As usual, Israel is being condemned by the “international community” for boarding and seizing vessels filled with supposedly humanitarian aid and bound for the Gaza Strip. But as usual, there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade against arms flowing into Gaza, because Hamas, the Islamic terrorist organization that rules Gaza, routinely fires rockets into Israel, targeting civilians.
Many news accounts suggest the ships heading for Gaza across the Mediterranean Sea were motivated strictly by the desire to give humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who live in Gaza. It is true that some humanitarian aid — food, medicine and such — was on board. But syndicated columnist Mona Charen went to the trouble to look into the claim that peaceful assistance was the only purpose of the convoy of ships that Israel halted.
Here are a few things she points out that have been downplayed or scarcely reported elsewhere:
* In only the first three months of 2010, nearly 95,000 tons of food, clothing and similar aid were moved from Israel itself into Gaza, so Israel clearly does not have the goal of denying legitimate aid to the Palestinians.
* Prior to boarding the boats, Israel asked the ships to permit inspections in Israeli ports of their cargo. Bona fide humanitarian aid — but not weapons with which to attack Israel — would have been sent on to Gaza. Organizers of the flotilla rejected Israel’s inspection request.
* Israel’s navy repeatedly ordered the ships to alter their course, but without success. The ships’ crews were determined to violate the blockade and provoke an Israeli response.
* Among those taking part in the “aid” convoy was a Turkish organization closely tied to Hamas and other terrorist groups around the world.
The deaths of nine people in a battle with Israeli soldiers who boarded the ships are lamentable, but no one should assume the boats had strictly benevolent intentions. The actions of at least some of those on the boats show otherwise.