The
Flotilla Massacre: Historical Perspective, Aftermath And
Implications
11 June 2010 By Stephen Lendman
During the Mandate period and
throughout its existence, Israel's history has been
bloodstained, barbarous, and out-of-control - and for
most of it generously funded and heavily armed with
the latest weapons and technology by its Washington
paymaster/partner to reign terror on the region and
Palestine. Early on, Israel was a regional menace.
It's now a global one, posing a grave threat to world
peace and stability.
The Flotilla attack was just the
latest among its thousands of other atrocities, large
and small, including preemptive wars, smaller
incursions, bombings, killings including targeted
assassinations, torture as official policy, and
numerous other crimes against humanity as advocated by
early leaders like David Ben-Gurion (Israel's first
prime minister) saying:
"We must expel the Arabs and take
their place and if we have to use force, to guarantee
our own right to settle (on their land) then we have
(it) at our disposal."
Or former IDF Chief of Staff
Raphael Eitan (1978 - 1983) saying:
"We declare openly that the Arabs
have no right to settle on even one centimeter of
Eretz Israel....Force is all they do or ever will
understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the
Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours."
Or the secret (1976 published)
Koenig Report saying:
"We must use terror,
assassination, intimidation, land confiscation and the
cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of
its Arab population."
Or Benjamin Netanyahu, as Deputy
Foreign Minister, saying "Israel should have exploited
the (1989 Tiananmen Square violence), when world
attention focused on (China), to carry out mass
expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."
Little wonder why Israel's
history is so bloodstained, some notable examples
below:
-- on July 22, 1946, future prime
minister Menachem Begin's Irgun (a notorious terror
group) bombed the King David Hotel, massacring 92
Brits, Arabs and Jews, wounding 58 others, in an
operation approved by David Ben-Gurion as head of the
Jewish Agency at the time;
-- also under the Mandate, the
terrorist Stern Gang (future prime minister Yitzhak
Shamir one of its leaders) carried out numerous
bombings, kidnappings, and killings, including the
1944 assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo - Britain's
highest ranking official in the region;
-- on April 9, 1948 (during
Israel's "war of independence") the Irgun, Stern Gang
and other Israeli terrorists slaughtered well over 120
Palestinian men, women and children in the bloody Deir
Yassin village rampage; on April 14, The New York
Times reported 254 killed;
-- Israel's "war of independence"
(Palestine's Nakba, its "Holocaust") depopulated 531
towns and villages and 11 urban neighborhoods,
committing mass slaughter, rapings, vast destruction,
and countless other atrocities in displacing about
800,000 Palestinians - one of history's greatest ever
crimes of war and against humanity;
-- a week after the war's mid-May
1948 end, Israeli troops massacred over 200 al-Tantura
villagers, mostly unarmed young men murdered in cold
blood;
-- on July 11 & 12, IDF forces
slaughtered several hundred Lydda civilians, including
80 machine-gunned inside the Dahmash mosque;
-- from October 24 - 29, 1948,
Israeli soldiers slaughtered 50 Hula, Lebanon
villagers;
-- on October 29, 1948, they
massacred around 200 al-Dawayima villagers;
-- on October 30, 20 more in Majd
al-Kurum, 94 when they blew up a house, and hundreds
in Sa'sa' village;
-- on October 14, 1953, Ariel
Sharon's notorious Unit 101 murdered 70 Qibya, Jordan
villagers;
-- on April 5, 1956, IDF shelling
massacred 56 and wounded 193 in Gaza City;
-- on October 29, 1956, the IDF
slaughtered about 50 Kafr Kassem village men, women
and children;
-- during the 1956 Suez War,
Israelis executed about 273 Egyptian soldiers and
civilians in cold blood;
-- on November 12, 1956, the IDF
slaughtered over 100 Rafah Refugee Camp civilians;
-- during Israel's preemptive
June 1967 Six Day War, its forces massacred around
2,000 captured Egyptian soldiers, another 340 Syrian
villagers in the Golan Heights, and displaced over
300,000 Palestinians who fled to Jordan, Lebanon,
Egypt, and Syria to escape the carnage;
-- on June 8, 1967, Israeli
forces preemptively attacked the USS Liberty (a
clearly marked US intelligence ship), killing 34
Americans and wounding another 171 in international
waters; Lyndon Johnson's defense department
whitewashed it as a case of "mistaken identity,"
despite clear knowledge of a premeditated assault;
-- on February 21, 1973, the IDF
shot down Libya Airlines Flight 114, killing 106
passengers, including one American;
