Harry’s Place on the Israeli commando raid:

The commando raid: some next-day thoughts

Gene, June 1st 2010, 3:52 pm

Some next-day thoughts on the Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship heading for Gaza.

–Anyone who can watch the videos we posted yesterday and still believe that the commandos ruthlessly massacred peaceful humanitarians is deliberately obtuse– at best. After holding fire while they were stabbed with knives and beaten with metal rods, the commandos clearly acted in self-defense. There were hundreds of people on the ship; if the Israelis’ intention was to kill as many as possible, clearly they failed miserably. By refusing Israel’s offer to transfer their aid to Gaza, the organizers made it clear that their main purpose was political and confrontational rather than humanitarian.

–Just as clearly, there were disastrous and self-defeating strategic and tactical failures on the Israeli side. Once again, the Israeli government has failed to grasp that just because they may have the right to do something doesn’t mean it’s always wise to do it. Allowing the ships to dock in Gaza, unload their cargo and be on their way– as the Israelis have done in the recent past– might have provided some minimal aid and comfort to Hamas, but nothing like the propaganda coup that yesterday’s events did. And if the Israelis believed that the commandos would meet little or no resistance on board– and it seems they did believe that– there was obviously an enormous intelligence failure.

–While protecting its security, Israel has to find creative ways of dealing with situations like this which put the public onus on its enemies and not, as almost invariably happens, on itself. (One way to do that, an Israeli journalist suggested, would have been for Israel to announce that it would allow the ships to enter Gaza if Hamas released Gilad Shalit.) Almost everything Israel does these days seems plodding and obvious and designed to make it look like the villain.

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