Israel responds to Gaza’s threats

Israel responds to Gaza’s threats

The recent shipboard riot on a Gaza-bound flotilla and its consequent casualties have led to renewed criticism of Israel and its policies. Those who love Israel and those who long to see the Jewish state destroyed may be immune to argument in either direction. This letter is addressed to the rest of the Vindicator readers.

Even before the terrorist organization Hamas took control of it in 2007, Gaza had served as a launching site for missile attacks on Israel. The terrorist violence worsened after Hamas seized power. Some 8,000 missiles showered down on unarmed civilians. This barrage of terrorism did not provoke the worldwide condemnation we see now. Since the missiles are not manufactured in Gaza, Israel imposed an embargo on the area to prevent further importation of these and other weapons. (Egypt imposed an embargo too for related reasons.) This was not an embargo on trade with Palestinians as a whole, as is evidenced by the fact that no similar embargo was placed on the West Bank. Humanitarian needs such as food, clothing, and medicine continued to enter Gaza from Israel.

The flotilla was not designed to deliver aid to Gaza. (Israel offered to off-load the cargo and deliver it to Gaza after inspection.) It was designed, as its organizers said, to break the embargo. Israel would not allow the embargo to be broken, just as any nation at war would try to prevent the re-arming of its enemy. Videotape shows that when the Israeli riot-control soldiers landed on the ship, they were immediately attacked by club-wielding assailants. Only when their own lives were clearly endangered were those soldiers given permission by their officers to use weapons.

The political purpose of a riot is to provoke a violent response from the authorities. In this, the shipboard rioters succeeded. While the condemnation of the world is, predictably, aimed at the Jewish state, the responsibility for the casualties lies in the hands of those who conceived, planned, and executed the riot.

Eric Chevlen MD, Liberty