I wonder how many of you remember the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship the Achille Lauro way back in October 1985?
Four members of the Palestine Liberation Front took control of the liner off Egypt as she was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said. It was a bungled operation in which the hijackers killed disabled Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer and then threw his body overboard.
The incident created headlines around the world and polarized people over the Palestinian cause. It also prompted the law makers to create new legislation making it an international crime for anyone to take a ship by force.
And this is the reason for the brief history lesson - under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988, it is an international crime for any person to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process.
The treaty necessarily adopts a strict approach. One cannot attack a ship and then claim self-defense if the people on board resist the unlawful use of violence.
In other words, according to international law, the actions of the Israeli military were beyond the law and those involved should be treated no differently than, say, the Somali pirates who are also in the habit of boarding ships by force.
Any rights to self defense in such dramatic circumstances rests purely with the passengers and crew on board. Under international maritime law you are legally entitled to resist unlawful capture, abduction and detention.
What those on board the Freedom Flotilla did was perfectly legal. I believe they acted with great courage in the face of heavily armed IDF commandos, while others might have thought their actions reckless. Whatever your view, a number paid the ultimate price for their international right to resist.
Israel now stands virtually alone having exposed itself as a pariah state. I wrote an article last year calling them the Pirates of the Mediterranean after they had illegally boarded other aid ships, kidnapping crew and passengers.
Now I want you to ask yourself this question … if a group of Somali pirates had forced their way onto half a dozen humanitarian aid ships from the West, slaughtering around nine or 10 people and injuring scores more what do you think the international reaction would have been?
Let me tell you. A NATO task force would by now be steaming towards the Horn of Africa accompanied by a couple of drones and various members of the press to record the occasion. (On a point of interest the Achille Lauro sank in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia in 1994.)
So why is Israel allowed to get away with murder? In a pre-meditated act the Zionist State showed once again its total disregard for human life – and international law.There were pensioners, women and children on board those ships which were carrying bags of cement, electric wheelchairs, toys, medicines and water purifiers for Gaza's people.
Realizing Israel had shot itself in the foot, Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu then started shooting from the lip.
He asked us to believe that his troops were acting in self-defense. And then, 24 hours later, given time to come up with more lies he told the world that the soldiers were armed with paintballs and had not expected to use their weapons. Not content with insulting our intelligence he said his nice, cuddly IDF folk had only boarded the boats to carry out an inspection and inventory.
Then backing him up was Mark Regev, Israel's political Pinocchio. He reckons these evil-doers on board the boats grabbed the IDF's real guns and used them to fire on the soldiers.
These are the same soldiers that come from an elite, highly trained, crack squad … hmm Mr Regev, if that's the case why would you send in the A-Team if they were just going to do an inventory? And if they were such a hot squad how did a bunch of civilians manage to overpower them and give them a good slap?
Either Israeli soldiers fight like a bunch of old women – which Hizb'Allah says they do – or they intended to massacre those on board to make sure that no other peace activists get involved in trying to help the Palestinian people of Gaza.
Well if that was the aim then it has failed. As I write this some heroic friends of mine from the Free Gaza Movement including Malaysian lawyer Matthias Chang are bound for Gaza now onboard the appropriately named ship Rachel Corrie.
Yvonne Ridley is a British Journalist and author of In The Hands of the Taliban which is due to be updated and republished later this year. She is also a presenter for The Agenda and co-presenter of the Rattansi & Ridley show, both of which are broadcast on Press TV. In addition she is a founding member of the Stop the War Coalition as well as the RESPECT political party.
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Dalton's Holocaust Radio Debate on April 24, 2010:
Kevin MacDonald says: Jake Tapper, a reporter for ABC News writesthat "there won't be any daylight between the US and Israel." The rationale? A senior administration official says "The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure."
Of course, that's nonsense. Israeli security has nothing to do with it. The reality is that Israeli aggression is possible only because Israel understands that the US is its poodle and that the US will work on its behalf in the UN and elsewhere, no matter what Israel does. The Israel Lobby is ultimately to blame, meaning ultimately the influence of Jewish money on the political process.
Richard Goldstone told Newsweek magazine in a May 27th interview that he "doubts" Israel will ever launch another "Operation Cast Lead"-type assault because of the ramifications of his report. Goldstone told Dan Ephron that Israeli military lawyers are "on notice more than they were. If it achieves nothing else, I think it's worth that."
We can only hope that Goldstone is right. But how many more "Operation Mini Cast Leads" (as Gideon Levy put it) will there be?
The Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla has vindicatedGoldstone's report and his central claim that Israel used disproportionate force and deliberately attacked civilians in the Gaza assault—just as Israel, albeit on a much smaller scale, did in the massacre aboard the flotilla.
Israel is now facing another international, United Nations-led independent investigation of the events that led to the killing of at least 9 people and the injury of dozens more aboard the Mavi Marmara. The U.N. Human Rights Council lopsidedly passed a resolution today that authorizes "an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian aid and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance."
The resolution passed with 32 countries voting in favor, 9 abstaining, and 3 voting against: the United States, Canada and Holland.
Once again, the United States has proven that it's on the wrong side of history.
The U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Council said that the U.S. opposed the resolution because "it creates an international mechanism before giving the responsible government the opportunity to investigate the incident itself."
What a joke.
Israel has already had ample opportunity to investigate themselves after the Goldstone report called for independent, impartial investigations, but they have failed. Here's an excerpt from an April 2010 Human Rights Watch report titled "Turning a Blind Eye: Impunity for Laws-of-War Violations during the Gaza War":
Israel has failed to conduct credible investigations into policies authorized by senior levels of the country's political and military leadership that may have led to violations of the laws of war.
There's nothing more to say. This time won't be different. The Obama administration is completely out of touch with reality.
Today the New York Times editorial board weighs in on the disaster at sea. Here's a brief look at its more notable statements. The editorial leads with the following:
"The supporters of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla had more than humanitarian intentions. The Gaza Freedom March made its motives clear in a statement before Monday's deadly confrontation: 'A violent response from Israel will breathe new life into the Palestine solidarity movement, drawing attention to the blockade.'"
