The true nature of the IHH Flotilla was always to provoke and that conclusion was reiterated yesterday (released today) by the UN’s Report of the 2010 incident.
It states, “…it (the IHH flotilla) acted recklessly in attempting to breach and naval blockade. And it went on, “There exist serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers, particularly IHH.”
As I stated in a piece from last June and right after the incident, (http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-06-02/news/bs-ed-israel-gaza-letter-2-20100602_1_flotilla-hamas-israel) the entire modus operendi of the Turkish IHH was to provoke an incident in order to gain publicity and to make Israel look like the aggressor, whereas the facts now (over a year later) provide a different conclusion.
Facts:
1. The blockade was put in place to curtail weapons and arms used by Hamas to fire upon Israel. Any shipments needed to be checked for arms.
2. Israel allows humanitarian aid to Gaza and provides tons of it as well.
3. The report states, when Israeli commandos boarded the main ship they faced, “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers.” They were therefore in the right and required to use force for their own protection.
Clearly, for any other country other than Israel, a ship filled with an angry mob attempting to breach a legal, authorized blockade, would have been a cut and dry case.
Moreover for Israel, a country that has rockets fired upon it almost daily, one would think they have every right to be suspicious of foreign vessels trying to break a blockade and enter the very territory where the bombs are emanating from. One would think that the world would conclude that they are in the right.
But rather, this is just another attempt at delegitimizing Israel, by positioning it as an illegal, unacknowledged entity without the right to self-protection. Indeed, this is just a continued use of setting up The Jewish State to react in self-defense and then claim aggression.Abe Novick can be reached at abe@abenovick.com.