In today’s dose of “here we go again” news, Fox News reports a flotilla packed with a million dollars in supplies, plus 160 “activists,” is planning to sail from Lebanon to Gaza, violating the Israeli naval blockade. The last time this happened, it ended with Israeli commandos shooting at armed “peace activists,” ending with a dozen fatalities. Hamas called this a “win,” and might be hoping for another bloody victory this time.
Israel has no problem with humanitarian aid reaching the Gaza Strip, provided the ships dock at a designated port and submit to inspection. The only reason to run the blockade is to challenge Israeli sovereignty, a fancy word that means “deciding who gets to cross our borders, and where.”
The Jerusalem Post reports an Indian activist aboard the “Asia 1” flotilla claims, “We are completely non-violent. We do not have weapons,” going on to say the flotilla would face the Israeli Defense Force with “non-violence” and “a prayer in our hearts.” A great way to avoid all possibility of violence would be to sail for the Ashdod Port, where the Israelis want them to go… but that wouldn’t issue the desired challenge to Israeli legitimacy.
The Asia 1 organizers understand this perfectly, because the Hamas terrorists are on the record explaining it to them. The Jerusalem Post reports Hamas leadership in Damascus telling these “peace activists” that Hamas was “fighting for a real state without any occupation, and with Jerusalem as its capital.” When you’re trying to assist people who are “fighting” for something – and Hamas very much means that word in the physically violent sense – you’re neither impartial nor a “peace activist.” If Hamas ever gets what it wants, you certainly won’t be reading about it in the Jerusalem Post, unless they manage to squeeze out a farewell issue before heading to the roof for a helicopter rescue.
The enemies of Israel have worked for decades to strip away her legitimacy as a state, one piece at a time. If Hamas and its allies manage to bully them into dropping the blockade, it will knock down another vital piece of her statehood, until every Jewish citizen is an “occupier” standing on “captive territory.” That’s already the way Hamas sees it. The trick is getting enough of the civilized world to see it their way. That is the true nature of the assistance the Asia 1 organizers are bringing to the Gaza Strip. They already have a perfectly satisfactory and non-controversial way to deliver any sort of humanitarian assistance.
