Israel attacks aid convoy in Mediterranean

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by HornsInTheHouse, May 31, 2010.

  1. HornsInTheHouse

    HornsInTheHouse 500+ Posts

  2. TaylorTRoom

    TaylorTRoom 1,000+ Posts

    Israel is being shelled with missiles fired from the Palestinian territory. Comparing this to the Civil Rights era is comparing apples to oranges, don't you agree? I don'e see any MLK's on the Palestinian side, just a lot of Rap Browns.
     
  3. Coelacanth

    Coelacanth Guest


     
  4. gecko

    gecko 2,500+ Posts


     
  5. A. BETTIK

    A. BETTIK 1,000+ Posts

    "Thousands of tons of supplies for Gaza"

    Obviously including knives, clubs and whatever else meant to aid Palestinians to kill Jews in Israel.
     
  6. Roger35

    Roger35 2,500+ Posts

  7. PhantomHorn

    PhantomHorn 1,000+ Posts

    This could be a spark to more substantial conflict. Global economic problems and a tense social mood, incidents like this can catalyze much greater action. Turkey appears to be moving from its more Western disposition to one more aligned with regional Muslim countries. Additionally, what was once the “carrot” of potential European Economic membership for Turkey seems to have gone up in smoke with EU dissolution on the horizon due to market dynamics related to PIIGS nations and debt problems.

    Because of regional mass condemnation of Israel’s actions and potential strategic realignments, this could be the spark that lights a greater fire to come
     
  8. MaduroUTMB

    MaduroUTMB 2,500+ Posts

    Let's see what they find.
     
  9. Shark4

    Shark4 2,500+ Posts


     
  10. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    Israel had warned th activists to NOT continue. Israel would have allowed them to dock at a post where the supplies would be searched and then trucked into Gaza.
    so any cry of Israel denying humanitarian supplies is bs
     
  11. HornsInTheHouse

    HornsInTheHouse 500+ Posts

    Did you miss the part about the ship being in international waters? The activists were justified in defending their ships against the Israeli pirates. How can Israel claim self-defense when they ordered the troops to attack the ships? That's like the Somali pirates claiming self-defense after the crew members of the Maersk Alabama fought back.

    The ships weren't carrying rockets or guns, and if you're going to call them terrorists because they had pipes and knives on board, that is sad. Is the Holocaust survivor on board a terrorist? The ships were carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies, like concrete, wheelchairs, and water purifiers. Times UK
     
  12. borna_horn

    borna_horn 1,000+ Posts


     
  13. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

    I don't see there ever being peace in our lifetimes in that region. Israel is right to defend their flanks at every opportunity. The only discussion of peace from the perspective of the Palestinians, the way I see it, is a fake ploy to gain an advantage.

    When have the Palestinians ever had truly peaceful intentions? Why should the Israelis expect anything different?
     
  14. Shark4

    Shark4 2,500+ Posts


     
  15. HornsInTheHouse

    HornsInTheHouse 500+ Posts

    Civil disobedience and non-violent protests are all about raising awareness and generating media attention. For Israel to criticize humanitarian activists as carrying out a "cheap, political ploy" is like the British government criticizing Gandhi's march to the sea to make salt a "cheap, political ploy." The point is to draw out a response that exposes the other side's brutality, to "force the issue." Remember how shocked Americans were when images of police dogs and fire hoses being turned on black protesters interrupted their dinners? Most people could not believe American police would treat their own citizens so cruelly over simply being 1) black, and 2) in the wrong place. Only then did public sentiment turn against the Jim Crow laws and other injustices in the South.

    The status quo is the daily death and ruin Gazans face. The West Bank with its spider webs of checkpoints and settlements is not much better, so you cannot blame this all on Hamas. The objective of the Freedom Flotilla is to lift the siege of Gaza, sans weapons. It's not to kill more Israelis, but to help more Palestinians. That is a just goal.