This makes it seem like the flotilla organizers intended to provoke the violent Israeli response. This is a gross distortion of the Gaza Freedom March statement, which accurately noted that Israel was preparing a violent response, and merely tried to foresee a positive outcome whether or not Israel followed through. There is not a shred of evidence that the flotilla organizers intended anything other than humanitarian aid. They forced the issue; either Israel would have to allow the goods to pass through, or it would have to use force to stop it. Both responses would have negative consequences, as Israel would be hard-pressed to justify its interception of humanitarian goods when it was conducting a blockade.
Moreover, the organizers no doubt anticipated that any "violent response" by Israel would be similar to the prior Israeli actions against aid ships, such as ramming and crippling one ship and boarding another and arresting all on board. In fact, in the same public statement as the one quoted by the Times, the Gaza Freedom March stated: "Although the first five voyages successfully docked, the last three attempts have all been violently stopped by the Israeli military."
The editorial makes it seem like the courageous souls who ventured on this trip were used, either willingly or unwillingly, as human sacrifices for the purpose of embarrassing Israel. It surely was not expected that Israel would increase its violence a thousandfold and actually execute a number of the volunteers to set an example.
The Times continues: "There can be no excuse for the way that Israel completely mishandled the incident." Mishandled? That eliminates the possibility that Israel deliberately committed murder. One could say that BP has "mishandled" the oil gusher on the gulf coast, because no one suggests that BP intentionally executed the disaster. And it might not be fair to expect the Times to reach the conclusion of pre-planned murder, but it jumps to the opposite conclusion--mistaken judgment. "This is a grievous, self-inflicted wound." Yes, it is. At least one hopes it will damage Israel's image.
But Israel's actions are first and foremost a "wound" directed at international humanitarian activists – a lethal wound for at least nine and injuries to dozens of others – and a blow to the million and a half people of Gaza. Israel is saying that these people have no possibility of relief from the crushing blockade, and that it will go to great lengths to prevent concerned people of the world from providing even a small measure of assistance. Did anyone ever suggest that a serial killer committed a "grievous, self-inflicted wound" by embarking on a course of conduct that led to his execution? Aren't the victims entitled to primary consideration?
The Times proposes what it believes are the important questions to be resolved: "Why did Israel, which has blocked some ships but allowed others to pass, decide to take a stand now? Did it make a real effort to find a compromise with Turkey, which sanctioned the flotilla?" One can hardly think of lamer questions. These would be slow-pitched softballs served up to the Israeli PR machine.
"Israel has a right to stop weapons from going into Gaza, but there has been no suggestion that the ships were carrying a large cache." "Large cache?" That suggests that there was at least a "small cache." There was no "cache" at all. What do the Israelis claim to have found? Knives? There are knives in my kitchen, and no doubt there were knives in the galleys as well. Slingshots? What were those going to be used for? To hurl small stones into Sderot? Not to mention the bigger picture that Israel imports and manufactures billions of dollars per year of the most sophisticated killing machines ever invented, and has no right to complain even if there had been light weapons on board, which there were not.
"The Israeli Defense Forces have distributed a video showing that the commandos were attacked. Why weren't they better prepared to defend themselves without using lethal force?" Once again, the Times buys Israel's claim that it was attacked and that its mistake was in not being adequately prepared to respond.
Then the Times gets to the heart of the matter. "Is the blockade working? Is it weakening Hamas? Or just punishing Gaza's 1.4 million residents —— and diverting attention away [sic] from abuses by Hamas, including its shelling of Israeli cities and its refusal to accept Israel's right to exist?"
The blockade is a form of collective punishment against a civilian population, illegal under international law. It is not a question of whether or not it is "working." Collective punishment often works, though in this case it surely is not; when it is effective, it is no less illegal. Moreover, Hamas stopped its shelling of Israel for months in 2008 in compliance with a cease fire, and only resumed when Israel broke the truce on US Election Day. Even then, Hamas offered to reinstate the cease fire if Israel lifted the blockade, and Israel flatly refused. Israel could have terminated the shelling peacefully rather than launching an offensive that killed about 1400 people and cruelly accomplished the almost impossible task of making the people of Gaza even more miserable than they already had been made by the blockade.
And what about now? There has been virtually no shelling for over a year, but does Israel lift the blockade? Why does the Times imply that the shelling is ongoing and that it still is a legitimate aim of Israel to stop it? "At this point, it should be clear that the blockade is unjust and against Israel's long-term security." That was not clear before? Did the Times previously think the severe restrictions on the amount of day-to-day goods available to the Gazans was "just"? Israel had coldly calculated how much was necessary to keep a million and a half people alive, and decided that any excess constituted "luxury" goods that could be barred from entering the Strip.
And now that the Times has seen the light, the principal flaw it finally identifies is damage to Israel's long-term security. "Hamas is still in charge —— and the blockade has become an excuse for any and all of the government's failures." Excuse? In other words, the Times contends that Hamas provides inefficient, ineffective government, and unfairly blames Israel and its measly blockade for its failures.
Does the Times get anything right? Sort of, but at the end of the editorial. It properly criticizes Obama's wishy-washy expression "deep regret" over the incident. Even then, the Times makes it clear this is about Israel, not about the suffering of the people of Gaza and the murderous attack on a humanitarian convoy, as it adds, "He is doing Israel no favors with such a tepid response."
The Times scores again by saying, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown time and again that he prefers bullying and confrontation over diplomacy. Washington needs to make clear to him just how dangerous and counterproductive that approach is."
Of course, the Times does not suggest that Obama use leverage of threatening or even implementing a reduction in the enormous aid it gives Israel. Instead, he is urged to "back an impartial international investigation," presumably along the lines of the Goldstone report that the Obama Administration has worked so hard to undermine and bury in oblivion. The Times also proposes that the US join in a Security Council effort to "urge" that Israel lift the blockade. Sure, that will work - urge, persuade, implore Israel to stop its four-year long sadistic siege.