-- on February 25, 1994, Baruch
Goldstein (a member of Rabbi Meir Kahane's extremist
Jewish Defense League) attacked Hebron's Cave of the
Patriarchs Ibrahim mosque, massacring 29 and wounding
another 129;
-- during Israel's 1982 Lebanon
invasion and occupation, IDF forces slaughtered about
18,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, including around
3,000 by its Phalangist allies in the Sabra and
Shatila refugee camps;
-- during the first (1987 - 1992)
and second (2000 - 2005) Intifadas, IDF rampages
slaughtered thousands of Palestinian men, women and
children in cold blood;
-- in April 2002, IDF forces
invaded Jenin and its refugee camp, cut them off from
outside help, destroyed hundreds of buildings, buried
many alive under the rubble, cut off power, water,
food, and other essential supplies, refused to let in
help (including medical aid), and killed or wounded at
least dozens (perhaps hundreds) of Palestinian
civilians; Israel removed bodies and buried them to
prevent an accurate count;
-- during the July 2006 Lebanon
war, the IDF caused mass destruction, killed about
1,300, wounded many more, and displaced around one
million civilians (about one-fourth of the
population);
-- during the June 2006 Operation
Summer Rain against Gaza, Israelis killed around 240
(mostly civilians) and caused widespread destruction -
including three main bridges, the Nusairat and al-Boreji
refugee camps' main water pipe, and the Strip's only
power plant, supplying 80% of the Territory's
electricity;
-- during the same period, the
IDF conducted around 50 West Bank incursions, raiding
homes, razing farmland, arresting dozens, and on June
29 the entire (elected) Hamas leadership, including
eight ministers, 25 PLC Change and Reform Party
members, and other Hamas officials; and
-- during the 23-day December
2008 - January 2009 Operation Cast Lead, IDF forces
slaughtered over 1,400, injured around 5,500 more
(many seriously), and inflicted vast destruction
throughout Gaza, including vital infrastructure,
hospitals, schools, mosques, government buildings,
factories, other businesses, farmland, private homes,
and much more unrelated to military necessity in
violation of international law; as a result, the
Goldstone Commission concluded that:
"the Israeli military operation
was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in
furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed
at punishing the (entire) population, and in a
deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at
the civilian population. The destruction of (vital
infrastructure and non-military targets) was the
result of a deliberate and systematic policy which has
made the daily process of living, and dignified
living, more difficult for the civilian population."
And now the Flotilla massacre,
Israel's latest crime against humanity, enraging
millions worldwide, getting Turkey and South Africa to
recall their ambassadors, Nicaragua to downgrade
diplomatically to a consular level, and several other
countries to consider their own measures.
Qatar announced it will pay to
take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
and will fund a worldwide media campaign on the
incident and Gaza siege.
Arutz Sheva (Israel National
News.com) reported that the Egyptian Bar Association
is collecting material to file an ICJ suit, its
chairman, Hamdi Alifa, saying they're being reviewed
to file "giant lawsuits" against Israeli crimes,
including the Flotilla attack and Gaza siege.
Haaretz reported that Swedish
dock workers will blockade Israeli ships from June 15
- 24. Norway announced it cancelled a scheduled
special operations seminar because its Defense
Ministry objected to an Israeli officer's
participation. In Bournemouth, England (with a large
Jewish population and Jewish mayor), people demanded
cutting city relations with Netanyahu.
The French operator Utopia said
it won't screen the Israeli-made film, "Five Hours
From Paris." Israel flags were publicly burned in many
cities. New Delhi Muslims demanded their government
sever ties with Israel. The BBC reported that 200 or
more in Belfast protested the Rachel Corrie seizure,
five days after the Flotilla massacre.
Ynet News.com reported that
President Shimon Peres will likely cancel a scheduled
Asia trip, because he's supremely unwelcome, and
longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas said
Israeli Jews should return to Germany, Poland, and
America, prompting B'nai B'rith's international VP
Daniel Mariaschin to say:
"There should be no place for her
in a news organization. Her comments go beyond
commentary and land well in the camp that will stop at
nothing to delegitimize Israel." B'nai B'rith has long
supported the worst of Israeli crimes, denouncing
anyone who dares expose them.
