Though Israel has taken a publicly bellicose stance on the Gaza blockade, vowing to continue to use its military to ensure that no aid ships ever reach the besieged Gaza Strip, other reports suggest that the international pressure may be getting to Israel.
Israeli media is reporting that Netanyahu met with Tony Blair and told him he was open to relaxing, though not completely eliminating, the Gaza blockade in return for international support for the blockade.
The massacre of civilian aid workers earlier this week has sparked renewed criticism of the long-standing blockade, and even the US is said to be questioning the wisdom of continuing the blockade as it is currently constituted.
With international opinion pretty much universally against them, Israel is almost obliged to rethink the blockade, but the success with which Israel has spun the blockade domestically as a matter of national pride and the continued rallies in support of the killings of the aid workers may have put them in a politically difficult position.
We are called the compassionate people and there is a good reason for it, the Jewish people have always made a special effort to be kind to people of other religions. We were the only Jews in a small southern town and my mom often baked cake for her neighbors. She went from door to door distributing them, she never complained when her kindness was not returned. Father used to volunteer to wash the cars of strangers but never asked for a dime or expected thanks. My compassion was to help my classmates carry their books to school, but even if they never invited me to their homes I loved them. One day we moved to the big city where there were lots of other Jews, no longer are we as compassionate, but life is better. There is a lesson to be learned from my childhood experience. If Israeli Jews tried to please their Palestinian neighbors by being more compassionate they may not get thanks, but it will bring them peace.