This whole situation is crazy... let's summarize it!! A set of boats take off from Turkey, headed for Gaza. The "freedom flotilla", as they call themselves, confidently asserts that they will not follow Israeli commands of camping out at Ashdod to let the Israelis inspect their crap. Israel then says "whatevs dude, we're still gonna intercept you and take you to Ashdod". See, right there!! just in those two lines we can see that this is a conflict waiting to happen. So they meet at sea and somehow (the details are murky... as they ALWAYS are in the shit show), a bunch of people wind up dead and none of them are from the Israeli side. Israel doesn't fuck around, when they do something, they do it well! they pull out the big guns, literally. And as usual... Israel claimed it was self defense - because absolutely everything that Israel ever does is in "self defense". In this case... it was in self defense from slingshots! and metal bars!! and being thrown overboard!! Yeah, no, sorry Israel, you need to just admit that every time you react, it's almost always with disproportionate violence. Even the Israeli press is asking its interior minister why they weren't able to seize a damn ship without someone getting killed. But to be fair, Israel had already warned these people, the blockade has been in place for a while, these activists were honestly just asking for it. Which leads one to seriously inquire as to the motives of these activists. Personally, I believe it's clear that they were anticipating, maybe even hoping, for this clash. If this allegation that I am making is true... damn, those are some really politicized activists acting under a banner of humanitarianism. I mean, they knew they were not gonna make it to Gaza, at least not with a fight. If you really want to deliver these supplies, why would you endanger the operation (whose aim is supposed to be SUCCESSFULLY delivering the supplies, no?) by opposing to procedure and having an all out confrontation with Israel?? Like seriously, no... these people wanted this attention. They knew what was going to happen and I can't help but suspect that they wanted the confrontation to bring attention to their cause - in true political activist fashion.
This whole incident is very characteristic of the shit show, but one thing seem odd and also damaging to Israel: Turkey's involvement in the flotilla. Not only did they help the activists, but they have also taken a lead role in supporting them post-clash. Israel's gotta be thinking "wtf Turkey" because not long ago this was, along with Jordan, a country that tried to stay semi-neutral in shit show matters. But as this flotilla incident shows, Turkey's politics have changed in the recent years and they have slowly shifted away from the center. While this recent rise in conservatism is a general trend that comes as a consequence of Turkey's harsh secularism, this is still pretty alarming for Israel. The washington post remarked that, as news of another ship allegedly heading to Gaza tomorrow:
"Gaza residents nevertheless dug trenches in the sea to facilitate the passage of the ships, and decorated their port with Turkish flags and a huge photograph of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan"
Seriously, a huge photograph of Turkey's Prime Minister?? that's pretty crazy. Additionally, this flotilla incident is already turning into yet another shit show styled controversy. It will be interesting to see what happens next and whether this will disrupt the on-going peace process (as media outlets suggest/ask).
This incident shows the militancy of the Pro-Palestinian activists and the no-nonesense attitude of the Israeli government. Sure enough, as highly polarized as the shit show is, both sides have expressed their harsh condemnations of the other. Sadly, in recent years, the trend for both sides has been to become more militant and more conservative. Flotilla clashes or not... with such extreme positions and demands on both sides, it is really unlikely that we can see a meaningful peaceful resolution to the shit show.
Here is a photo of the freedom cruise... sailing their way into a shit show!
Wow... that is one serious shit show. Then again, is Turkey really taking a conservative stance, or simply a more idealistic, humanitarian one? While its clear that the freedom flotilla provoked Isreali reaction, they don't exactly strike me as the suicidal type: I doubt they saw themselves as martyrs. And the fact that they're re-launching a second mission *does* demonstrate at least some commitment to their stated intent of delivering aid.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I totally agree with you - violent overreaction seems to be the *one* unifying policy of the Isreali government. So what's going to be the response of the Western world? Honestly, is there much of a difference between Isreali reaction to the freedom flotilla and North Korean reaction to the South Korean ship? I'm sorry, but how soon before I start comparing them to Nazis? This is the internet, so its *bound* to happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
I think the follow up post may answer your questions on the humanitarian nature of the organizations.
ReplyDeleteAs to North Korea... yeah I can see how you'd compare them, but I still believe they are different. For one, the North Korea issue is between two rival countries that hate each other. In this case, I'd see the aggressor country (N. Korea) as being more motivated to sink that ship. With the Israel situation, I can ASSURE you that Israel would prefer to not have confrontations because they always lose - at least internationally. And these aren't even Palestinians, these are like, a conglomerate of Palestinian supporters. In this case, I believe, it was the victims who were more interested in being attacked. Though obviously they didn't want anyone to get killed, but they were certainly more welcoming of the results of the clash than Israel was (see the article I linked on the next post!).
Goodwin's law made me laugh a low, by the way, haha.