- During the Mandate period and throughout its existence,
Israel's history has been bloodstained, barbarous, and out-of-control -
and for most of it generously funded and heavily armed with the latest
weapons and technology by its Washington paymaster/partner to reign terror
on the region and Palestine. Early on, Israel was a regional menace. It's
now a global one, posing a grave threat to world peace and stability.
-
- The Flotilla attack was just the latest among its thousands
of other atrocities, large and small, including preemptive wars, smaller
incursions, bombings, killings including targeted assassinations, torture
as official policy, and numerous other crimes against humanity as advocated
by early leaders like David Ben-Gurion (Israel's first prime minister)
saying:
-
- "We must expel the Arabs and take their place and
if we have to use force, to guarantee our own right to settle (on their
land) then we have (it) at our disposal."
-
- Or former IDF Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan (1978 - 1983)
saying:
-
- "We declare openly that the Arabs have no right
to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel....Force is all they do
or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians
come crawling to us on all fours."
-
- Or the secret (1976 published) Koenig Report saying:
-
- "We must use terror, assassination, intimidation,
land confiscation and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee
of its Arab population."
-
- Or Benjamin Netanyahu, as Deputy Foreign Minister, saying
"Israel should have exploited the (1989 Tiananmen Square violence),
when world attention focused on (China), to carry out mass expulsions among
the Arabs of the territories."
-
- Little wonder why Israel's history is so bloodstained,
some notable examples below:
-
- -- on July 22, 1946, future prime minister Menachem Begin's
Irgun (a notorious terror group) bombed the King David Hotel, massacring
92 Brits, Arabs and Jews, wounding 58 others, in an operation approved
by David Ben-Gurion as head of the Jewish Agency at the time;
-
- -- also under the Mandate, the terrorist Stern Gang (future
prime minister Yitzhak Shamir one of its leaders) carried out numerous
bombings, kidnappings, and killings, including the 1944 assassination of
Lord Moyne in Cairo - Britain's highest ranking official in the region;
-
- -- on April 9, 1948 (during Israel's "war of independence")
the Irgun, Stern Gang and other Israeli terrorists slaughtered well over
120 Palestinian men, women and children in the bloody Deir Yassin village
rampage; on April 14, The New York Times reported 254 killed;
-
- -- Israel's "war of independence" (Palestine's
Nakba, its "Holocaust") depopulated 531 towns and villages and
11 urban neighborhoods, committing mass slaughter, rapings, vast destruction,
and countless other atrocities in displacing about 800,000 Palestinians
- one of history's greatest ever crimes of war and against humanity;
-
- -- a week after the war's mid-May 1948 end, Israeli troops
massacred over 200 al-Tantura villagers, mostly unarmed young men murdered
in cold blood;
-
- -- on July 11 & 12, IDF forces slaughtered several
hundred Lydda civilians, including 80 machine-gunned inside the Dahmash
mosque;
-
- -- from October 24 - 29, 1948, Israeli soldiers slaughtered
50 Hula, Lebanon villagers;
-
- -- on October 29, 1948, they massacred around 200 al-Dawayima
villagers;
-
- -- on October 30, 20 more in Majd al-Kurum, 94 when they
blew up a house, and hundreds in Sa'sa' village;
-
- -- on October 14, 1953, Ariel Sharon's notorious Unit
101 murdered 70 Qibya, Jordan villagers;
-
- -- on April 5, 1956, IDF shelling massacred 56 and wounded
193 in Gaza City;
-
- -- on October 29, 1956, the IDF slaughtered about 50
Kafr Kassem village men, women and children;
-
- -- during the 1956 Suez War, Israelis executed about
273 Egyptian soldiers and civilians in cold blood;
-
- -- on November 12, 1956, the IDF slaughtered over 100
Rafah Refugee Camp civilians;
-
- -- during Israel's preemptive June 1967 Six Day War,
its forces massacred around 2,000 captured Egyptian soldiers, another 340
Syrian villagers in the Golan Heights, and displaced over 300,000 Palestinians
who fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria to escape the carnage;
-
- -- on June 8, 1967, Israeli forces preemptively attacked
the USS Liberty (a clearly marked US intelligence ship), killing 34 Americans
and wounding another 171 in international waters; Lyndon Johnson's defense
department whitewashed it as a case of "mistaken identity," despite
clear knowledge of a premeditated assault;
-
- -- on February 21, 1973, the IDF shot down Libya Airlines
Flight 114, killing 106 passengers, including one American;
-
- -- on February 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein (a member of
