This is exactly what happened in the misnamed "Freedom Flotilla," when Turkish Islamists aboard the Mavi Marmara mixed with European and American "peace" activists to instigate a deadly confrontation with Israeli soldiers armed initially with paint-ball guns because they did not expect a serious confrontation.
This is not a new tactic, but at sea it presents a more volatile combination because the human shields cannot just slip away as the confrontation increases, as they do at protests along Israel's security barrier.
Caroline Glick points out how this tactic was so successful that it now is the tactic of choice in the effort to delegitimze Israel:
None of this would be possible without the willing participation of the European and American human shields who, far from being coerced, see themselves as the vanguard of the anti-Israeli revolution precisely because their deaths would cause so much damage to Israel internationally.Recent statements by the leaders of Iran, Turkey, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah make clear that the members of the Iranian axis view the Mavi Marmara episode as a strategic victory in their ongoing campaign against Israel.
The international stampede against Israel at the UN, the White House and throughout Europe exposed Israel’s Achilles heel. The Mavi Marmara demonstrated that on the one hand the IDF cannot enforce its blockade of Gaza without the use of force. On the other hands it taught Israel’s enemies that by forcing Israel to use force, Iran, Turkey and their allies incited a UN-EU-US lynch mob against Israel.
Iran, Turkey, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah are moving rapidly to exploit their new discovery.
In the very near future, Israel will face off against Iranian, Lebanese and Turkish ships complemented by ships full of Israel-hating German Jews and other Jewish and non-Jewish Hamas supporters.
The Mavi Marmara showed Iran and its allies that they can win strategic victories against Israel by giving the IDF no option other than using force against them. This means that Israel can bank on the prospect that all the ships they are dispatching will be populated by suicide protesters. Indeed the Iranians have openly admitted this.
Mohammad Ali Nouraee is one of the regime officials involved in dispatching the Iranian ships to the Gaza coast. In an interview this week with Iran’s official IRNA news agency, Nouraee said that the passengers aboard the ships “are willing to become martyred in this way.”
These internationalists do not intend on dying, but sometimes, like in the case of Rachel Corrie, they miscalculate and actually are harmed or killed. Unfortunately, these groups learn the wrong lesson, and view the international uproar over one of their compatriot's death as a reason to use themselves even more so as human shields.
The Islamists, meanwhile, couldn't care less about the death of the next Rachel Corrie, and only seek to exploit the situation for political gain. Worse still, the hard core of the Islamists are nothing more than suicide bombers who, unable to kill Israelis in restaurants or on buses, seek to sacrifice their own lives in the effort to delegitimize Israel.
We really are seeing a sick and perverted twist in the already sick and perverted war against the Jews in Israel.
Update: Not terribly surprised to see that Fenton Communications, a left-wing communications firm, is behind efforts in the U.S. to attack Israel:
An American communications firm best known for shaping the liberal Moveon.org into a national movement has tackled a new project: orchestrating an international anti-Israel campaign aimed at breaking the blockade of the Gaza strip.
Fenton Communications, which has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco, signed two contracts last year with Qatar to develop “a communications action plan for an 18-month campaign” aimed at delegitimizing Israel and generating international support for the Hamas-run Gaza strip, documents filed with the Department of Justice show.
The campaign, known as the “Al Fakhoora Project,” has a very visible Web presence that boasts of rallying 10,000 activists “against the blockade on Gaza.”
If you have any doubts about the political leanings of Fenton, here is what (as of this writing) was one of the lead entries on its homepage:
In March, President Obama signed a historic healthcare reform legislation. We’re proud to have played a role in making it happen with our clients, MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now, the Progressive Change Committee, Campaign for America’s Future and ProgressiveCongress.org.
The media firm behind the effort to pass ObamaCare also is the media firm behind the media attempts to weaken Israel by allowing unlimited shipping -- which necessarily will include military items and missiles -- by sea to Hamas in Gaza. Shocked.
Fenton says "We only represent causes we believe in ourselves." So I guess we know where Fenton stands, just look at the Al Fakhoora website. Al Fakhoora participated in the Gaza flotilla.
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I think Israel should no longer expend personnel in boarding these ships, but rather should warn them, and if they fail to respond should simply either bomb them or torpedo them. There is no reason for Israel to get their hands dirty with this. These are not reasonable people; there is no point to pretending that they are.
ReplyDeleteFenton is where Jeremy Ben Ami used to work, before he became the head of J Street. And J Street claims to be a "pro-Israel" organization.
ReplyDelete