I'm just back from my "Wind in the Willows" experience up the Thames, and have a stack of posts mentally drafted including Why lambs are navigational hazards.However what did I read in my bunk on my iPad but a brutal example of piracy (or alternatively an act of war (*)) in the Mediterranean. A humanitarian mission taking supplies to a population suffering from a medieval style siege (clearly an act of collective punishment - and punishment for the results of free and fair elections) is attacked in international waters, leading to the death of several civilians.
I really wonder where the line beyond is which Israel has to go in order not to get unquestioning support from leaders in the west, in particular from the US Senate and Congress though also some over here in Europe to a lesser degree.
Again: this was a humanitarian mission in international waters.
Latest updates here from Al Jazeera which is continuing to show its strength at covering international issues.
5 comments:
Very sad. American elected officials are, of course, very wary of upsetting the very powerful Jewish lobby and so are unlikely to speak out strongly en masse about this awful act of aggression.
As an US citizen, I am culpable for supporting such acts of aggression, for which I am eternally ashamed.
Israel continues to play the "victim card," but this time, I find it hard to believe they can pull it off. Yes, there have been some horrendous atrocities against the Jewish people in the past, but those atrocities can't justify the current atrocities.
"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." -- Mohandas Ghandi
Regardless of the politics (from which I shall abstain in cowardly fashion) it was clearly an act of piracy.
Saw an interesting quote on one web site that an "attack by Israel on a NATO member flagged ship in international waters is an event to which NATO is obliged - legally obliged, as a matter of treaty - to react."
One of the troubles is that the Jewish community in the UK and US is split on this - there is a large "not in our name" grouping but they are not the ones who have the ear of the media or have the resources to fund politician campaigns.
An example of a web site that documents their activities can be found here:
http://mondoweiss.net/
Here in the UK there is the potential for stress in the coalition government as the Conservatives tend to be pro-Israel while Lib-Dems tend to be pro-Palestine.
Expect wishy washy meaningless responses from the UK :(
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