Rabbi Meir Kahane's extremist Jewish Defense League) attacked Hebron's
Cave of the Patriarchs Ibrahim mosque, massacring 29 and wounding another
129;
-
- -- during Israel's 1982 Lebanon invasion and occupation,
IDF forces slaughtered about 18,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, including
around 3,000 by its Phalangist allies in the Sabra and Shatila refugee
camps;
-
- -- during the first (1987 - 1992) and second (2000 -
2005) Intifadas, IDF rampages slaughtered thousands of Palestinian men,
women and children in cold blood;
-
- -- in April 2002, IDF forces invaded Jenin and its refugee
camp, cut them off from outside help, destroyed hundreds of buildings,
buried many alive under the rubble, cut off power, water, food, and other
essential supplies, refused to let in help (including medical aid), and
killed or wounded at least dozens (perhaps hundreds) of Palestinian civilians;
Israel removed bodies and buried them to prevent an accurate count;
-
- -- during the July 2006 Lebanon war, the IDF caused mass
destruction, killed about 1,300, wounded many more, and displaced around
one million civilians (about one-fourth of the population);
-
- -- during the June 2006 Operation Summer Rain against
Gaza, Israelis killed around 240 (mostly civilians) and caused widespread
destruction - including three main bridges, the Nusairat and al-Boreji
refugee camps' main water pipe, and the Strip's only power plant, supplying
80% of the Territory's electricity;
-
- -- during the same period, the IDF conducted around 50
West Bank incursions, raiding homes, razing farmland, arresting dozens,
and on June 29 the entire (elected) Hamas leadership, including eight ministers,
25 PLC Change and Reform Party members, and other Hamas officials; and
-
- -- during the 23-day December 2008 - January 2009 Operation
Cast Lead, IDF forces slaughtered over 1,400, injured around 5,500 more
(many seriously), and inflicted vast destruction throughout Gaza, including
vital infrastructure, hospitals, schools, mosques, government buildings,
factories, other businesses, farmland, private homes, and much more unrelated
to military necessity in violation of international law; as a result, the
Goldstone Commission concluded that:
-
- "the Israeli military operation was directed at
the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing
policy aimed at punishing the (entire) population, and in a deliberate
policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population. The
destruction of (vital infrastructure and non-military targets) was the
result of a deliberate and systematic policy which has made the daily process
of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population."
-
- And now the Flotilla massacre, Israel's latest crime
against humanity, enraging millions worldwide, getting Turkey and South
Africa to recall their ambassadors, Nicaragua to downgrade diplomatically
to a consular level, and several other countries to consider their own
measures.
-
- Qatar announced it will pay to take Israel to the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) and will fund a worldwide media campaign on the
incident and Gaza siege.
-
- Arutz Sheva (Israel National News.com) reported that
the Egyptian Bar Association is collecting material to file an ICJ suit,
its chairman, Hamdi Alifa, saying they're being reviewed to file "giant
lawsuits" against Israeli crimes, including the Flotilla attack and
Gaza siege.
-
- Haaretz reported that Swedish dock workers will blockade
Israeli ships from June 15 - 24. Norway announced it cancelled a scheduled
special operations seminar because its Defense Ministry objected to an
Israeli officer's participation. In Bournemouth, England (with a large
Jewish population and Jewish mayor), people demanded cutting city relations
with Netanyahu.
-
- The French operator Utopia said it won't screen the Israeli-made
film, "Five Hours From Paris." Israel flags were publicly burned
in many cities. New Delhi Muslims demanded their government sever ties
with Israel. The BBC reported that 200 or more in Belfast protested the
Rachel Corrie seizure, five days after the Flotilla massacre.
-
- Ynet News.com reported that President Shimon Peres will
likely cancel a scheduled Asia trip, because he's supremely unwelcome,
and longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas said Israeli Jews should
return to Germany, Poland, and America, prompting B'nai B'rith's international
VP Daniel Mariaschin to say:
-
- "There should be no place for her in a news organization.
Her comments go beyond commentary and land well in the camp that will stop
at nothing to delegitimize Israel." B'nai B'rith has long supported
the worst of Israeli crimes, denouncing anyone who dares expose them.