On June 7, Haaretz reported that
a Knesset panel voted 7 - 1 to "strip Balad (Party) MK
Hanin Zuabi (an Israeli citizen) of privileges over
(her) Gaza flotilla participation."
In a same day op-ed piece,
Haaretz's Ruth Gavison called measures to "limit
dissent and protest" dangerous by "enforc(ing) the
platforms of those who claim Israel is becoming a
belligerent country that belittles democracy and human
rights."
In fact, throughout its history,
Israel has always been belligerent, and has never
respected democracy, human rights, or the rule of
law.
Global Outrage
- Resonating and Growing
After the massacre, world
protests erupted, including in many US cities - among
them:
-- New York, Chicago, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC in front of the
White House, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston,
Houston, Dallas, Cleveland, Atlanta, Tampa,
Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Charlotte,
Raleigh, Knoxville, Fresno, Dearborn, Denver, Sioux
Falls, Fort Wayne, Fayetteville, Portland, Boise, and
Seattle.
US major media reports ignored
them, but aired Israeli propaganda blaming the
victims, calling them terrorists, and claiming the
Netanyahu government acted responsibly to prevent
"pro-Palestinian radicals, jihadists" from smuggling
in arms to Hamas - Palestine's legitimate government,
falsely called a terrorist organization to justify
premeditated murder, a suffocating siege, claiming
they're for self-defense, another refuge for
scoundrels caught red-handed as evidenced by the
worldwide outrage.
On May 31, Al Jazeera headlined
what millions around the world feel: "Global outrage
over Israeli attack" - condemnation from high
officials to street anger everywhere, Hamas leader
Ismail Haniya proclaiming May 31 "freedom day" in
calling on Palestinians throughout Gaza and the West
Bank "to carry out a total strike (throughout the
Territories) to show solidarity (against) Israeli
crimes."
Longtime Palestinian supporter,
Hugo Chavez, expressed condolences to the families and
friends of the "heros who were victims of this crime,"
calling on "those responsible for the murders (to) be
severely punished."
In a prepared statement, he
condemned the "brutal massacre committed by the state
of Israel against members of the Freedom Flotilla (and
its) war against unarmed civilians who were trying to
bring humanitarian assistance to the....people of Gaza
(under) a criminal blockade imposed by the state of
Israel."
"The revolutionary government of
Venezuela will continue denouncing the terrorist and
criminal nature of the Israeli government and
reiterates....its unshakeable commitment with the
struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom,
national sovereignty and dignity."
In early 2009, over Cast Lead
atrocities, Chavez severed diplomatic ties with Israel
and hasn't restored them.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned Israel's attack as
"despicably cowardly, brazen, reckless, and vicious -
against international law, against the heart of
humanity, against world peace," referring to the
massacre as an "abhorrent terrorist attack" against a
humanitarian mission in international waters.
He recalled his ambassador,
cancelled three jointly scheduled military operations,
called for an emergency Security Council meeting,
asked for immediate international community action,
and said "Everything has a price. And this government
will have to pay (it)."
Aside from its latest appalling
crime, a litany of explanatory lies, and a common
street thug as prime minister, Israel and America (its
paymaster/partner in all belligerent acts) have a
whopping PR disaster on their hands, given world
outrage resonating to top officials who must answer to
their own constituencies.
Moreover, the Netanyahu
government's farcical justification compounds its
untenable position. Obama's indifference and Security
Council obstructionism exposes his, along with
outrageous congressional comments. These people can't
even lie well, or perhaps as automatically count on
reliable allies ahead, getting fed up with ones more
an albatross.
Objectives of
Both Sides
Flotilla planners' clear agenda
included:
-- delivering essential to life
aid to 1.5 million besieged Gazans, three years this
month, but more importantly
-- symbolically breaking the
siege to encourage world condemnation, highlighting an
intolerable injustice, and taking another important
step toward ending it.
On the pretext of blocking the
entry of weapons, Israel carried out a premeditated,
carefully planned and rehearsed military operation,
designed to commit murder and mass casualties against
unarmed civilians, even announcing it in Maariv, one
of Israel's leading dailies, days in advance, the
caption reading:
"On the way to violence, one of
the boats is on its way," suggesting a
kill-or-be-killed encounter with "terrorists."
