The 8 pound Flotilla in the Room

The Flotilla Incident in the Mediterranean occurred, and the verdict is in. Israel made a decision in " ... advance, premeditated and with determination to kill and to create a confrontation with these people, and to take them all to ports in Israel. Israel always ignores all international norms, all international laws, all humanitarian laws. [Israel] doesn’t care about anything." The evidence, of course, will be reviewed at some later time, assuming anyone is still interested.

Even conservative supporters of Israel's right to regulate its borders and defend itself seem curiously flummoxed by the whole affair. Max Boot of Commentary tosses around words like "incompetent" and "fiasco" in sizing up the Israeli Defense Forces handling of the matter, seriously undercutting his stated aim of "constructive criticism." The best analysis by far in my opinion is Noah Pollack, who correctly identifies Israeli (and by extension, US supporters of Israel) error in resorting to a defensive strategy in the face of world denunciation. By any international standards of the sovereign rights of the State to protect its people from aggression, Israel was in the right in its actions. But, although certainly germane to the issue, a mere defense against the charges is a weak and ineffective response in the face of the rabid echo chamber Israel finds itself in. Mr. Pollack goes on to detail numerous offensive strategies Israel could have adopted, all of which I agree with.

But the central point in this whole affair is this:  the Flotilla Incident is a tempest in a tea pot, an 8 pound baby flotilla in the room which deserves not a moment of reflection.

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Except for the U.S. southern border, it is entirely routine for nations to defend their borders against unauthorized entry, and to do so in far bloodier ways than has happened here. Try floating your boat into North Korean or Russian waters and you'll see what I mean, especially if you assault with iron rods, axes, and sling shots the storm troopers that will board your vessel.

Further, consider this summation of the affair by the eminent Prime Minister of Turkey: he says that "Israel committed a "massacre" and is guilty of 'state terrorism,' 'piracy,' has struck 'a blow to world peace and against international law,' threatens that 'if Israel does not immediately free all the detainees and wounded, the rift in relations with it will widen,' and thunders that 'Israel will not be able to show itself in the world until it apologizes for what happened and undergoes self-criticism.'

This man is the head of government of a member of NATO, and supposedly a responsible adult in world-affairs.  Given the videos available of the Flotilla incident, this statement is so over the top, such an outlandish misrepresentation of events, as to be equivalent to a man in a tin-foil hat warning us of alien invaders and the death-knell of the human race. What and why should anyone in the world, much less Israel, put any stock in such rantings as this? On what possible basis does such require any response at all?

The fact that the Turkish Prime Minister's lies are taken up by the world's most elite anti-semites and spin-meisters makes no difference, even when they get their own tin-foil hats from the somber cloak room of the UN.