“Kill the Jews” flotilla?

Editorial

Israel has denied that its intervention is what led the Greek coast guard to prevent the departure of boats intending to challenge Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip this week. But the media reports were infused with a whiff of ... well, consider the facts.

If this were any other country enforcing a legal blockade against a terrorist entity that imports weapons to use against civilians in an adjacent jurisdiction, there would not be a story. Because this is Israel, we not only face the reality of a group of “peace activists” seeking to permit the free flow of weapons to terrorists, we are confronted by the spectre of the multi-tentacled Zionist entity controlling the actions of foreign powers (if Greece can be called a power, these days). In any other situation, the Greek government’s actions would be unquestioned. Greece has come down on the side of peace, democracy and international diplomatic decency, yet it is accused of “kowtowing” to Israel.

Canada’s government, of course, has condemned the flotilla and discouraged citizens from participating, but, perhaps surprisingly, even European Union leaders have condemned the flotilla as inappropriate and provocative. British Prime Minister David Cameron defended Israel’s right to search vessels headed for Gaza. The Dutch foreign minister said the flotilla would “not make the least contribution to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Harvard professor and noted commentator Ruth Wisse, speaking to Israeli media recently, was as succinct as possible on the subject: “The purpose of the flotilla is to discredit the Israeli attempt to protect itself and to give Hamas a free hand amassing weapons to use against Israeli civilians,” Wisse told Inside Israel. “It should be called what it is: a ‘kill-the-Jews’ flotilla. If it is called by its proper name, then it will be recognized for what it is.”

The reality is that many people in the Arab world and elsewhere, including are own country, already recognize the flotilla for what it is. And that’s why they support it.

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