While we're at it, why doesn't the US "urge" Israel to end the occupation and grant full and equal rights to the non-Jewish citizens of the country? Surely it is not yet time to impose actual pressure from the international community. After all, the US still practiced slavery nearly 90 years after the Declaration of Independence, and openly allowed ethnic discrimination against its citizens for another century. Israel at 62 is still relatively youthful, and prone to adolescent errors. Give it time.
A knowledgeable friend of mine emailed me this morning and asked if this was the harshest Times editorial against Israel in our lifetime. Sadly, that might be the case.
Today, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak, praising the Shayetet 13 commandos who slaughtered at least nine humanitarian activists on board the Mavi Marmara, said:
Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and it does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end.
But if the violence is being committed by Israelis then it is all too evident that this particular world leader lacks the courage and moral conviction to speak out.
When the slaves of Zionism are called on to break out of their chains, instead, their own fear of political and financial retribution guarantees that they will maintain their silence.
Obama is not only incapable of condemning Israeli violence; he cannot even acknowledge its existence!
When unarmed and non-violent Americans are the victims — whether killed, maimed or abused by Israeli soldiers — the government of the nation that proudly describes itself as the most powerful nation on earth has nothing to say in defense of its own citizens.
If it wasn't being used to justify murder, this headline in the Washington Post would be laughably absurd:
Israel says Free Gaza Movement poses threat to Jewish state
Once viewed only as a political nuisance by Israel's government, the group behind the Gaza aid flotilla has grown since its inception four years ago into a broad international movement that now includes Islamist organizations that Israeli intelligence agencies say pose a security threat to the Jewish state.
The Free Gaza Movement's evolution is among Israel's chief reasons for conducting Monday morning's raid on a ship carrying medicine, construction materials, school paper and parts for Gaza's defunct water treatment plant. The movement once drew its support almost entirely from activists and donors in Australia, Britain and the United States. But the ship that Israeli forces stormed Monday morning was operated by a Turkish charity that Israeli intelligence agencies and others contend has connections to radical Islamist groups.
Radical Islamist groups — the hobgoblins of the Israeli psyche have also enfeebled the judgement of most Americans. Raise the specter of such a threat and the rational mind freezes.
This is the psychology of cowardice, where fear becomes omnipresent.
Those thus enslaved, cloak their own weakness with fables about the demons they hope to destroy. But their deceit is transparent. This is heroism merely self-declared, visible to no one else.
Arrogance and cowardice are the two faces of the fear of fear. Israel's might is the mask behind which it conceals its own lack of courage — its terror of looking weak.
Hours after Israeli commandos were out slaying sea monsters, an Israeli soldier in the West Bank faced the threat of an unarmed American 21-year old.
Emily Henochowicz was hit in the face with a tear gas canister fired directly at her by an Israeli soldier during a demonstration at the Qalandiya checkpoint. She is a talented young artist who will now only be able to follow her passion with one eye — the other was removed in surgery yesterday.
Does the soldier who shot her believe Israel is now safer?
When a state blinds or even kills individuals whose "crime" is their willingness to stand up in defense of justice, what is it that national security is securing?
[I]t is a fact that it is ordinary people, activists, call them what you will, who now take decisions to change events. Our politicians are too spineless, too cowardly, to take decisions to save lives. Why is this? Why didn't we hear courageous words from [Britain's prime minister and deputy prime minister] Messrs Cameron and Clegg yesterday [after the flotilla massacre]?
For it is a fact, is it not, that had Europeans (and yes, the Turks are Europeans, are they not?) been gunned down by any other Middle Eastern army (which the Israeli army is, is it not?) there would have been waves of outrage.
And what does this say about Israel? Isn't Turkey a close ally of Israel? Is this what the Turks can expect? Now Israel's only ally in the Muslim world is saying this is a massacre – and Israel doesn't seem to care.
But then Israel didn't care when London and Canberra expelled Israeli diplomats after British and Australian passports were forged and then provided to the assassins of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. It didn't care when it announced new Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem while Joe Biden, the Vice-President of its erstwhile ally, the United States, was in town. Why should Israel care now? How did we get to this point? Maybe because we all grew used to seeing the Israelis kill Arabs, maybe the Israelis grew used to killing Arabs. Now they kill Turks. Or Europeans. Something has changed in the Middle East these past 24 hours – and the Israelis (given their extraordinarily stupid political response to the slaughter) don't seem to have grasped what has happened. The world is tired of these outrages. Only the politicians are silent.
I have been in despair about the lack of angry response to the flotilla in the American liberal discourse. Well, take heart: at this moment (11), seven of the 25 blogs on the Huffington front page are about Israel and the lame U.S. response; all but one (by Dershowitz) are highly critical of Israel--impressive showing by Zogby, Clemons, others. The contrast with the Times and Washington Post is remarkable. The main Huffpo headline is Barney Frank saying that "as a Jew" he's ashamed of the treatment of Palestinians. A Boston Herald interview, foreshadowed by Jeff Halper on Mondo a few weeks back when he said that Barney would let loose if he only thought he had political cover.
Does Barney feel he has political cover? Oh wow, this is awesome. Awesome. Celebrate Barney Frank, celebrate the shift. From the Herald:
Frank, in a wide-ranging interview with the Herald, went on to say that "as a Jew," Israeli treatment of Arabs around some of the West Bank settlements "makes me ashamed that there would be Jews that would engage in that kind of victimization of a minority."
Israel may have botched its raid on the Gaza Flotilla, but it is still successfully deploying its time-honored news management practices -- as outlined by the Dutch journalist, Joris Luyendijk, in his impressive book, People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East.
The London Financial Times provides its readers with an entire article documenting the Israeli strategy. The reporter, Tobias Buck, explains:
Desperate to counter a mounting diplomatic backlash, the Israeli government and army sought to flood the airwaves with their version of events, bolstered by heavily edited scenes from the assault. More importantly, the authorities ensured that their narrative gained early dominance by largely silencing the hundreds of activists who were on board during the attack.