Israel's plan had specific
objectives:
-- to maintain its oppressive
blockade;
-- keep 1.5 million Gazans
trapped in the world's largest open-air prison;
-- cause enough harm to deter
others from coming, and
-- assassinated designated
activists on board.
On June 5, the UK Independent's
Catrina Stewart reported an interview with Jamal
Elshayyal, one of eight Al Jazeera on board reporters,
seven on the Mavi Marmara, saying passengers found on
Israeli commandos a list of names and photos,
Alshayyal telling Stewart:
The "protesters rummaged through
captured soldiers' belongings and claimed to unearth a
document that they allege is a list of people Israel
intended to assassinate. The booklet, written in
Hebrew and in English, contained some photographs of
passengers on the Marmara, including the leader of IHH,
the Turkish charity that provided two of the ships, an
88-year-old priest and Ra'ad, head of the Northern
Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Mr.
Elshayyal said."
Autopsy reports show Flotilla
members were shot multiple times at close range, two
or more in the head, indicating murder, not
self-defense as Israel claims.
The Israeli Project produces
pro-Israeli propaganda, claiming it's information is
accurate, unbiased, and "not related to any government
or government agency."
In its post-Flotilla attack
conference call, Rep. Brad Sherman (D. CA) accused
Flotilla activists of aiding Hamas in violation of US
law, then called on US Attorney General Eric Holder to
prosecute US participants on terrorist charges,
saying:
"The Antiterrorism and Effective
Death Penalty Act of 1996 makes it absolutely illegal
for any American to give food, money, school supplies,
paper clips, concrete or weapons to Hamas or any of
its officials."
Sherman, a so-called "liberal"
Democrat, supports the most extremist elements of
Israel's government, Netanyahu and Foreign Minister
and Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman among
them, notorious sponsors of state-terrorism.
The entire Senate and most House
members also back Israel's belligerence and broader
objective to destroy PA authority to subjugate all
Palestine - by ruthless attacks against civilians,
considered legitimate targets to weaken their will to
resist through mass slaughter, other atrocities, and
numerous other abuses.
Cast Lead did it horrifically,
the Flotilla slaughter just the latest example of how
far Israel will go - with Washington's full support
through generous funding, the latest weapons and
technology, and use of its Security Council pressure
and veto.
Stratfor Global
Intelligence on the Flotilla Massacre
Providing information and
insights to world decision-makers, Stratfor's CEO
George Friedman examined the effect of Israel's
attack, calling it "unprecedented in size" for an
assault of this kind, citing three factors
differentiating it:
-- over 600 foreign nationals
were involved, including politicians and journalists,
"raising the stakes for all players;"
-- the incident drew
unprecedented media attention and preparation;
immediately, "pre-arranged interviews with various
pro-Palestinian representatives were filling regional
media such as Al Jazeera" and others (but not in
America where they're banned); world protests erupted,
calling for accountability and sanctions against
Israel; and
-- "Most importantly, a non-Arab
foreign state played a role in instigating this
incident. Turkey has been feeling its way forward in
the region," trying to increase its political stature
through "new tools of influence." Its government "did
everything it could to benefit from the public
relations that a successful breaching of the blockade
would generate."
In addition, because of Israel's
"direct action, a web of international relationships
will be affected," and Turkey can leverage the
incident by "providing military escorts (for) future
aid flotillas that could increase in size" and further
heighten tensions if Israeli recklessness continues.
Already, Middle East instability
has increased, "the last thing" America needs with
more than enough on its plate. In addition,
Washington-Tel Aviv relations are affected, at least
overtly as well as Israel's Western and regional
relationships. Fumbling a "military action against a
civilian convoy....is something that works directly
against American policies."
Given what's happened and world
outrage, "the issue has....shifted from a military
question to a political one." Key ahead is how Israel,
Washington and Ankara will react, besides the
potential effect on other world governments, given
growing demands for accountability and mass public
calls for action.
Friedman discounts the idea that
the commandos used "paintballs" in the attack, calling
them "training rounds" not likely to be used during a
mission of this sort, especially on a ship with over
600 activists. Claiming it flies in the face of up to
20 killed and many more wounded, Friedman added:
"We find this hard to believe,
given Israel's extensive experience (against) hostile
civilian crowds," perhaps ready to offer resistance.
