be destroyed. Have a nice day!
That's okay, Andrew, old boy. There will be lots of Zionist prisoners the next time your charming country invades Lebanon. Hezbollah will also help reduce your ability to commit piracy when it sinks your fleet – every last Holocaust-booty corvette and submarine in it.
thare by increasing their bargaining power and sindicated economic activities thare by creating yet more perpetual crisis and rackateiring,wait a minute is that a zoo or an indoor(underworld) open-air prison,greater metropolitian SIAM that is,oo,what,etc,etc,,,
It is refreshing to see that some of us out here can discern evil from good. Where is the outcry from incoming rockets fired from the roofs of elementary schools and hospitals into Israel? The militant radical faction of the Palestinian people and the entire Islamic community are a cancer on the planet. John
sure sounds like Andrew111 forgot to take hit medication.
Typical Ziono BS…
We are the victims, Why is the would against us…….
Get a fuckin life…..
Andrewp111, ADOLPH H. would have been SO PROUD of you and ones similar to you. You seem to like to remind all of us on HIS SPIRIT…….
Adolph H certainly would have been proud of anti-war.com
What happened to your sense of shame? I am ashamed for you.
"Adolph H certainly would have been proud of anti-war.com "
Wow, never knew Adolf was a peacenik. Who'd have known? Never would have guessed that Adolf was anit-war. Don't know why that didn't occur to me.
If you ever needed anything to tell you that there are people so twisted up inside that they've completely lost all sense of direction, I think a post saying Hitler would have been anti-war really must be the ultimate.
somewhare in between pro and anti,i'm confused,i think what was left open for dis-associative conjuncture(whew) is that were so easily amused/appeased,in anti war 's live media stream of current events,name one better p diddy 111
Thank you Neil. Well said.
Israeli attack occurring in international waters? That amounts to piracy on the high seas. To the best of my recollection there are laws against that sort of stuff. But then again since when did Israel ever care about international law. Once again Israel will demonstrate it is just a sick country full of sick people run by a sick government.
I'm guessing that CNN and Faux won't be running any huge news stories on the need to contain the Israeli pirates?
But we will still know.
sick,its' not the BAD medicine again is it,should we put the lime in the coconut,or just keep repeating the same tactics that seem finito somehow,unless of course yer/i/am blind or desire resolution through sacrafice ,allright unleash the goat and stand back, carefull it may be loaded,baah,baah black sheep syndrome,waah,what kinda goat is that anyway,inquiring minds wanna know,come on have a sense of humour,the best medicine
Remember the USS Liberty!
Someone is missing from the Kibbutz! Andrew, your mother is calling.
why not hire black water to guard the convoy two birds one stone you know
Mean-spirited just evil in my opinion no legitimate right to blocade the people from the start. I find this article weak on substance.
We should hold up the MULTI BILLIONS that we send to parasite israels war machine EVERY year. The Palesianians only get a few paltry million.
These miserable people are so wrapped up in their victimization, that they are utterly blind to the suffering they cause others. They have been stripped of their humanity and are empty shells full of hatred and bile.
yah know they may have set their Wi-Fi too high and temporarilly smothered their dreams,it boils water ya know
Messing with the Turks is a very, very bad idea.
Israel could open fire on the flotilla, killing everyone on board the boats, and the house of representatives would pass a resolution with a vote of 400 to 4 supporting Israel's right to do whatever it feels like.
And Senate 100 to 0.
After the resolution, the best Congress Israel can buy will then vote with the same numbers to double military "aid" to the Zionists, because Israel is "threatened with annihilation."
Israel has the right to protect itself against the legions of dangerous foreign aid workers, peace activists, and 85-year-old holocaust survivors that wish to wipe it off the map!
and push it into the sea just east of the medaterrianian
And how many reading this list voted for those 400 representatives and those 100 Senators?
Stop doing that …. please.
The Israelis have German submarines, presumably with German torpedos. Wouldn't the neatest resolution be to sink the ships and blame it on North Korea?
By the way, the US, along with a few other countries, was stupid enough to help the Israelis develop nuclear weapons. Were the Germans stupid enough to give those submarines to the Israelis without including some impossible to disassemble signature device which lets them know where they are at all times? Or did they include a remote control self-destruct concealed as a bulkhead or beer locker or such?
Just no imagination nowadays.
The terrorist apologists aboard this boat should be tried in Israeli court for aiding and abetting terrorists.
And the Israeli leadership should be tried in Hague for genocide. Keeping people in an open air prison, killing them occassionally to keep their numbers down, witholding and rationing food, medicine, shelter, education and the means of earning a living are crimes of genocide.
U misspelled your name, it should be Shmuck Ben Genetic Degeneratesky…Every man, woman and child in Israel is a TERRRORRRRIST, THIEF, RAPIST, TORTURER, AND BABY KILLER.
Dirtbags like you strengthen the Israeli spine. Thank you to all the dirtbags and human filth everywhere for reminding Jews why Israel is so necessary.
The only terrorists are the Zionist criminals and their enablers, like you. Israel is on a suicide course and needs an "intervention". A single multi-ethnic state is the obvious solution, once you get out from behind homicidal paranoia, and the triumphal delusion that nukes can protect you from eventual accountability. It's that or Masada Redux.
look he's picking his nose,TERROSTIC ACTIVITIES,no actual word for war in hebrew is that accurate?
We often hear the phrase "Israel's right to exist" and along with it, "Israels' right to self-defense." Notwithstanding the faux-legitimacy given these concepts by gross repetition, there is another, fact-based, truth-based, point of view.
