...and this time "Omar" doesn't have rocks in his sling but rockets, suicide bombers, etc.
...Hamas classifies this as humanitarian aid?
No winner in boat raid
Turkish outrage over flotilla violence is misdirected
Some countries have a right to indulge in moral outrage.
They have a relatively pure foreign policy, try to be even-handed and treat their own people, particularly religious and ethnic minorities, with courtesy and respect. Turkey is not one of them. Which makes the withdrawal of their ambassador to Israel and their shouts of protest at the Jewish state’s boarding of a Turkish ship loaded with armed extremists just a little hypocritical.
This is the same Turkey that sent 20,000 soldiers into autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan just a few years ago and bombed and shelled thousands of innocent people. The same Turkey where Kurds are persecuted and their leaders assassinated. The same Turkey that attempted a genocide of the Armenians before and during the First World War and still refuses to admit the slaughter of up to 1.5 million innocent people. Making the country akin to state holocaust deniers.
The same Turkey that closed down a Roman Catholic seminary, where Christians are frequently attacked and where the most important church in Eastern Orthodoxy was destroyed so that a mosque could be built over it. The same Turkey that invaded Cyprus in 1975 and still occupies a country not its own. Meaning it’s rather ironic that the Turkish government is so upset over what happened. Ask what would have occurred if an Israeli ship had tried to enter Turkey illegally to aid the Kurds. There would have been no commando raid because there would have been no boat left.
A few basic facts. Israel sends 15,000 tons of supplies to Gaza every week and nothing on any of the boats intercepted earlier this week is unavailable in Gaza. Including, tragically, the guns that were fired at the Israeli soldiers. As the leader of the flotilla said openly, “This is not about bringing humanitarian aid but about making a political statement.”
Video footage shows the Israelis being clubbed, kicked and knifed as they landed on the Turkish boat and only using their weapons after minutes of attack. It could well be argued that they should not have boarded in the first place, but the notion that these were mere peace activists is horribly absurd.
All of the other boats did contain such people and whatever anybody may think of their ideas or motives, they co-operated with the Israelis and nobody was badly hurt. It was only the Turkish vessel, full of Islamic fanatics connected to various Muslim extremist groups, where violence occurred.
Nobody is clean in all of this because the blockade is politically foolish and probably ethically wrong, but the big winners are Hamas, who have become masters at exploiting the media trap they set for the Israelis. It’s extraordinary that Jews invented Hollywood, but Israelis can’t fathom even basic optics and propaganda.
As for most of the countries in the region, they simply don’t care what people think of them and generally they’re right. Iran hangs another teenager and the western press turns away, the Saudis beat another woman and western universities accept another professorship sponsored from Riyadh.
All a colossal mess really. Makes one want to forget everything and book an ocean cruise. Then again ...
Read Michael Coren’s new blog at canoe.ca/corenscomment
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