Al-Jazeera and the BBC were full of the breaking news that a group of Israeli commandos had stormed a ship filled with humanitarian aid and bound for the blockaded city of Gaza in Palestine. Furthermore, in a shootout that had ensued when the Israeli he-men had stormed the ship, up to sixteen of the pro-Palestinian activists on board has been shot and killed. Outrageous!!!
After backwards and forward negotiations the Israelis decided to take matters into their own hands. And so the late night raid, brilliant, even awe-inspiring, in its execution and results, took place. And most of the world applauded Israel for having gone out and saved all its citizens, whatever the cost and with such precision and bravery.
Entebbe was an amazing feat for Israel. And its resonance was even more palpable given what had transpired just a few years earlier when 11 Israeli athletes had been attacked and then eventually killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It was the darkest day in Olympic history and a very dark day for humanity. Entebbe was moral vindication, sweetest retribution for the shocking events that took place at Munich.
But Israel is locked in a vicious cycle that I dub the 'Entebbe Complex'. Its crack commandos continue to do their brilliant and lethal operations, saving Israeli 'interests' all over the place and at whatever cost, but now without the moral justification borne of Munich and Entebbe. Now they do it as part of their own hyper-paranoid, hyper-hysterical national defense strategy. Not to mention almost always in complete violation of international law and norms of just retaliation.
And now this.
Who the hell do these bloody Israelis think they are in storming a ship full of citizens of Europeans and other Middle Eastern countries at break of dawn, guns a-blazing and killing people left and right? How dare they! The following has to be considered:
1. The blockade of Gaza by Israel is illegal under international law. Whatever the Israelis might say about their need for 'security' and how many 'Palestinian terrorists get shelter in Gaza', there is absolutely no legal precedent in international peacetime law to support the Israeli policy of slowly starving out and slowly killing Palestinians living in Gaza, many of whom now live well below the poverty line thanks to this inhumane and barbaric Israeli policy of 'self-defense'.
2 Self-defense for Israel my ass - it's Israel flexing its almighty United States-backed muscles as it has done for decades now in that region. No wonder Palestine is a breeding ground for anti-Israel terrorism and counter insurgency. What the hell do the Israelis expect with draconian and outrageous policies like those in Gaza?
3. What the hell is Israel doing attacking a civilian ship and killing civilians in international waters?! Do these arrogant Israelis have absolutely no respect whatsoever for international maritime law? Israel is today contending that there were 'terrorists' on board the ship and that they could not allow them into Gaza which is, after all, 'Israeli' territory. Oh yes, and what of international law and accepted norms of international customary law that are a damn sight older than your sorry little excuse for a state, Israel? Yet again, it's the 'pre-emptive strike' mentality all over again. Many thanks for making that demented military 'strategy' now more acceptable by states like Israel, Mr. George W. Bush. That idiot's legacy continues full steam ahead, heaven help us all.
4. If Israel is so 'correct' in what they have done, then why has been immediate diplomatic consequences regarding relations with Israel from countries like Sweden, Denmark, Spain and France, countries who had nationals on that ship brimming over with terrorists just waiting to annihilate poor little Israel? Not to mention the outpouring of shocked disbelief and outrage all over the Middle East, including in Turkey, which was the main sponsor of the humanitarian aid ship, and once Israel's most powerful and staunch ally in the region. Talk about total disrespect for a valued friend.
5. Israel also contends that their soldiers came 'under fire' by those on board. I bet. Bazookas and all, you lying bastards. I saw the footage showing the Israeli commandos whizzing down ropes onto the ship like Ninjas Clad in Black from Hell and then being fended off by some of the activists on board with sticks and pipes. What the hell did the Israelis expect after parachuting in like gonzo extras from a Schwarzenegger film? What exactly? Canapes and chilled French champagne on ice, with bunches of red roses for good measure? Those bastard commandos got the response they deserved. It was a violent and illegal invasion of a foreign civilian vessel. Period.
Israel is out of control. It is a rogue state. I will say it again here - Israel is a rogue state. It has no respect for international law. It invades Lebanon at will and as a 'pre-emptive' measure, something that is NOT recognized under international law. It sees fit to murder politicians it does not like in luxury hotels in Dubai. It allows its despicable Mossad agents to use forged passports of other nations, all of them allies to Israel. It sees fit to raid a civilian ship in international waters and use live ammunition to quell and terrify and kill those on board. The list goes on and on and on.
Heaven forbid if Iran or North Korea had pulled off a similar stunt in their own waters, never mind international waters. Oh...my...word...how the self-righteous wrath of the United States and the Western world, the sanctimonious Israel included, would come raining down on those states...
When is this madness going to end? When is Israel going to be condemned fully and without undue prejudice or favour by the international community? Where are the sanctions against this rogue nation that has in recent years escalated its absolute contempt for those who do not share in its policies of human rights abuse and violations?
Iran is a rogue state to many. So too North Korea, Myanmar and a few others. All very well. But Israel too is a rogue state. If there is indeed an 'Axis of Evil', what more must Israel do to find itself included in that unsavoury group of rogue and very dangerous nation states?
It is so unfortunate that the state of Israel has come to this. A nation that is remarkably pluralistic, democratic and modern (albeit mainly for the benefit of its Jewish citizens, or at least those who toe the national party line) is also one that is schizophrenic beyond belief - racist, religio-elitist and arrogant, Israel today is undoubtedly an apartheid state in more ways than one.
The shocking events of today are unpardonable. They are unpardonable in terms of international law. They are ethically and morally unpardonable. Israel is a victim of its own paranoia and inability to be a peaceful member of the region in which it finds itself. It is a threat to the region and a threat to international peace and stability. And in its wake it leaves countless dead, disenfranchised and devastated. And it has no right to do so.
Israel must be fully condemned without reservation and must pay the full price of international diplomatic and economic reprisals. Any nation that does what it did today deserves no less.
Enough is enough. Basta!
Do you get my point?
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