In 1917, the British imperial executive (the Foreign Office) and the World Zionist Organization colluded in a criminal conspiracy to steal Palestine from the 95% Arab population who had lived there for 70 generations, and to give it to the Jews/Zionists. This "plan" was a crime then, as it is a crime now. A crime is still a crime, despite control and censorship of the media. A crime is still a crime despite 90 years of impunity from prosecution or 90 years of propaganda. NO AMOUNT OF TIME CAN CHANGE A LIE INTO THE TRUTH; NO AMOUNT TIME CAN CONVERT A CRIME INTO A LEGAL ACT.
The Zionist entity called Israel is nothing less than a geopolitical
crime-in-progress. This is reality. This is fact.
So when next you hear about Israel's "right to exist", consider: no crime has a "right to exist", no criminal enterprise has a "right to exist". Correspondingly, no criminal has a "right to self-defense". No criminal has a right to commit violence in the furtherance of a crime. No criminal has the right to fight back against the lawful authority that arrives to halt the crime and arrest the criminals.
Israel, the Zionists, their enablers, and their supporters are criminals: thieves and murderers on a global scale. They have no "right to exist" (as criminals) and they have no "right to self-defense" as they commit their crimes.
But they do have rights. They have the right to surrender to a competent authority. The right to a fair trial. If found guilty, the right to a proportionate penalty. And once the offending parties have "done their time", the right to rejoin society and resume a peaceful cooperative existence.
Incidentally, there is no such thing as "right to exist" under international law. UN has a process by which nations are RECOGNIZED within a specific territory, and their territorial integrity is protected by UN charter. In order to be recognized, a country must declare its borders. The reason Israel insists on the emotional phrase of "right to exist" is simple: it does not want to limit itself to the borders assigned to it at the time of its founding, and at the time when it became a member of UN. So, yes, we all have the right to exist, but within which borders? At the moment, the only borders UN recognizes are the original borders, and numerous resolutions ask for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. Since this is not likely to happen, the only thing that most in the world expect is to have a negotiated, expanded Israel along with a recognized Palestine. But Israel at present has no reason to accept such negotiated settlement. For as long as it can control the occupied territory and not encounter any serious intenational sanctions, why give it up?
The "Israel's right to exist" and "Israel's right to self-defense" narratives are — to put it bluntly — lies that have achieved "truthiness" through 60 years of vigorous unrebutted dissemination. Now it is time for some pushback.
Please copy the above rebuttal to "Israel's right to exist and right to self-defense" and disseminate it as widely as possible. The truth about Israel is finally coming out here in the US, out from beneath the diligently constructed, protective Zionist mythology, out into the light of day. This truth about Israel is set to revoke the "special relationship" and free our country from Israeli subversion. Please do your part to move this process forward, by publicizing the truth about Israel wherever you can.
don't they want a warranty with that gaureentee,get it its a contradiction of terms,funny huh,or not ,never mind
No one thinks it's disturbing that these items aren't even considered dual use, just "luxury" items? They aren't dangerous to Israel, it's just that they want to literally punish the Palestinians and they don't give a shit if anyone protests. Does anyone else think this brazen attitude is eventually going to come back and bite Israel, and possibly the entire Jewish people, in the ass? Israel's ostensible purpose for existence was to have a place for the Jews to go to as a last resort in the case that another Holocaust was attempted against them. Israel though has instead turned into a monster that is giving anti-semites ammunition to push their agenda and increasing the likelihood of anti-semitic violence.
If the Israeli government were really concerned about security, they would inspect the ship's cargo and confiscate items that could be used militarily. As they are intent on a full blockade, regardless of the cargo's nature, one must conclude that the real objective is to make Palestinians suffer.
Whether this is an attempt to make them leave (how's that worked so far?) or simply an act of hatred and brutality, I cannot say. One thing is certain: the policy is barbaric, and the people enforcing it are monsters.
This is an appalling example of how evil the regime in Tel Aviv really is. That our own government not only allows it, but actively supports it, is equally outrageous. That my tax dollars are helping to fund this blockade makes me livid.
Gaza is Israel's Warsaw Ghetto.
But just as the German High Command in World War I studied and abstracted the military tactics of the South rather than the North in the American War Between The States, the Israeli Right Wing has chosen the wrong side as its mentors.
It's really too bad that the Turkish Navy isn't convoying the aid ships. The Israelis would have no legal basis for stopping and boarding ships under convoy, and if the Zionists tried then the Turks could put the Israeli Navy on the bottom of the Med.
Never forget the Zionist attack on the Liberty!!!
The US Navy's commitment to 'freedom of the seas' seems to have disappeared.
When its convenient, the US has opposed the right of countries to intercept ships on the high seas and to impose a blockade. When its US manufacturers wanting to sell to Germany, we protested British actions during the world wars. And likewise, when US manufacturers wanted to sell to England, we went to war with Germany over submarine warfare ("Remember the Luisitania!")
But, now we seem to have completely forgotten what we were once ready to die for. And as recently as the big PR blitz over the Somalia Pirates.
Now we side with the Pirates
"According to the Jerusalem Post article, in preparation for the military campaign the Israeli Defense Force “has established a joint taskforce together with the Israel Police, the Foreign Ministry and the Prisons Service to coordinate efforts to stop the flotilla and manage the potential media fallout.”"
Just wanted to make sure that everyone out here knows where the "pro-Israel" comments are coming from.
i knew that don't ya think i kn_w that,martin short saturday night live ,ha,see i laugh now ha-ha
Everyone with boat in the Med should join this.
I bet Israel would just love to "pull a Liberty" on this ship, if they thought they could gey away with it.