Quotes of the Afternoon

2:39 PM

This meretricious act of violence – like the brutal assault on Gaza itself – has further isolated Israel from what friends and allies it still has. The Turkish government has called this “inhumane state terror“

(Heh. Well, it’s true they have a lot of expertise in that field.)

[…]

The suicide continues … and US aid to Israel, especially military aid, should be suspended until the Israeli government starts acting like something other than a rogue state.

2:49 PM

So 30 activists managed to beat up 30 armed commandos! Here’s also a lovely linguistic touch: “rioters.” Rioters? These were people on their own boat in international waters, resisting a military attack.

I take the Dish’s point, but “military attack”? They didn’t shoot a boat down with a torpedo or strafe it with Machine gun fire, or come on the deck with guns blazing, not even their paintball guns. If a border guard approaches you and says you’re going to have to turn around yourself, or get arrested and sent back to your country, is that being “attacked”? The threat of force is involved.

They knew the navy’s intentions. Granted that doesn’t address the question of where they were stopped.

That makes them rioters? In that word alone, you get a glimpse into the Israeli mindset.

I wouldn’t have said “rioters” either … they did more than that.

[UPDATE, 6/1: The Guardian says “rioters” in an Op-Ed very hostile to Israel.]

3:22 PM

A simple point. The violence by the activists is pretty abhorrent. These are not followers of Gandhi or MLK Jr. But the violence is not fatal to anyone and it is in response to a dawn commando raid by armed soldiers. They are engaging in self-defense. More to the point: theya r civilians confronting one of the best militaries in the world. They killed no soldiers; their weapons were improvised; the death toll in the fight is now deemed to be up to 19 – all civilians.

It staggers me to read defenses of what the Israelis have done. They attacked a civilian flotilla

They tried to forcibly stop a flotilla, which only involved actual violence on the one boat that was delivering … classic chants to kill all the Jews like Muhammad did in a famous pogrom:

in international waters breaking no law. When they met fierce if asymmetric resistance, they opened fire. And we are now being asked to regard the Israelis as the victims.

The Dish doesn’t know international law very well.

3:34 PM

Just imagine if a flotilla of anti-Tehran activists were attacked in international waters by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and that the Guards killed 16 or more of the civilians. What do you think Commentary would be saying then?

Where’s the embargo and blockade of the Iranian people by the Revolutionary Guard in that analogy? Would these anti-Tehran activists be coming in with Facebook?

3:36

Quotes Goldblog (see post below!), asking

“Where Is The Wisdom” ?

… Not yet a question to be asked about the Turkish government and the IHH … Too early in the day, I guess.