Here’s a bit of good news that puts recent bad news in perspective:
JERUSALEM–Israeli soldiers boarded a cargo ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists just after noon Saturday, with the military saying there was no violence and the ship was now headed under Israeli control to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Force said the protesters resisted nonviolently, but the IDF “took over the ship.”
“The use of force was unnecessary and no shots were fired,” the IDF said in a statement later in the day. The IDF also released photos and aerial video footage of the boarding, conducted by commandos in small boats that came alongside the 225-foot cargo ship, the Rachel Corrie.
In the video clip, the ship’s crew and passengers appear to assemble on the ship’s top deck and sit down. Israeli soldiers then board the ship from a small boat and speak to a passenger.
And what was different about this? How did this differ from the incident in which some of the blockade runners were killed?
None of them were there to provoke violence. None of them attacked the Israelis trying to enforce the blockade. And without those provocateurs earlier in the week, we wouldn’t have this outcry against Israel.
Can we have a collective sigh of relief now?
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Thank goodness! Now if this is a ship carrying relief supplies the Israelis would be wise to document the items aboard, and document that food, medical items, etc. get through in a timely fashion.
Yawn…
but, in the case of the first incident, “he started it” is still really a poor excuse for killing someone….
Martin McGuinness is not happy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/10246404.stm
I know, I know. When you think “moral clarity”, you automatically think provisional IRA.
Gotta love Mr. Moral Clarity Netanyahu, too. “…violent Turkish terror extremists” Now, if I’m a “violent Turkish terror extremist”, wouldn’t I bring my own gun to the party, instead of having to try and swipe one from an IDF commando who just rappelled down onto my head?
For an insightful view by a Jewish scholar and author on the current government of Israel, you may want to read Leon Wieseltier’s article about the assault on the ‘Mavi Marmara.’
Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/75287/operation-make-the-world-hate-us