-
- On June 7, Haaretz reported that a Knesset panel voted
7 - 1 to "strip Balad (Party) MK Hanin Zuabi (an Israeli citizen)
of privileges over (her) Gaza flotilla participation."
-
- In a same day op-ed piece, Haaretz's Ruth Gavison called
measures to "limit dissent and protest" dangerous by "enforc(ing)
the platforms of those who claim Israel is becoming a belligerent country
that belittles democracy and human rights."
-
- In fact, throughout its history, Israel has always been
belligerent, and has never respected democracy, human rights, or the rule
of law.
-
- Global Outrage - Resonating and Growing
-
- After the massacre, world protests erupted, including
in many US cities - among them:
-
- -- New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington
DC in front of the White House, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Houston,
Dallas, Cleveland, Atlanta, Tampa, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans,
Charlotte, Raleigh, Knoxville, Fresno, Dearborn, Denver, Sioux Falls, Fort
Wayne, Fayetteville, Portland, Boise, and Seattle.
-
- US major media reports ignored them, but aired Israeli
propaganda blaming the victims, calling them terrorists, and claiming the
Netanyahu government acted responsibly to prevent "pro-Palestinian
radicals, jihadists" from smuggling in arms to Hamas - Palestine's
legitimate government, falsely called a terrorist organization to justify
premeditated murder, a suffocating siege, claiming they're for self-defense,
another refuge for scoundrels caught red-handed as evidenced by the worldwide
outrage.
-
- On May 31, Al Jazeera headlined what millions around
the world feel: "Global outrage over Israeli attack" - condemnation
from high officials to street anger everywhere, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya
proclaiming May 31 "freedom day" in calling on Palestinians throughout
Gaza and the West Bank "to carry out a total strike (throughout the
Territories) to show solidarity (against) Israeli crimes."
-
- Longtime Palestinian supporter, Hugo Chavez, expressed
condolences to the families and friends of the "heros who were victims
of this crime," calling on "those responsible for the murders
(to) be severely punished."
-
- In a prepared statement, he condemned the "brutal
massacre committed by the state of Israel against members of the Freedom
Flotilla (and its) war against unarmed civilians who were trying to bring
humanitarian assistance to the....people of Gaza (under) a criminal blockade
imposed by the state of Israel."
-
- "The revolutionary government of Venezuela will
continue denouncing the terrorist and criminal nature of the Israeli government
and reiterates....its unshakeable commitment with the struggle of the Palestinian
people for freedom, national sovereignty and dignity."
-
- In early 2009, over Cast Lead atrocities, Chavez severed
diplomatic ties with Israel and hasn't restored them.
-
- Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly
condemned Israel's attack as "despicably cowardly, brazen, reckless,
and vicious - against international law, against the heart of humanity,
against world peace," referring to the massacre as an "abhorrent
terrorist attack" against a humanitarian mission in international
waters.
-
- He recalled his ambassador, cancelled three jointly scheduled
military operations, called for an emergency Security Council meeting,
asked for immediate international community action, and said "Everything
has a price. And this government will have to pay (it)."
-
- Aside from its latest appalling crime, a litany of explanatory
lies, and a common street thug as prime minister, Israel and America (its
paymaster/partner in all belligerent acts) have a whopping PR disaster
on their hands, given world outrage resonating to top officials who must
answer to their own constituencies.
-
- Moreover, the Netanyahu government's farcical justification
compounds its untenable position. Obama's indifference and Security Council
obstructionism exposes his, along with outrageous congressional comments.
These people can't even lie well, or perhaps as automatically count on
reliable allies ahead, getting fed up with ones more an albatross.
-
- Objectives of Both Sides
-
- Flotilla planners' clear agenda included:
-
- -- delivering essential to life aid to 1.5 million besieged
Gazans, three years this month, but more importantly
-
- -- symbolically breaking the siege to encourage world
condemnation, highlighting an intolerable injustice, and taking another
important step toward ending it.
-
- On the pretext of blocking the entry of weapons, Israel
carried out a premeditated, carefully planned and rehearsed military operation,
designed to commit murder and mass casualties against unarmed civilians,
even announcing it in Maariv, one of Israel's leading dailies, days in
advance, the caption reading:
-
- "On the way to violence, one of the boats is on
its way," suggesting a kill-or-be-killed encounter with "terrorists."
