Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Truth about the Flotilla

The truth about the flotilla now seeking to approach Gaza's shores is that it has nothing to do with humanitarian aid and everything to do with propaganda. The truth is that Israel has been delivering humanitarian aid on a weekly, and even daily basis, consistently and almost without interruption, even during the Gaza War.

The truth is that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza...other than a lack of humanity. Their duly elected leadership lacks humanity for its own people and so supplies that are delivered to Gaza are not correctly distributed and they lack humanity for Gilad Shalit and his family. They have no qualms about violating international law, ignoring Gilad's right as a prisoner of war to have communication with the International Red Cross and his family.

The truth about this flotilla is that it is not seeking to bring humanitarian aid to an area that is lacking it - were that true, they would not have ignored so many other places desperately needing such supplies. Where was this flotilla, these so-called human rights activists when it came to the natural disasters in Haiti and elsewhere? They were, as they are now, too busy plotting their self-glorification and espousing their hatred of Israel to care.

The truth is that this flotilla wants attention and so they did not arrive on Friday to Gaza, nor did they arrive on Saturday, not even Sunday - now they say on Monday because they know that there is no story. Israel has already said it will be more than happy to deliver the supplies, as they always do...through legitimate and secure avenues. But the flotilla wants attention and so they continue.

They were asked to take something to Gaza for Gilad Shalit - they refused. Only when they realized that this was a propaganda mistake did they apparently seem to change their minds. Either way, they will not reach Gaza and so the point is a moot one.

The truth of the flotilla is that it floats on lies and propaganda. The world may fall for it, after all, they have fallen for so much. One of my sons said he hopes a Hamas rocket hits one of the boats and sinks it...he is angry that more than ten rockets and mortars were fired at Israel this week, and still all attention goes to these silly people on these silly boats.

One friend suggested that the leader of the boat, one who claims Israeli citizenship, though he doesn't live in Israel, should be arrested. It is, after all, illegal for an Israeli to enter Palestinian areas because that endangers their lives and the troops that must quickly be assembled to extricate them before they are lynched by local Palestinians mobs.

One Israeli organization has countered the flotilla with a flotilla of our own, sending out ships to meet and greet the original flotilla with signs of "Free Gaza from Hamas."

The truth of the flotilla is that it sails on a meaningless journey, will accomplish nothing, and will not impress any who understand that there never was a humanitarian crisis and therefore no reason but self-promotion. In reality, the flotilla sinks itself no matter what happens when the boats finally decide to really try to approach Gaza.

Perhaps Israel's navy will stop the boats, but the mission itself was a non-starter from the beginning and has accomplished nothing along the way.