The Free Gaza Flotilla

Friends don't let friends commit suicide. Bibi Nentanyahu frequently invokes Masada like the teabaggers and Glenn Beck invoke the Alamo. So is the heroic ideal really to be extinguished in a futile military operation? The Jewish defenders of Masada committed suicide to prevent capture by the Romans. Is this the only viable policy option for Tel Aviv today? Do we really believe the Free Gaza Flotilla presented an "existential threat" to the state of Israel? From some of the commentary here in the States you would believe so.

What's worrisome to a supporter of the state of Israel is that the only people supporting it around the world are the extreme right in the United States, which has anti-semitic problems of their own, and politicians who have been conditioned over the years to provide Israel with a blank check for operations, which have become increasingly clumsily carried out and counter-productive to providing the country with true security.

Robert Fisk, someone who has been anti-Israel throughout his dinstinguished career as a Middle East journalist, wrote in the Independent this past week about the stunning lack of control by Israeli forces in combat for the past decade and raised real questions about their competence.

The events surrounding the Free Gaza Flotilla have spurred an outbreak of temporary insanity in some circles in the United States. The Associate Editor of the very mainstream New York Jewish Week calls for the bombing of all future humanitarian flotillas along with Iran. Given the quality of the response this past week, I have severe doubts Israeli forces could bomb Iran even if they wanted to. Liz Cheney, never one to stick to reality, blasted President Obama for calling the deaths "tragic". The Associated Press ran a story based on an interview with the former head of French counter-terrorism that the Turkish charities who supported the flotilla were linked to Al Qaeda, which if true means that they have finally adopted a very effective strategy of non-violence.

Congressman Brad Sherman, a Democrat from Sherman Oaks, California, called for the trial of all Americans involved in the Free Gaza Movement based on a mid-1990s law that prohibited Americans from providing aid and comfort to Hamas. I would love to see Ambassador Peck, Reagan's anti-terrorism chief, to be tried in open court for this. Or how about trying 28-year military veteran and former State Department official Ann Wright on this charge. Unfortunately, both have been calm and articulate spokespeople for the Free Gaza Movement. Or we could try Alice Walker of Color Me Purple fame, who wrote today an eloquent essay on the non-violence underlying the movement on Electronic Intifada.

The other part of Sherman's suggestion is to bar all foreigners involved from coming to the United States. This would mean that , besides Graham Greene, who was banned since the 1960s until his death, I would be deprived of hearing from Henning Mankell, the Swedish master of the crime novel. Mankell, who has become to mysteries what John le Carre means to spy novels, recounted for the Guardian his experience as the night watch on the "Sofia", which accompanied the Mavi Marmara. Mankell was detained by Israeli authorities, who confiscated his wallet, credit cards,his mobile phone, Ipod. "They even took my socks." Having been seized in international waters, he was charged with entering Israel illegally. He did not know about the deaths on the Turkish ferry until he was on the plane out of the country. Mankell with his Inspector Wallander series is the number one mystery writer in Hebrew. Unfortunately for Israel, he plans a detailed publication on the whole event complete with photos.

Mankell told the Guardian, " I believe so strongly in solidarity as an instrument ot change the world, and I believe in dialogue, but it's action that proves the word."

Early this morning the Rachel Corrie was seized about 25 miles from Gaza. It had tried to avoid the Israeli navy by travelling along the coast of Egypt. prior to its seizure, it offered to have an international team inspect its cargo for any items of military use. The passengers consisted of the former UN Secretary of State for Humanitarian Aid, an Irish winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and aides to government officials in Malaysia.

The killings, including one American murdered with 4 shots to the head, have provoked revulsion in Europe. Sweden and Norway are refusing to unload freight from Israeli ships and the Turkish government, once a strong ally of Israel, is conducting its own investigation and vows to severely curtail its relations with Israel. In the progressive blogosphere, the events have triggered duelling comments by pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians which reveal the intensity of feeling on both sides.

To their credit, "J" Street has maintained its cool by issuing a statement that this tragedy should be used as a opportunity to move forward to a two-state solution and a resolution of the Gaza tragedy. I believe the Israeli negotiator to the Palestinian talks that if the Palestinians can maintain their non-violent actions then the Israelis will remain slow-footed and unable to respond to such a challenge.

What the Free Gaza Flotilla has done is to focus the world's attention on the very real humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Unbelievably there is actually a dispute here in the States whether such a thing exists. Of the 1.5 million people in Gaza, some 800,000 are children. Save the Children claims that this population is suffering malnutrition and severe food shortages. We know that over 60% of the adult women suffer from anemia. Part of the reason for this is that because of the Gaza blockade, Gazans can't mount the type of fishing fleets they did in the past and the population has not been getting their diet of fish like before. We also know that the farmers are routinely shot at by the IDF because their farms, the only real agricultural land, is cheek and jowl by the heavily armed border.

Critics of Israel maintain that there are not allowing in the necessary foodstuffs and other materials necessary to ease the crisis. Israelis claim that all materials would be delivered by them to Gaza, something that press reports contradict. On the other side, people claim that Hamas itself prevents the distribution of humanitarian goods to the population. Having gone through this when the PLO controlled refugee camps in Lebanon, I tend to believe this as well.

A solution to this is to allow international groups to deliver the materials and have international organizations distribute the goods. Even Hamas announced they would allow foreign groups to come in and rebuild the bombed out schools and houses with the building materials Israel has confiscated.

While American commentators are slipping into the weeds on debating the minutiae of the events of the past week and the appropriate response,it is clear that the neo-con dream of Israel as our proxy fortress against Islamic terrorism and fundamentalism is wrong-headed. It was never viable and puts Israel's security really at risk. Movement to a two-state solution is needed to defuse this unnecessary crisis in the Middle East.