Israel's Shayetet 13 force is an
elite Naval Special Forces unit, specializing in
sea-to-land incursions, assassinations,
counterterrorism, sabotage, and other belligerent acts
- not crowd control, "so a civilian opposition would
not necessarily be their area of expertise," a mission
Israeli police could have handled.
Friedman omitted what Today's
Zaman reported (an English language Turkish daily) on
June 7, stating:
"Turkish Deputy Prime Minister
Cemil Cicek (said) Turkish citizens who were injured
or killed were subjected to serious torture, and this
much is evident from traces left on their bodies as
well as from bullet shots, most of which were fired at
close range."
The paper's photographer, Kursat
Bayhan, was on the Mavi Marmara and related his "30
hours in cell number 5202" in Beer-Sheva Prison. All
their belongings were taken. They were body-searched,
handcuffed, photographed, forced to sign a document
saying they weren't harmed, those requesting return of
their luggage and passports then beaten, how Israel
treats virtually all detainees.
Fallout from
the Flotilla Massacre
Joshua Landis is Director of the
Center for Middle East Studies and Professor of Middle
East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. On his
June 1 web site posting, Syria Comment, he headlined,
"Israel Pays High Price for Attack on Turkish Flotilla
with Aid for Gaza," saying the damage is mounting:
-- Greece "decided to discontinue
the joint military exercise currently under way and to
postpone" the Athens visit of Israel's air force
general staff head, scheduled for June 1;
-- Turkey recalled its
ambassador, and its foreign minister says "relations
are irreparable;"
-- Netanyahu had to cancel his
important Washington visit;
-- an emergency UN Security
Council session was called, no surprise afterward that
Washington prevented any meaningful resolution;
-- "Obama will try to distance
the US from Israel in due course. What choice does he
have? Israel is increasingly a millstone around
America's neck;"
-- China got Washington to agree
to exempt its companies from US measures for doing
business with Iran for whatever new sanctions it
agreed to;
-- "Negotiations will now become
harder and more costly for the US as the world largely
sees (its) effort to punish Iran to be driven by
Israeli concerns. Iran hardly threatens the US,"
Israel or any other nation.
On May 31 in Foreign Policy,
Professor Stephen Walt headlined "Israel's latest
brutal blunder," saying:
"What could Israel's leaders have
been thinking? How could they possibly believe that a
deadly assault against a humanitarian mission in
international waters would play to their advantage?"
Actions like this galvanize efforts to "delegitimize
the country....This latest escapade is as bone-headed
as the 2006 war in Lebanon" and Cast Lead. They
provide "more evidence of the steady deterioration in
Israel's strategic thinking that we have witnessed
since 1967."
Importantly, the Flotilla attack
"poses a broader threat to US national interests"
because the world associates Israel's actions with
Washington, given the "unbreakable bonds" between
them. It's clear that "the special relationship with
Israel has become a net liability." Tel Aviv
portraying itself as a blameless victim is wearing
thin, a shameless canard, increasingly likely ahead to
fall on deaf ears.
On January 19, 2009, after Cast
Lead, Walt addressed "The Myth of Israel's strategic
genius," saying:
The record shows otherwise.
Israel's military victories are often strategic
failures, showing it's expert only at shooting itself
in the foot, so far at least without consequences, but
for how long.
According to noted Israeli
supporter Leon Wieseltier, its settlements project was
another "moral and strategic blunder of historic
proportions," one, in fact, "never openly debated
within the Israeli body politic," but taken behind
closed doors.
For decades, Israel has stumbled
from one strategic blunder to another, showing there's
"no reason to think (it) possesses uniquely gifted
strategists or a national security establishment that
consistently makes smart and far-sighted choices."
Yet remarkably, some of its most
incompetent leaders, including Ehud Barak, Ehud
Olmert, Ariel Sharon, and Netanyahu are rewarded with
new chances to repeat mistakes, perhaps because of
Washington's unflagging support, but for how long,
given the price America pays for damaged goods,
compounding its own appalling record abroad and at
home with a shelf life of definite limits and an
ability to preserve it running out of cash.
Perhaps also its willingness to
stick with a dubious partner, the same problem
Washington faces with allies, sooner or later to get
fed up and walk away, cutting their losses to
advantage their own futures. The same ones Americans
should consider for their own welfare, and assess how
far they'll go to defend it.
Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site
at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio
Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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