    If you want to be legalistic and argue the aid convoy was going to violate Israeli law, that's fine, but you also have to acknowledge that they did NOT in fact violate Israeli law because the Israelis attacked before they crossed into Israel's territorial waters. Israel is behind the legal eight ball here. They basically committed an act of piracy by seizing six ships in international waters who were not carrying weapons or smuggling drugs or doing any of the other things international law forbids.

    I understand Israel and its apologists are trying to shape the narrative one in which Israel once again is defending its borders from malicious attackers but they are ignoring the facts of the case:
    - the Freedom Flotilla was not headed to Israel, but to the Gaza Strip
    - it was not carrying any weapons, only humanitarian aid
    - it was in international waters when commandos attacked it
    - Israel had no legal authority to board the ships
    - the activists were from a dozen countries mostly Turkey
    - they fought back when unjustly boarded

    How Israel can continue to construe this as being the victim of aggression will be interesting to see because the facts are so damning.
     
  16. borna_horn

    borna_horn 1,000+ Posts


     
  17. HornsInTheHouse

    HornsInTheHouse 500+ Posts

    The activists on the Freedom Flotilla cannot control what Hamas does. They can only try to help Gazans who are suffering from the siege. There is a long list of stuff Israel will not let in to the Gaza Strip from land so the activists try to bring it by sea. They were not bringing rockets or machine guns. The aid convoy was no threat to Israel unless Israeli does a face-palm and attacks the ship. Israel brought this on themselves, and for them to complain about that activists trying to repel illegal boarders is like saying "Why did you put your foot where I was stepping?"
     
  18. buckhorn

    buckhorn 1,000+ Posts


     
  19. Roger35

    Roger35 2,500+ Posts


     
  20. borna_horn

    borna_horn 1,000+ Posts


     
  21. Shark4

    Shark4 2,500+ Posts


     
  22. borna_horn

    borna_horn 1,000+ Posts

    What the Palestinians have done the past decade has made life worse for them. Much worse.

    But they have made more people hate Israel, which I guess makes it all worth it for them.

    There is a parallel to 9/11. More people hate America now than before 9/11. In that respect, I guess terrorism works.
     
  23. 2003TexasGrad

    2003TexasGrad Son of a Motherless Goat

    Borna, it sure didnt take you long to throw out your anti-semitism bomb. Stop it already.

    Arabs didnt want a Jewish state. You can argue all you want, but please stop with the silly anti-semite blast. Its so over used and inaccurate its pathetic.

    Anytime anyone even slightly criticizes Israel for anything, they are labled as an anti-semite. Its just sick.
     
  24. Uninformed

    Uninformed 5,000+ Posts

    I'm missing what you are responding to 2003. It must be from past posts, because I see nothing innacurate or untruthful about the one on this thread.
     
  25. borna_horn

    borna_horn 1,000+ Posts

    When someone singles out Israel as being more violent, evil, etc. then, yes, that is antisemitism.

    America can build a wall between us and Mexico but if Israel builds one to stop terrorists from coming in they are labeled as racist. Yes, a double standard applied to Israel IS antisemitism.

    And all the antisemites are seizing this opportunity today to launch propoganda against Israel.
     
  26. gobears92

    gobears92 Guest


     
  27. HornsInTheHouse

    HornsInTheHouse 500+ Posts


     
  28. buckhorn

    buckhorn 1,000+ Posts


     
  29. Shark4

    Shark4 2,500+ Posts


     
  30. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    So Israel announces a blockade, which under international law it has the right to do. It publishes the coordinates of the conflict.
    Israel made known to the organizers of the flotilla the existence and coordinates of the blockade.
    Israel would allow the flotilla to dock in a port where the aid goods could be searched and then trucked into Gaza
    Israel alerted the flotilla it was violating the blockade, alerted them several times

    What the protestors did is unconscionable.


    BTW according to international law a blockade CAN encompass international waters as long as it does not block access to a port or coast of a neutral nation.

    Israel is by no means always blameless but this incident was orchestraed to elicit the anger of the arab world.

    What will Obama do?
     

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