Let's look and see how The New York Timeshandled the same story. In my print edition, I had to read down to the 11th paragraph before I discovered,
Israel did not provide journalists with access to those detained.
This is a nice euphemism for "Illegally arresting hundreds of people on the high seas, killing at least 9 of them, detaining the rest unlawfully for several days, and not permitting scores of international journalists who were on the scene to listen to their side of the story."
Eventually, the hundreds of activists will be deported, and start to talk. By then, the cement will have settled around the Israeli story, and if another Goldstone comes along to calmly challenge it, he will be dismissed as anti-Semitic.
My "Today in Palestine" news links. Don't miss the two Palestinian pedestrians killed in the West Bank by Israelis speeding by on settlers-only roads:
Land Theft/Destruction & Ethnic Cleansing Settlers torch hundreds of Nablus olive trees Nablus – Ma'an – Residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement set fire to more than 100 dunums of Palestinian lands near Urif village, southwest of Nablus on Wednesday afternoon, Palestinian officials said. Local official in charge of the settlements file in the northern West Bank Ghasan Daghlas said the fire was set in the Jabal Marwes area, the hill separating the villages of URif and Asira Al-Qaliya, into which Yitzhar's "municipal area" extends. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=289105
Israel deports Palestinian to Gaza, says society Gaza – Ma'an – A Palestinian man from Beersheba was deported into Gaza on Tuesday evening, the Wa'ed Prisoners Society said, after Israeli authorities invoked a controversial military order allowing the expulsion of Palestinians broadly defined as "infiltrators." The society said Nasser Al-Jarushah was detained late Tuesday night from his home in the southern Israeli city and left at the Erez crossing into Gaza, leaving behind his wife and children. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=289060
Violence and Aggression Jewish settler runs over Palestinian to death in West Bank RAMALLAH, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian man died Wednesday shortly after a Jewish settler ran over him in the West Bank, witnesses and Palestinian security sources said. Mazen Al-Jamal, 50, was passing across a road in the south of Hebron before a speedy Israeli vehicle hit him, the witnesses said. Meanwhile, security sources said the man died hours after being evacuated by an Israeli ambulance to an Israeli hospital. Jewish settlers, who have access to the heart of the Palestinian city, use the Road 60 on their movement in and out of Hebron. Following the accident, the Israeli police and army shut down the road before the Palestinians. On Monday, an elderly Palestinian woman also died in a similar accident in Hebron. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/02/c_13330059.htm
Gaza Flotilla March on Saturday June 5th. Assemble Downing Street, London @ 1:30PM
Al-Awda Los Angeles, calling for a second demonstration on Friday June 4th @ 4 pmin front of the Zionist Consulate, 6830 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Political Fallout Nicaragua suspends diplomatic ties with Israel MANAGUA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Nicaraguan government Tuesday suspended the country's diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of the Jewish state's deadly raid on the Gaza-bound international aid flotilla on Monday. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo, who is wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, announced the move in a short statement. "Nicaragua suspends from today its diplomatic relations with the government of Israel," said the statement. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/02/c_13328920.htm
Turkey calls on Israel to end blockade to restore ties (Reuters) Reuters - Turkey demanded Israel lift its blockade of Gaza as a condition for normalizing relations but added it was time that "calm replaced anger" after Israel's deadly raid on a Turkish-backed aid flotilla.
Travel Advisory: Stay Away From Arabs... The consulate advised American citizens to be "on alert for possible road blockages, demonstrations and protests," adding that US citizens "should specially use caution in places with large Arab populations, including Umm el Fahem, Acre, Jaffa, Haifa, East Jerusalem and Jerusalem's Old City. Demonstrations are likely in various West Bank cities as well as in Gaza." http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=177163
Democracy Now Interviews Adam Shapiro, Amira Hass, Ali Abunimah and Richard Falk It was early Monday morning as Israeli soldiers stormed the Gaza-bound international aid convoy called the Freedom Flotilla in international waters about forty miles off the coast of Gaza. The six ships had nearly 700 international activists on board and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid. They were aiming to break the three-year-long siege of the Gaza Strip. Israeli commandos landed on the lead ship in the convoy, the Turkish Mavi Marmara, which had about 600 activists on board. http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/1/global_condemnation_of_israeli_armed_attack
Barney Frank: 'As A Jew' I'm 'Ashamed' Over Treatment Of Palestinians JERUSALEM -- Israel on Wednesday began deporting the bulk of nearly 700 international activists detained during its deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Palestinians in the blockaded, Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The raid that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists has strained diplomatic ties, sending Israeli relations with Turkey, in particular, to a new low. At least four of the nine killed were Turkish and the ship Israel attacked was Turkish. Israel ordered families of its diplomats out of that country a day after Turkey branded the raid a "massacre." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/barney-frank-as-a-jew-ashamed_n_597331.html
Gaza boat passenger says Australian photographer electroshocked by Israeli soldiers CANBERRA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian photographer Kate Geraghty was electroshocked on the arm by Israeli soldiers who stormed a flotilla of boats heading to Gaza, a fellow passenger said on Wednesday. One of the first to be released from detention center on Wednesday (AEST) was organizer with the Free Gaza Flotilla, Huwaida Arraf, a dual U.S./Israeli citizen who claimed she was aboard the U.S.-flagged vessel Challenger 1 along with Australian Fairfax journalist Paul McGeough and Geraghty. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/02/c_13329742.htm
El Cerrito man beaten in assault on Gaza aid flotilla A 64-year old El Cerrito resident who sailed with a group taking supplies to the Gaza Strip was badly beaten during the Israeli commando assault, a family friend said Tuesday. The report came from Lindsay Bagette, who said she was speaking on behalf of Paul Larudee's wife, Betty. Larudee was beaten because he refused to comply with a commando's orders, the Israeli Consulate General told Betty Larudee on Tuesday afternoon, Bagette said. The report could not be independently confirmed. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15203957
