"Israeli officials say the flotillas’ goal is not to ship aid to the Palestinians, but to challenge and embarrass the Israelis."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/world/middleeast/17flotilla.html?_r=2&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
As my fellow passenger Gale noted, they are finally getting it. But not quite. One thing is still missing. How, one wonders, do these 'flotillas' accomplish the goal of embarassing the Israelis (by which I gather the speaker meant the government and the army)? In fact, why, exactly, WOULD the Israelis feel challenged? Suppose, in fact, Israel were to refuse to be challenged. It did exactly that, previously - 6 times before Cast Lead - 6 boats went to Gaza and were let through. No challenge, no embarassement.
But the current Israeli government, like a drunk in a pub, is 'challenged' because it is out of control. It then proceeds to make a spectacle of itself, coming across as a pathetic bully, and is subsequently embarassed. No, the aim is not to 'embarass the Israelis'. The aim is to give them a choice betwen letting us through and embarassing themselves. Nor can these flotillas hope to 'challenge' Israel without the enthusiastic cooperation of Israel itself. Don't let them come, Israel is screaming, at Cyprus, at Turkey, at Greece, at Europe, at anybody who cares to listen. If they do, we will just HAVE to feel disproportionately challenged, and we will just HAVE to respond with disproportionate force, and then everybody will hate us and we will look terrible and be enormously embarassed!
Good act, this. Israel the out-of-control lunatic putting the rest of the world in charge of keeping any challenge, however minimal, away from it. A force of nature, Israel. Can't reason with it. Do we all remember its a hurricane with a bomb, and that they have been having really hard time keeping their pants zipped up?
In some other interesting news, the Law Center Shurat Ha-din, together with two American-Israelis, has just brought a law suit against the 14 ships of the flotilla, including the Audacity of Hope, as well as against Inmarsat, the satellite communications company providing services to the flotilla, and against the companies insuring the ships.
Shurat Ha-Din, which calls itself a human rights center, but which specifically advertizes itself as acting on behalf of Jewish rights, has been in the flotilla business some time now. One of its less known contributions was to submit, a year ago, an emergency petition to the Superme Court of Israel to stop the release of the 2010 flotilla detainees. The petition was rejected. The best way to describe them is to say that they appear to be too much even for the Israeli legal system, but take a look for yourselves:
http://israellawcenter.org/page.asp?id=357&show=reports
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/world/middleeast/17flotilla.html?_r=2&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
As my fellow passenger Gale noted, they are finally getting it. But not quite. One thing is still missing. How, one wonders, do these 'flotillas' accomplish the goal of embarassing the Israelis (by which I gather the speaker meant the government and the army)? In fact, why, exactly, WOULD the Israelis feel challenged? Suppose, in fact, Israel were to refuse to be challenged. It did exactly that, previously - 6 times before Cast Lead - 6 boats went to Gaza and were let through. No challenge, no embarassement.
But the current Israeli government, like a drunk in a pub, is 'challenged' because it is out of control. It then proceeds to make a spectacle of itself, coming across as a pathetic bully, and is subsequently embarassed. No, the aim is not to 'embarass the Israelis'. The aim is to give them a choice betwen letting us through and embarassing themselves. Nor can these flotillas hope to 'challenge' Israel without the enthusiastic cooperation of Israel itself. Don't let them come, Israel is screaming, at Cyprus, at Turkey, at Greece, at Europe, at anybody who cares to listen. If they do, we will just HAVE to feel disproportionately challenged, and we will just HAVE to respond with disproportionate force, and then everybody will hate us and we will look terrible and be enormously embarassed!
Good act, this. Israel the out-of-control lunatic putting the rest of the world in charge of keeping any challenge, however minimal, away from it. A force of nature, Israel. Can't reason with it. Do we all remember its a hurricane with a bomb, and that they have been having really hard time keeping their pants zipped up?
In some other interesting news, the Law Center Shurat Ha-din, together with two American-Israelis, has just brought a law suit against the 14 ships of the flotilla, including the Audacity of Hope, as well as against Inmarsat, the satellite communications company providing services to the flotilla, and against the companies insuring the ships.
Shurat Ha-Din, which calls itself a human rights center, but which specifically advertizes itself as acting on behalf of Jewish rights, has been in the flotilla business some time now. One of its less known contributions was to submit, a year ago, an emergency petition to the Superme Court of Israel to stop the release of the 2010 flotilla detainees. The petition was rejected. The best way to describe them is to say that they appear to be too much even for the Israeli legal system, but take a look for yourselves:
http://israellawcenter.org/page.asp?id=357&show=reports
