re: #14 drcordell

Someone explain to me why sending commandos onto the deck of the ship in international waters was necessary?

I posted this in the last thread:

Israel tried for days prior to reach a “reasonable” agreement. They act according to international maritime law. These boats were hostile entities, and were looking for a PR incident.

I read somewhere the reasoning for Israel intercepting the ships.
The logic is two-fold:
1) Israel will get bad PR either way. If the ships get to Gaza, activists pronounce on the evils of Israel. If Israel intercepts the ships they get yelled at too.

2) They let the ships go through the first 8 times. Last time they intercepted the ship. This time it was much bigger with far more people. They decided that if they left these “humanitarian ships” go unchecked, eventually weapons smuggling will start happening. They may as well take the inevitable PR loss and keep the blockade in force.

As well, they had the legal rights, according to the San Remo Manual on international maritime law.
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