Israelis pointed guns at our heads-Turkish captain ISTANBUL, June 1 (Reuters) - An Israeli warship threatened to sink Captain Huseyin Tokalak's ship before young commandos boarded the Turkish-flagged Gazze and trained their guns on him and his crew. "They pointed two guns to the head of each of us," Tokalak told a news conference on Tuesday. "They were really interesting guns, like the ones you see in the movies." http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6502EZ.htm
Germans on Gaza ship deny Israeli commandos provoked BERLIN — Visibly shaken German activists who were on an aid ship bound for Gaza rejected on Tuesday Israeli claims that commandos were provoked by violence by those on board, saying it was a peaceful convoy. A German doctor on the ship, Matthias Jochheim, who had bloodstains on his trousers from people he treated, said that he had personally seen four dead people and that he expected the total death toll to be 15. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEjGRnfahvfy7XgHdGIWuNOgrmoQ
Flotilla Activist's Family on Hunger Strike to Demand his Release The family of Osama Qashoo, a British citizen of Palestinian descent, has declared a hunger strike that will only end with Qashoo's release. Qashoo was one of the activists aboard this Freedom Flotilla attempting to bring aid supplies to Gaza. His mother, father, and six brothers are demanding his release after he and all of the other activists aboard the Flotilla were arrested by Israeli troops. http://www.imemc.org/article/58823
Why we sailed to Gaza | Lauren Booth Let me ask you one final question that's been troubling me, as sympathy for those apparently fragile Israeli commandos continues to pour in. If you were on a boat in the Mediterranean and hundreds of the world's most notoriously violent soldiers started falling from the sky, wouldn't you defend yourself? The brave human beings on the Mavi Marmara were acting in self-defence. And because of this many died. Something of the hopeful child in me died with them. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/02/palestinian-territories-gaza
Other Flotilla News Organizers: Freedom Flotilla 2 in a few weeks Gaza – Ma'an – The Brussels-based European campaign against the siege on Gaza announced Wednesday that they had secured funds to support three new aid ships to be sailed to Gaza. The fleet will be called the Freedom 2, which head of the campaign Arafat Madhi said would be "much bigger than the first," which included nationals from some 40 nations and 10,000 tons of aid, currently held by Israel following the takeover of six ships in international waters on Monday morning. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=289111
Ireland: Tribute to the people of Gaza I never cease to be amazed at the power of the human spirit to survive. During my last visit to Gaza in October 2008 I was amazed and deeply moved by the power of the people I witnessed. In a triumph of hope over adversity and tremendous suffering, love still abides. http://www.tadamon.ca/post/6997
Palestinian civil society condemns repression in Canada against Palestine solidarity campaigns and humanitarian efforts Occupied Palestine, May 26 2010 – The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), strongly condemns the actions taken by Canadian state bodies, university administrations and pressure groups to defund, repress and otherwise attempt to weaken groups and individuals that provide assistance to, or campaign in solidarity with, Palestinians. Such blatantly anti-democratic measures are not only repulsive per se; they are forms of complicity with Israeli violations of international law and Palestinian rights and have far reaching adverse consequences for civil liberties. The BNC believes that this repression in Canada must be brought to an end. http://www.tadamon.ca/post/6843
Official: US Will Stand with Israel I'm told there won't be any daylight between the US and Israel in the aftermath of the incident on the flotilla yesterday, which resulted in the deaths of 10 activists. Regardless of the details of the flotilla incident, sources say President Obama is focused on what he sees as the longer term issue here: a successful Mideast peace process. "The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure," a senior administration official tells ABC News. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/06/official-us-will-stand-with-israel.html
Israel's Arab Helpers Fatah's Azzam Al-Ahmad: Gaza Doesn't Need Food, Humanitarian Supplies 02/06/2010 Senior Fatah Movement official, Azzam Al-Ahmad, told the German News Agency (DPA) that the Gaza Strip did not need humanitarian or food supplies. The Fatah Central Committee member stressed in his telephone call with DPA the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas was securing the needs of the Strip on daily basis. "I confidently say that Gaza does not need humanitarian or food supplies because the PA is securing all of this. The PA sends 200 trucks into Gaza, not through Rafah but through other crossings," he told the Genrman News Agency. "These trucks are always full of food supplies, medicaments, and fuel," he added. http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=140170&language=en
PA factions demand end to proximity talks Bethlehem – Ma'an – The majority of factions within the Palestinian Authority are opposed to the continuation of indirect talks with Israel, officials in Ramallah said Monday. The officials spoke out during a meeting convened to consider sending a delegation of PLO and Fatah Central Committee members to Gaza in order to finalize a reconciliation deal with Hamas. It followed Israel's fatal attack on an aid convoy destined for the coastal enclave. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=288903
Haniyeh: Gaza receiving calls of support from Arab world Gaza – Ma'an – Turkish Prime Minister Raceb Tayeb Erdogan called Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader said, to affirm solid support for the de facto government "even if Turkey is your only supporter." While Turkey had remained neutral on the issue of Hamas rule in Gaza, offering earlier in the year to act as a go-between for reconciliation talks with the rivals, Haniyeh said Edrogan believed the presence of activists from some 40 nations was an "indicator that Israel is not only confronting Turkey but also the whole world." http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=289076
RSF condemns flotilla censorship Bethlehem - Ma'an - Reporters Without Borders has strongly condemned the censorship attempts that accompanied Monday's deadly assault by Israel on a flotilla that was carrying humanitarian aid, 750 pro-Palestinian activists and several journalists to the Gaza Strip. "We deplore this assault, which left a heavy toll of dead and wounded," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "The journalists who were on the flotilla to cover the humanitarian operation were put in harm's way by this disproportionate reaction. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=288991
FAIR: Reporting Israeli Assault Through Israel's Eyes On May 31, the Israeli military attacked a flotilla of boats full of civilians attempting to deliver humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. Reports indicate that at least nine and as many as 16 of the activists on board were killed, though details remain sketchy due to Israel's censorious limitations on media coverage. Much of the U.S. media coverage has been remarkably unskeptical of Israel's account of events and their context, and has paid little regard to international law. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4081