-
- Israel's plan had specific objectives:
-
- -- to maintain its oppressive blockade;
-
- -- keep 1.5 million Gazans trapped in the world's largest
open-air prison;
- -- cause enough harm to deter others from coming, and
-
- -- assassinated designated activists on board.
-
- On June 5, the UK Independent's Catrina Stewart reported
an interview with Jamal Elshayyal, one of eight Al Jazeera on board reporters,
seven on the Mavi Marmara, saying passengers found on Israeli commandos
a list of names and photos, Alshayyal telling Stewart:
-
- The "protesters rummaged through captured soldiers'
belongings and claimed to unearth a document that they allege is a list
of people Israel intended to assassinate. The booklet, written in Hebrew
and in English, contained some photographs of passengers on the Marmara,
including the leader of IHH, the Turkish charity that provided two of the
ships, an 88-year-old priest and Ra'ad, head of the Northern Branch of
the Islamic Movement in Israel, Mr. Elshayyal said."
-
- Autopsy reports show Flotilla members were shot multiple
times at close range, two or more in the head, indicating murder, not self-defense
as Israel claims.
-
- The Israeli Project produces pro-Israeli propaganda,
claiming it's information is accurate, unbiased, and "not related
to any government or government agency."
-
- In its post-Flotilla attack conference call, Rep. Brad
Sherman (D. CA) accused Flotilla activists of aiding Hamas in violation
of US law, then called on US Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute
US participants on terrorist charges, saying:
-
- "The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
of 1996 makes it absolutely illegal for any American to give food, money,
school supplies, paper clips, concrete or weapons to Hamas or any of its
officials."
-
- Sherman, a so-called "liberal" Democrat, supports
the most extremist elements of Israel's government, Netanyahu and Foreign
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman among them, notorious
sponsors of state-terrorism.
-
- The entire Senate and most House members also back Israel's
belligerence and broader objective to destroy PA authority to subjugate
all Palestine - by ruthless attacks against civilians, considered legitimate
targets to weaken their will to resist through mass slaughter, other atrocities,
and numerous other abuses.
-
- Cast Lead did it horrifically, the Flotilla slaughter
just the latest example of how far Israel will go - with Washington's full
support through generous funding, the latest weapons and technology, and
use of its Security Council pressure and veto.
-
- Stratfor Global Intelligence on the Flotilla Massacre
-
- Providing information and insights to world decision-makers,
Stratfor's CEO George Friedman examined the effect of Israel's attack,
calling it "unprecedented in size" for an assault of this kind,
citing three factors differentiating it:
-
- -- over 600 foreign nationals were involved, including
politicians and journalists, "raising the stakes for all players;"
-
- -- the incident drew unprecedented media attention and
preparation; immediately, "pre-arranged interviews with various pro-Palestinian
representatives were filling regional media such as Al Jazeera" and
others (but not in America where they're banned); world protests erupted,
calling for accountability and sanctions against Israel; and
-
- -- "Most importantly, a non-Arab foreign state played
a role in instigating this incident. Turkey has been feeling its way forward
in the region," trying to increase its political stature through "new
tools of influence." Its government "did everything it could
to benefit from the public relations that a successful breaching of the
blockade would generate."
-
- In addition, because of Israel's "direct action,
a web of international relationships will be affected," and Turkey
can leverage the incident by "providing military escorts (for) future
aid flotillas that could increase in size" and further heighten tensions
if Israeli recklessness continues.
-
- Already, Middle East instability has increased, "the
last thing" America needs with more than enough on its plate. In addition,
Washington-Tel Aviv relations are affected, at least overtly as well as
Israel's Western and regional relationships. Fumbling a "military
action against a civilian convoy....is something that works directly against
American policies."
-
- Given what's happened and world outrage, "the issue
has....shifted from a military question to a political one." Key ahead
is how Israel, Washington and Ankara will react, besides the potential
effect on other world governments, given growing demands for accountability
and mass public calls for action.
-
- Friedman discounts the idea that the commandos used "paintballs"
in the attack, calling them "training rounds" not likely to be
used during a mission of this sort, especially on a ship with over 600
activists. Claiming it flies in the face of up to 20 killed and many more
wounded, Friedman added:
-
- "We find this hard to believe, given Israel's extensive
experience (against) hostile civilian crowds," perhaps ready to offer
resistance.
