Since the lead ship in the Freedom Flotilla was flying a Turkish flag and most of the dead are Turkish, how will the Harper government respond if Turkey invokes Article 5 of the NATO charter and urges its NATO allies to join it in declaring war on Israel? Of course when the thought first occurred to me, it was really just snark on my part. But the Turkish president has already called for an emergency meeting of NATO.
And as long we're wondering, let's wonder along with Glenn Greenwald.
Just ponder what we'd be hearing if Iran had raided a humanitarian ship in international waters and killed 15 or so civilians aboard.
Well, hasn't Mr. Kent declared that an attack on Israel is an attack on Canada? Then a NATO attack on Israel would be an act of civil war in which Canada attacked Canada. More than that one cannot say. It's a matter of national security, you see.
Two reactions. The ethical side of me is outraged--as usual, the Israeli armed forces seem to have fun killing defenseless people who pose no threat to them. But this is no worse than the kind of thing they do routinely to Palestinians, and is in many ways less calculatedly evil than the blockade itself, which kills slowly while inflicting grinding poverty and despair. Still, my heart goes out to the families of those brave folks who died on the ships.
The analytical side of me is dumbfounded. What the fuck did the IDF think they were doing? I knew there was no way they'd let that flotilla through. But they couldn't just turn them back peacefully?! Did they really *want* an international crisis where they look like complete and utter scumbuckets and kill, not Palestinians, but people of multiple nationalities, many of whom are likely to be seen by the world as real people? This is going to be a public relations disaster. Normally, when they lie like rugs about what happened in some incident, sure they look untrustworthy, but the press is well primed to believe the IDF when the alternative is paying attention to what a bunch of people easily portrayed as jihadist terrorists say. But this? Who is the world going to believe, IDF spokesflacks or a Nobel Peace Prize winner?
They're fucking nuts. They think they're invulnerable supermen and the whole world is just a bunch of Palestinians they can step on, or something. A dangerous delusion when in reality they can't even beat Hezbollah. It's amazing, really--I mean, Israel has an incredibly sweet deal going, and if they play it cool and gradual they can probably get away with massive ethnic cleansing in the end. But the project, and the internal propaganda needed to keep it going, seems to be infecting them, planting an arrogance that may make them blow it despite holding so many cards.
The analytical side of me is dumbfounded.
No kidding. If the Israelis had at least allowed the convoy to leave international waters and enter Gaza's territorial waters first, it would be easier to try and brazen it through with claims that it was all just self-defence. But this was piracy on the high seas. The Israelis are the aggressors and are ultimately responsible for the deaths, no matter how you look at it.
I imagine that before this is swept under the rug by Canada et al it will be proven that it was Iran that was behind these ships. We all know that israel can do no wrong so it must be some other country, and we all know that Iran is now the most evil. Israel only did this to protect their 'democracy' from the evils of the world. And our great 'leaders' will bow down and kiss the blood soaked boots of the evil israelis.
Oh I think we're already aways down that road, George.
"Accordingly, there is a sense that Monday’s confrontation was carefully orchestrated in a way that put Israel in a lose-lose situation.
snip
This week’s flotilla originated in Turkey, a country whose government has been increasingly aligning itself with radical Islamist elements. Israel quite rightly can’t allow ships that have originated in Turkey, Iran or who knows where else to deliver cargo to Hamas fighters waiting on the docks of Gaza to receive it."
~ Today's Ottawa Citizen
It's interesting to see how quickly and easily the Citizen throws a NATO ally under the bus.
And incidentally, while the Citizen hints darkly that there may have been weapons aboard these ships, the Turkish Prime Minister disagrees:
Frankly I have more confidence in Erdogan than in the editorial board of the newspaper in my own nation's capital.
IDF illegally boarded these vessels in international waters. I think they call that piracy.
I'm seeing some video with yellow overlay text and diagrams showing how the defenders were clubbing the pirates with metal(?) bars and tossing them overboard. Gee... heavily armed commandos rappel on to the deck and and they are countered with slingshots and clubs. What would anyone do to protect themselves when confronted by such an assault?
Israel is saying they were acting in self-defence. What kind of excuse is that for pirates illegally boarding ships in international waters? Do Somali pirates get to use the same excuse?
One of the most disturbing aspects of this incident is the tepid reaction of our PM. Even after the assault, Harper posed for a happy-face, gladhanding photo op with Netanyahu. How many war crimes does Israel need to commit before Canada and the US finally show some backbone? Of course, when the US and Canada are guilty of war crimes, too, it may be hypocritical to thrown stones.
Sad.
Slingshots. The IDF are whining that their armed and armoured commandos encountered ... slingshots. As emptywheel says, someone is missing the biblical irony here.
Alison--thanks for the article. That didn't take long, did it? How much lower can we go? That our country is complicit in this murder and act of war speaks volumes about our morals and ethics.