Who will take on Netanyahu? Comedy channel?, Susie Kneedler CNN aired Binyamin Netanyahu's falsehoods yesterday. The Israeli Prime Minister held forth about Israel's premeditated attack on international humanitarians, as well as its starvation siege of Gaza---both of which, let's not forget, are acts of war. CNN challenged this Minister no more than facts confront Orwell's Ministry of Truth once they're dumped down Nineteen Eighty-Four's "memory hole." No reporters queried his claims; worse, substitute anchor Suzanne Malveaux echoed many. Certainly, CNN's very headline for the video, "Netanyahu responds to flotilla raid," casts the PM as a mere bystander to the attack he masterminded. His government threatened beforehand that it would do anything to halt the convoy. http://mondoweiss.net/2010/06/who-will-take-on-netanyahu-comedy-channel.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest CrisisWatch N°82, 01 Jun 2010 Israeli commandos killed at least nine people when they raided a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza on 31 May. Full details are not yet clear but the incident has already thrown into question recently launched proximity talks between the Palestinians and Israel. The international community has been swift to condemn Israel's actions and the UN Security Council has called for an impartial investigation. However, the event has underscored the failure of a much broader policy for which Israel is not solely responsible. Many in the international community have been complicit in isolating Gaza in the hope of weakening Hamas, an approach that has ultimately harmed the people of Gaza without loosening Hamas's control. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ASHU-85ZRU6?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
'We're the only ones who believe them', Ben Smith For while much about the incident remains unclear, a day of carefully parsed statements from the White House and State Department left at least one irrefutable aftershock: With much of the world expressing fury over the raid, the contrast with Washington's muted response could not have been more striking. "The situation is that they're so isolated right now that it's not only that we're the only ones who will stick up for them," said an American official. "We're the only ones who believe them – and what they're saying is true." http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0610/Were_the_only_ones_who_believe_them.html
Glenn Greenwald Destroys MSNBC's Israeli lapdog Apologist Here's what Glenn had to say about his appearance: I was just on MSNBC talking about Israel, the Gaza blockade and the flotilla attack with Eliot Spitzer, who was guest-hosting for Dylan Ratigan. It was a rather contentious discussion, though quite illustrative of how Israel is (and is not) typically discussed on American television, so I'm posting the whole 8-minute segment below. Two points: (1) before I was on, Spitzer had on an Israel-defending law professor, followed by Netanyahu's former Chief of Staff, and both of them (along with Spitzer) were spewing pure Israeli propaganda in uninterrupted and unchallenged fashion; at the end of Spitzer's discussions with them, he asked them to "stick around just in case," and once I was left, he brought at least one of them back on to respond to what I said without challenge; (2) literally 90 seconds before my segment was about to begin, the new cam and sound system I just acquired stopped working, forcing me to unplug everything and use only my laptop cam and mic, which caused the technical aspects to be less than ideal (though still perfectly workable) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j3XHHn1yWs&feature=player_embedded
Questions over US policy on Middle East conflict In the US military and diplomatic establishments a consesnsus has long existed that Israel is a strategic liability. Following the wars of '67 and '73 corporate elites also came to share this view. Now Mossad chief Meir Dagan is admitting that Israel is becoming a strategic burden for the United States. His honesty is refreshing. One wishes Jewish liberals in the US would be as forthcoming as Jewish rightists in israel. Alas, with some honourable exceptions, this hasn't happened. The Israel lobby, which has fought a historically uphill battle trying to convince politicians that Israel is a strategic asset, has found an unlikely ally in some figures on the left. The most prominent of course is Noam Chomsky, but there is also a legion of his followers who keep parroting this line. http://pulsemedia.org/2010/06/02/questions-over-us-policy-on-middle-east-conflict/
Israel's flotilla actions vindicate Goldstone report, Philip Weiss The flotilla is completely vindicating Goldstone. Note that the Israeli defense of its actions on the boat is exactly the same as its defense of its actions in Gaza: we had a right to inderdict their movements across international lines, we got severe provocation, we were being attacked by so-called civilians, no country could permit this to happen, we defended ourselves, just look at the video. And in Gaza the Israelis killed 1200-1400 with minimal loss of life on the Israeli side; and the numbers are similarly imbalanced for the Mavi Mamara. http://mondoweiss.net/2010/06/israels-flotilla-actions-vindicate-goldstone-report.html
We are all Gazans now, Pepe Escobar Just imagine if these were Iranian commandos attacking a multinational, six-boat aid flotilla in international waters. The United States, the European Union and Israel would instantly make sure to shock and awe Iran to kingdom come. Instead, it was Israeli commandos who perpetrated this bit of gunboat diplomacy - or "self-defense" - in the dark hours of the early morning, in international waters, some 130 kilometers off the coast of Gaza. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LF02Ak02.html
Treat Palestinians Like Jews, Robert Scheer It was an act of international terrorism, pure and simple. There can be no valid claims of self-defense on the part of Israeli commandos who attacked a ship of protesters in international waters, killing nine civilians and kidnapping more than 600 others--including 15 international reporters who were prevented from filing their stories by a nation that claims to be the beacon of democracy in the Mideast. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/treat-palestinians-like-j_b_597195.html
Israel is becoming the new Jewish ghetto The events unfolding in the wake of Israel's attack on Monday against the humanitarian aid flotilla heading for the Gaza Strip can be assessed on three levels, and it matters very much how one chooses to engage the matter. The first is the narrow technical level of who used force first – whether the Israeli attack was the problem, or whether those on board the Turkish vessel, the Mavi Marmara, who defended themselves against the Israelis triggered the fighting that resulted in death and injuries. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=115455#axzz0peAGNSbw
Murdering Human Rights Workers, MARJORIE COHN On Sunday, Israel murdered human rights workers who were attempting to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, because Gaza has been virtually cut off from the outside world by Israel. At least 19 people were reportedly killed and dozens injured when Israeli troops boarded the 6-ship Freedom Flotilla convoy in international waters and immediately fired live ammunition at the people on board the ships. http://www.counterpunch.com/cohn06012010.html