-
- Israel's Shayetet 13 force is an elite Naval Special
Forces unit, specializing in sea-to-land incursions, assassinations, counterterrorism,
sabotage, and other belligerent acts - not crowd control, "so a civilian
opposition would not necessarily be their area of expertise," a mission
Israeli police could have handled.
-
- Friedman omitted what Today's Zaman reported (an English
language Turkish daily) on June 7, stating:
-
- "Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek (said)
Turkish citizens who were injured or killed were subjected to serious torture,
and this much is evident from traces left on their bodies as well as from
bullet shots, most of which were fired at close range."
-
- The paper's photographer, Kursat Bayhan, was on the Mavi
Marmara and related his "30 hours in cell number 5202" in Beer-Sheva
Prison. All their belongings were taken. They were body-searched, handcuffed,
photographed, forced to sign a document saying they weren't harmed, those
requesting return of their luggage and passports then beaten, how Israel
treats virtually all detainees.
-
- Fallout from the Flotilla Massacre
-
- Joshua Landis is Director of the Center for Middle East
Studies and Professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
On his June 1 web site posting, Syria Comment, he headlined, "Israel
Pays High Price for Attack on Turkish Flotilla with Aid for Gaza,"
saying the damage is mounting:
-
- -- Greece "decided to discontinue the joint military
exercise currently under way and to postpone" the Athens visit of
Israel's air force general staff head, scheduled for June 1;
-
- -- Turkey recalled its ambassador, and its foreign minister
says "relations are irreparable;"
-
- -- Netanyahu had to cancel his important Washington visit;
-
- -- an emergency UN Security Council session was called,
no surprise afterward that Washington prevented any meaningful resolution;
-
- -- "Obama will try to distance the US from Israel
in due course. What choice does he have? Israel is increasingly a millstone
around America's neck;"
-
- -- China got Washington to agree to exempt its companies
from US measures for doing business with Iran for whatever new sanctions
it agreed to;
- -- "Negotiations will now become harder and more
costly for the US as the world largely sees (its) effort to punish Iran
to be driven by Israeli concerns. Iran hardly threatens the US," Israel
or any other nation.
-
- On May 31 in Foreign Policy, Professor Stephen Walt headlined
"Israel's latest brutal blunder," saying:
-
- "What could Israel's leaders have been thinking?
How could they possibly believe that a deadly assault against a humanitarian
mission in international waters would play to their advantage?" Actions
like this galvanize efforts to "delegitimize the country....This latest
escapade is as bone-headed as the 2006 war in Lebanon" and Cast Lead.
They provide "more evidence of the steady deterioration in Israel's
strategic thinking that we have witnessed since 1967."
-
- Importantly, the Flotilla attack "poses a broader
threat to US national interests" because the world associates Israel's
actions with Washington, given the "unbreakable bonds" between
them. It's clear that "the special relationship with Israel has become
a net liability." Tel Aviv portraying itself as a blameless victim
is wearing thin, a shameless canard, increasingly likely ahead to fall
on deaf ears.
-
- On January 19, 2009, after Cast Lead, Walt addressed
"The Myth of Israel's strategic genius," saying:
-
- The record shows otherwise. Israel's military victories
are often strategic failures, showing it's expert only at shooting itself
in the foot, so far at least without consequences, but for how long.
-
- According to noted Israeli supporter Leon Wieseltier,
its settlements project was another "moral and strategic blunder of
historic proportions," one, in fact, "never openly debated within
the Israeli body politic," but taken behind closed doors.
-
- For decades, Israel has stumbled from one strategic blunder
to another, showing there's "no reason to think (it) possesses uniquely
gifted strategists or a national security establishment that consistently
makes smart and far-sighted choices."
-
- Yet remarkably, some of its most incompetent leaders,
including Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon, and Netanyahu are rewarded
with new chances to repeat mistakes, perhaps because of Washington's unflagging
support, but for how long, given the price America pays for damaged goods,
compounding its own appalling record abroad and at home with a shelf life
of definite limits and an ability to preserve it running out of cash.
-
- Perhaps also its willingness to stick with a dubious
partner, the same problem Washington faces with allies, sooner or later
to get fed up and walk away, cutting their losses to advantage their own
futures. The same ones Americans should consider for their own welfare,
and assess how far they'll go to defend it.
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
|
