Krauthammer on the Flotilla of Fools. . . .

Krauthammer on the flotilla of fools

According to Charles Krauthammer at nationalreview.com:

The fundamental deception here is the use of the word "humanitarian." . . . Humanitarians don't wield iron clubs, and [they] would have killed the Israelis had the Israelis not drawn their pistols in self-defense.

But there‘s a larger issue here. What exactly is the humanitarian crisis that the flotilla was actually addressing? There is none. There’s no one starving in Gaza. The Gazans have been supplied with food and social services, education, by the U.N., by UNWRA, for 60 years, in part with American tax money.

Second, when there are humanitarian needs, the Israelis allow — every day — food and medicine overland into Gaza. The reason that it did not want to allow this flotilla is because, as the spokesman for the flotilla said herself, this was not about humanitarian relief. It was about breaking the blockade.

And the reason the Israelis have a blockade is because they only want to allow humanitarian supplies and not weaponry. Look, the proof of that is the fact that if you look at a map of Gaza, you'll see that Israelis only control three sides of this rectangle. There’s a fourth side on the Egyptian side. So it is an Egyptian-Israeli blockade.

The Egyptians have the same problem with Gaza. People accuse Israeli of the blockade [saying it’s because] because they're racist, they’re anti-Muslim, anti-Arab. The Egyptians are Muslim and Arab and they’ve gone to war three times on behalf of the Palestinians. So why do they have exactly the same blockade? Because Gaza is run by Hamas, a terror entity that wants to import weaponry and resume the war against Israel.

The man who made the announcement that we saw earlier, explaining the commando raid is the defense minister of Israel. He‘s not a right-winger. He‘s not Likud. He’s Ehud Barak, who’s the leader of Labor, the party of Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir, the party of the left, and the man who ten years ago this summer offered the Palestinians a peace agreement that would have [provided] a Palestinian state, division of Jerusalem, and an end of the conflict.

The Palestinians said no. And Gaza two years ago declared war on Israel. That's why you have a blockade. . . .

If these people had wanted humanitarian aid, Israel offered to take the ships into Haifa, peacefully, unload all the stuff inside and to allow all the humanitarian aid immediately into Gaza, all the food and medicine. And it was refused because it was meant to be a provocation and to create an incident.

Indeed.
 
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According to ynetnews.com:

The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.

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I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel, but you have to wonder why their Navy Commandos would propel out of helicopters armed with paintball guns. What moron thought paintball guns were sufficient when suspected terrorist were on the flotillas. Even I know you don't take a knife to a gunfight. . . .

Wouldn't you just fire warning shots and if your commands were not obeyed then you open fire, sink their vessel and not risk the lives of your own. You would think that Israel would have learned from the Holocaust that you can't trust your enemies.

Maybe the Navy Commandos were hoping to receive the new medal for "Courageous Restraint". . . .

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LulDJh4fWI

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWEzMTY4ZWVhNWYzZjg0MWNjYjRjZWFkNmFjMTNmZWM=

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896796,00.html