America's Complicity in Evil, PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS As I write at 5pm on Monday, May 31, all day has passed since the early morning reports of the Israeli commando attack on the unarmed ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, and there has been no response from President Obama except to say that he needed to learn "all the facts about this morning's tragic events" and that Israeli prime minister Netanyahu had canceled his plans to meet with him at the White House. Thus has Obama made America complicit once again in Israel's barbaric war crimes. Just as the US Congress voted to deep-six Judge Goldstone's report on Israel's war crimes committed in Israel's January 2009 invasion of Gaza, Obama has deep-sixed Israel's latest act of barbarism by pretending that he doesn't know what has happened. http://www.counterpunch.com/roberts06012010.html
Obama's Timidity and Deaths at Sea, RAY McGOVERN A chief lesson to learn from President Barack Obama's recent unwillingness to stand up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Lobby is that such timidity can get people killed. Casualty figures are still arriving in the wake of Israel's Sunday night-Monday morning commando attack on an unarmed flotilla trying to bring relief supplies to the 1.5 million Palestinians crowded into Gaza. Already, at least nine civilian passengers are reported killed, and dozens wounded. http://www.counterpunch.com/mcgovern06012010.html
The Shadow over Israel, Margaret Atwood Then there are people like me. Having been preoccupied of late with mass extinctions and environmental disasters, and thus having strayed into the Middle-eastern neighbourhood with a mind as open as it could be without being totally vacant, I've come out altered. Child-killing in Gaza? Killing aid-bringers on ships in international waters? Civilians malnourished thanks to the blockade? Forbidding writing paper? Forbidding pizza? How petty and vindictive! Is pizza is a tool of terrorists? Would most Canadians agree? And am I a tool of terrorists for saying this? I think not. http://www.haaretz.com/haaretz-authors-edition/the-shadow-over-israel-1.293653
Piracy on the Blood-Red Sea, NEVE GORDON "Why didn't they greet us with muffins and orange juice?" was my friend's facetious question after listening all morning to the Israeli media's coverage of the assault on the relief flotilla heading for Gaza, the navy assault that left nine citizens dead and many more wounded. Like a group of pirates in the Mediterranean, the Israeli navy attacked humanitarian aid ships in international waters, and yet Israeli officials and commentators were totally surprised when the passengers did not receive them with open arms. Going through the talkbacks on news sites, it seems that most Jews in Israel were also taken aback. http://www.counterpunch.com/gordon06022010.html
Notch Up Another Disaster for Israel's Well-Oiled Propaganda Machine, PATRICK COCKBURN An old Israeli saying describing various less-than-esteemed military leaders says: "He was so stupid that even the other generals noticed." The same derisive remark could be applied almost without exception to the present generation of Israeli politicians. Such healthy skepticism among Israelis about the abilities of their military and political leaders has unfortunately ebbed in recent decades. As a result, Israelis are left perplexed as to why their wars, military interventions and armed actions have so often ended in failure since the 1973 war, despite the superiority of their armed forces. http://www.counterpunch.com/patrick06022010.html
Israel and Palestinians Stay on Collision Course, James Gundun - Washington D.C. Prospects of the White House learning from its first, aborted round of indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians quickly dropped in the days following a second launch. One attempt at proxy negotiations hadn't just failed, but crashed spectacularly across the international community and media. A brief, exaggerated scuffle between America and Israel ensued, gleefully observed by the Palestinians regardless of its authenticity. Justifiable Schadenfreude recycled into further Israeli resentment. http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16014
Rachel Corrie Lives: The Attack On the Aid Flotilla, Ron Jacobs Just when you think Israel can not do anything more to anger most of the world, it does. The attack on the aid flotilla of ships that includes the MV Rachel Corrie on May 31, 2010 was beyond the pale of conventionally accepted actions, even by Israel. It was the ship Mavi Marmara that was attacked and several of its passengers killed because they dared to physically challenge the tactics of the Israeli government in its campaign to isolate and eventually eradicate the idea of a Palestinian people. Like Rachel herself, the people on the ship were activists actively opposing the Israeli regime's decades-long crusade to dehumanize and destroy the lives of those who call themselves Palestinian. Realizing that the blockade of goods into Gaza has reached disastrous proportions, these folks worked with thousands of others around the world to gather food, medicines and a multitude of other goods forbidden by Israel to enter Gaza and bring the goods to Gaza. http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/06/rachel-corrie-lives-the-attack-on-the-aid-flotilla/
How To Achieve The Right Of Return? Supporters and critics of one democratic state came together from around the world recently, indicating that alternative solutions are being actively sought as the viability of a two state solution loses support. Organised by the Abnaa El'Balad movement, the Second Haifa Conference for the return of Palestinian Refugees and for the Democratic Secular State welcomed around 300 participants from Palestine, Israel and across the globe. Through workshops, debate and performances, the three day event provided a forum for discussion on the establishment of a one state solution for Palestine. http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1429
Only a one-state Palestine is possible,Christopher King Christopher King looks beyond Israel's latest crime against humanity, its murder in international waters of aid workers bound for Gaza. He argues that it is high time to accept the fact that Israel is a fundamentally illegitimate entity and that the only chance for peace lies in a one-state Palestine shared among Palestinian Arabs and Jews. http://www.redress.cc/palestine/cking20100601
Israel's Nuclear Policy, James Petras On May 24, 2010, the Guardian (U.K.) published a highly confidential document released by the South African government. The 1975 document reveals a secret military agreement signed by Shimon Peres, Israel's Foreign Minister at the time (and today Israel's President) and South Africa's Defense Minister P. W. Botha. Israel offered to sell the apartheid regime, weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical and conventional weaponry to destroy and defeat the million person African resistance movement. The Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organization, immediately set in motion the Lying Machine claiming the official minutes of the Israeli nuclear offer and a far reaching agreement on military ties between two apartheid regimes were merely a "conversation" (sic) and that Israel did not "make an offer." http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/06/israels-nuclear-policy/
