Terrorism at Sea

The media reports keep coming in. Israeli soldiers have boarded a humanitarian convoy en route to help the suffering people of Gaza. Israeli soldiers attacked the ship and brutally killed peace activists. Gaza is under siege! Gaza is being blockaded! Israel murdered civilians to stop them from bringing food to the poor people in Gaza.

The people aboard the flotilla bound for Gaza were anything but civilian peace activists. They were pro-Hamas provocateurs, terrorists and terrorists sympathizers. They were attempting to violate Israeli sovereignty and deliver support to the Hamas regime in Gaza. They refused clear orders by the Israeli military to stop their advance and to turn back. When Israeli commandoes were forced to board the ship, they were greeted by a lynching crew.

The passengers greeted the soldiers armed with knives, bats, clubs and slingshots. The Israeli Navy commandoes, who were told that they would be confronting rioters, were only armed with crowd control paintball rifles. The terrorists aboard the ship attempted to kidnap commandoes, stabbed them repeatedly and threw stun grenades at them. Only after a difficult fight in which dozens of terrorists were killed were the commandoes able to take control of the ship.

An Israeli army reporter described:

‘The activists had many things ready for an attack on the soldiers,’ Lev-Rom said, ‘including, for instance, a box of 20-30 slingshots with metal balls; these can kill. There were also all sorts of knives and many similar things. These are what they call “cold” weapons, as opposed to live fire. It was quite clear that a lynch had been prepared.’

Lev-Rom said, however, that it appears the army, ‘even though it prepared for many different scenarios, was not ready for this one. The army seems not to have known what type of people were there and what type of weapons they had. It was hard for Israel to conceive that the ship, sponsored by the country of Turkey, would have such weapons. Israel was prepared to deal with anarchists, and instead had to deal with terrorists – that’s the feeling here.’

World leaders are issuing their regular condemnations of Israeli actions. The UN, EU and the US have denounced Israel. Yet, there is little discussion over the motives of the "Free Gaza" flotilla organizers. Their aim was never to alleviate the "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, mainly because no such "humanitarian crisis" exists. Tons of food and supplies are brought into Gaza every single day. The Palestinian media recently reported the inauguration of Gaza's first Olympic size swimming pool. There are luxury hotels, cafes and restaurants in Gaza!

The goal of this flotilla was to support the Hamas regime in Gaza or to embarrass Israel by provoking a response from them. This armada of hate was organized by Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a radical Islamic organization which serves as a major component for Hamas' fundraising efforts. IHH had a role in Islamic terror in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. ccording to the French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere testifying at the Seattle trial of would-be al Qaeda Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressamin, the IHH had played ‘[a]n important role’ in the al Qaeda Millenium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles airport. It was also involved in weapons trafficking, and played in addition a key role in galvanizing anti-Western sentiment among Turkish Muslims in the lead-up to the 2003 war in Iraq. Before leaving the port in Turkey, flotilla organizers whipped up anti-Israel hysteria with a genocidal call for slaughter of Jews. These are no peace activists.

This terrorist flotilla achieved its goal of hurting Israel. Its members' "martyrdom" had the desired affect of bringing Israel international condemnation and embarrassment and further isolating and delegitimizing her. This comes at a time when Iran makes uranium enrichment deals with Brazil, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah have thousands of deadly rockets aimed at Israel's cities and the United States' president exudes hostility and aggression towards Israel. Thankfully, no Israeli soldiers were killed in the clash with the armada's thugs but the public relations damage to Israel is done.

What will be the fallout from this deadly encounter? The Middle-East comes closer to exploding into war...