Israel: International Outlaw

I’ve been meaning to write about the Gaza flotilla incident for the past couple of weeks, but I’ve been busy getting into my new job. Suffice it to say, the storming of the flotilla was essentially an act of piracy condoned by Canada and the United States. Benjamin Netanyahu was in Ottawa visiting Stephen Harper on the day of the massacre, and Canadian government’s solidarity with Israel was unsurprising, given Harper and Michael Ignatieff’s previously-stated beliefs. The American position was even less defensible, given that one of the dead, Furkan Dogan, was an American citizen. But he was raised in Turkey and has a Turkish-sounding name, so no worries; he’s not a “real” American.

As Dave Lindorff pointed out, five of the nine dead civilians on the flotilla were shot from behind, which narrows their deaths down to two possibilities: either they were shot from behind as they attempted to flee, or an Israeli shot them from the front and then fired into their backs to finish them off. Both are war crimes. But you won’t find any of that information in corporate American (and much Canadian) media, which largely replayed the heavily-edited Israeli tape of the incident showing civilians attacking Israeli commandos with knives and clubs. Detainees released by Israel in the days afterward claimed the soldiers were shooting at them before they even came on the ship. If Israel’s version of events were correct, wouldn’t they want as much facts as possible to be known in this case? Instead, they detained all journalists onboard the flotilla and confiscated their film and cameras. The fact that Israeli authorities refuse to release the raw footage suggests they have something to hide.

Never fear, though: our brave leaders courageously pushed for a full investigation into these events – led by Israel, of course. Break out the whitewash.

Israel has become a rogue state whose aggressive inclinations dangerously threaten the stability of the Middle East. Unfortunately, Canadian and American politicians are largely bought and paid for by the Israel lobby. Independent media needs to make sure the continued suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza does not go ignored. Those brave activists who sign on to defy the Israeli blockade and attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to the impoverished Gazan population are heroes all and deserve our respect.