Israeli troops kidnap shepherd's 11-year-old son SIDON: Units of the Lebanese Army and peacekeeping forces were put on alert Tuesday in the region of Wazzani, following the abduction of two Lebanese shepherds by Israeli forces. A number of Israeli troops crossed the technical fence near an Israeli checkpoint in the region of Wazzani where they kidnapped an 11-year-old shepherd. Mohammad Hayel Zaal Mohammad, from the village of Wazzani was herding his flock along with his father Hayel Zaal Mohammad when both were abducted by the Israeli squad. While Hayel managed to escape, his son was taken to an unknown destiny after which he was handed over to the Lebanese army one hour later. Mohammad was interrogated by the Lebanese Army about the details of the incident in an effort to figure out whether or not he had crossed the Blue Line. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=115462#ixzz0pe7G3yyI
Tuesday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 1 Wounded For Iraqi civilians, May has been the deadliest month so far this year. According to data released by various ministries, at least 275 died. Another 62 Iraqis who were security personnel were killed as well, along with five U.S. soldiers. On the first day of June, at least six Iraqis were killed and one more was wounded, including both civilians and service members. http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/06/01/tuesday-6-iraqis-killed-1-wounded/
SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, June 1 (Reuters) - Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said on Tuesday dozens of families had been displaced in days of shelling by Iranian forces pursuing Kurdish rebels in the border region. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE65024D.htm
U.S. and World News Amnesty International: Libya executes 18 by firing squad Amnesty International has condemned the reported execution by firing squad of 18 people in Libya on Sunday. Amnesty International has condemned the reported execution by firing squad of 18 people, many of them foreign nationals, in Libya on Sunday. Cerene, a newspaper closely affiliated with Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, reported that the 18, including nationals of Chad, Egypt and Nigeria, were executed after being convicted of premeditated murder. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/libya-executes-18-firing-squad-2010-06-01
Egypt goes to polls, opposition says supporters blocked CAIRO: Many Egyptians were blocked by security forces and ruling party backers from voting in an election on Tuesday, particularly where the opposition Muslim Brotherhood was running, rights groups and the opposition said. The vote for 88 of the 264 seats in the upper house, or Shura Council, is regarded as a litmus test for how much space the authorities will give opposition voices in a parliament vote this year and presidential election in 2011. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=115450#axzz0pe9TZn9E
Saudi youths in trouble over MTV reality show RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's religious police are trying to bring to court three Saudi youths for challenging the kingdom's austere lifestyle on an MTV reality show – a new test of the country's stated commitment to reform. Divisions have emerged within the influential religious establishment, including the religious police body itself, over long-held restrictions that have been enforced in the world's leading oil producing country and key US ally. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=115451#axzz0pe9uI712
Tracking the American liberal discourse's failure on the flotilla raid, it is important to note that Brian Lehrer, the cerebral conscience of the New York public radio station, WNYC, today did an interview with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of England on his new book about Jews and Israel. So a conservative Zionist was given a platform to defend Israel's attack on the boat.
(How'd Lehrer have done with the killings of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, freedom riders who died in 1963?)
Lehrer brought up some good questions. He asked about the inhuman blockade, without quoting the many legal opinions that it is collective punishment. He halfway valorized criticisms of Israel that come from "anti-Zionists" and asked whether these were anti-Semitic.
Sacks said it was anti-Semitic when people attack The Jews for supporting Israel.
So they take credit for anti-Zionist Jews, as proving diversity, when neither Sacks nor Lehrer gives a platform to an anti-Zionist Jew. No, anti-Zionist Jews and non-Zionist Jews are excommunicated by the Jewish leadership. I challenge you, Brian, if you are bragging on that diversity, to honor it: and let your listeners hear from these people. Amy Goodman does so all the time. She puts on Naomi Klein and Norman Finkelstein. Al Jazeera put me on last week. BBC put me on last month. Russian TV put Norman on yesterday.
Lehrer read from a Tom Friedman op-ed today that criticized the Israeli attack mutedly. This is how Lehrer seems to express his own discomfort with the Israeli violence, Tom Friedman. When Israel is in a crisis stemming from a simple fact: the government does not represent half the people who are under its governance.
Moshe Arens, a rightwing Israeli hawk, has joined Reuven Rivlin, speaker of the Knesset, in endorsing a one-state solution that absorbs the West Bank. At the link, Jerry Haber points out that they want to disgorge Gaza but congratulates the right for thinking outside the box. Arens wrote in Haaretz:
Adding another 1.5 million Muslims, the population of Judea and Samaria, to Israel's Muslim population would of course make the situation considerably more difficult. Would a 30-percent Muslim minority in Israel create a challenge that would be impossible for Israeli society to meet? That is a question that Israeli politicians, and all Israelis - Jews and Arabs alike - need to ponder.
I believe the figure is closer to 2.5 million. But what is exciting about Arens's statement, following on Rivlin's, is that the right is thinking creatively about a dire crisis faced by Israeli society. And who else is thinking creatively? Who else is publishing this sort of idea? Certainly not liberal Zionists in the United States, who can't even call for a return to the '67 lines to save the Jewish state of ancient memory. The right is actually willing to take action/some risk with enfranchising Palestinians who are now under occupation and tyrannized. The Israeli right is thus far closer to Ali Abunimah's idea that Israel/Palestine should become a... are you sitting down? .... a democracy.
The marvel here is that the Israeli right is doing harder mental work than any American liberal I can think of. And doing so in good measure out of fears of endless bloodshed, lack of progress. The matsav, the conflict, hovers over Israeli society like a black cloud. And over our political life too. How long before American conservatives and realists, who see the apartheid conditions that liberals have blinded themselves to, join this conversation in favor of democracy? I am about to call on Roger Cohen to join this conversation, Roger Cohen who ardently opposed Partition in the former Yugoslavia out of a noble hatred of ethnic division. An essential conversation for Americans, and who will push it.
