Israeli Attack on Gaza Aid Ship Violates International Law
Last night, Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish aid ship on its way to Gaza. It is reported that they killed ten to fifteen activists and injured thirty more.
The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast. Organizers said the flotilla was carrying 10,000 tones of humanitarian aid headed to Gaza challenging the Israeli blockade.
The Israeli Army Radio said soldiers opened fire "after confronting those on board carrying sharp objects". Israel says they offered to deliver the aid if the ships turned back.
The Free Gaza Movement, the organizers of the flotilla, however, said the troops opened fire as soon as they stormed the ships. They also said they were fully within international law delivering the aid directly to Gaza.
Turkey in a written statement condemned Israel over the deadly attacks: "This deplorable incident, which took place in open seas and constitutes a fragrant breach of international law, may lead to irreparable consequences in our bilateral relations," it said.
Turkey is a member of NATO and one of the few majority Muslim countries that has diplomatic relations with Israel. Although Israel has been a major supplier of arms to Turkey, diplomatic relations have been tense following the 2008-2009 Israel attack on Gaza.
Prior to the attack on the aid ship, Israel 's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "The aid convoy is violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow its sovereignty to be threatened in any way, in any place - land, air, or sea. There is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip." The UN and numerous NGO's have described the conditions in Gaza as a humanitarian disaster.
Lieberman has openly talked about ethnically cleansing Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin. In late May 2004, Lieberman proposed a plan in which the populations and territories of Israeli Jews and Arabs, including some Israeli Arabs, would be "separated." According to the plan, also known as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan," Israeli Arab towns adjacent to Palestinian Authority areas would be transferred to Palestinian Authority, and only those Arab Israelis who migrated from the area to within Israel's new borders and pledged loyalty to the Jewish State of Israel would be allowed to remain Israeli citizens.
I was in Israel in April of this year, my first visit since 1998. I interviewed Michel Warschawski, founder of the Alternative Information Centre, who spoke about the significance of Lieberman: "it's not anymore a small lunatic right wing, like [Meir] Kahane gang 20 years ago. He's minister of foreign affairs. He's government. He's part of the coalition, an important part of the coalition. So what we have is the blatantly racist language and measures that were on the margin of Israeli politics are now in the middle."
After Israel's attack on Gaza in 2008, the UN appointed a Fact Finding Mission to investigate alleged war crimes. The mission, led by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone, produced a report that accused both Israel and Palestinian militias of war crimes.
The UN human rights council referred Goldstone's report to the UN General Assembly in Washington for follow-up, but under US pressure, the report never reached the Security Council for possible referral to the International Criminal Court. The Canadian government joined the US in denouncing the report.
On Thursday Amnesty International accused the US and European states of obstructing justice by using their position on the UN Security Council to shield Israel from accountability for war crimes committed in Gaza.
As long as the American, Canadian and European governments continue to allow Israel to flout international law without consequence, defend and expand illegal settlements, maintain a "secret" stockpile of nuclear weapons, sustain the siege of Gaza . . . Israel will continue on this road with impunity.
The American and Canadian elites support such actions of Israel not because they love Jews or care about a Jewish state. A long history of North American and European anti-Semitism says otherwise. They do so for their own geo-political objectives. Like most issues in the Middle East, it's mostly about oil and maintaining a system of regimes, Israeli and Arab, which make sure that fabulous oil revenues remain in very few hands.
I think most ordinary Americans and Canadians, including those of Jewish origin, do not agree with a policy of unconditional support for the increasingly fanatical direction of Israeli policy.
Paul Jay is the CEO and Senior Editor of The Real News Network. He is an award-winning filmmaker, founder of Hot Docs! International Film Festival and was for ten years the Executive Producer of the CBC Newsworld show counterSpin.
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pulling punches
By notme, at May 31, 2010 17:04 PM
To me, this article pulls its punch.
To start with, it almost underplays what has happened in the med. A bunch of cold statements of facts, that seem to avoid the obvious words to describe this attack ... words such as 'murder' and 'piracy'.
Then, for some reason the author decides to fade away into tales of his visit to Gaza and a recounting of old history. And, when you'd expect an article to end by landing a solid punch with its final thought that would stay with the reader, instead one gets a vague statement that really doesn't say anything at all.
How about ending with a call for the reader to join the rest of the world in saying ENOUGH and calling for an end to Israeli 'murder' and 'piracy'?
I say this because I think I like the author's views. Its just a shame to see them in a rather ineffective article.
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Re: pulling punches
By notme, at May 31, 2010 17:14 PM
How about a plan of action to respond to this?
Maybe we close every Israeli embassy and consolate by gathering in large numbers to protest outside? And not just for a couple of hours on a weekend on a symbolic basis.
Maybe its time we got serious in ending aid to Israel? And not only by complaining to the current members of Congress, but by directly going after those who continue to send out tax money to pay for such murder and piracy and kicking them the heck out of Congress? So far, we've given congress a free ride on their constant support of Israel, while AIPAC forcefully attacks any who dissent from their views. If we can't mount similar attacks, using our grassroots power to do so, then why wouldn't every congressperson constantly vote for Israel? We don't make them pay a price for such votes. Those 400-5 votes are a testiment to our political ineffectiveness.
In the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, when millions of Americans are struggling and the budget deficits are climbing, surely we can make the case for not sending $5 billion of our hard earned tax money off to pay for murder and piracy?
Maybe its time to put more life into boycotts of Israeli goods and other Israeli institutions?
And, since the left is likely to devolve into a 5 year argument as to which of the above is the most effective strategy, why don't we just try all of the above and hope they combine to form enough pressure? Or at least form a visible starting point around which opposition to Israeli murder and piracy can coalesce?
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Re: Re: pulling punches
By Whitesell, Daniel at Jun 01, 2010 03:53 AM
I agree with both comments. We should strongly denounce U.S.-supported Israeli crimes of murder and mayhem, expose the apologists for them, and, most importantly, end our government's sponsorship of them.
As it stands now, the Israeli military still appears to have carte blanche in committing these crimes.
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