Greeted As Liberators

I use the above loose analogy, only to highlight what amounts to a massive miscalculation on the Israelis part. There is a certain base level sensibility, wherein if one storms a philosophically, diametrically opposed entity, the chances for conflict are extremely high, in fact likely. The real issue isn't that Israeli soldiers opened fire, as flippant as that sounds, but more rightly, that Israeli soldiers were put in this situation in the first place. After viewing all the unedited video, it's pretty obvious that complete bedlam brought about deadly force, immediate blame hard to decipher. There is a justifable self defence aspect, which is beyond obvious, given the mayhem. However, that result is almost an afterthought, because surely some consideration should have been given for just this outcome.

I was actually following the flotilla progress the last few days. In fairness, the Israelis did offer to take the humanitarian aid and deliver it to Gaza, as they've done in the past with other deliveries. This compromise was rejected, because part of the motivation for this flotilla was to break the blockade, not just deliver aid. There was a certain provocative aspect to this flotilla, of that there is no question. It is also true, that Israel has genuine concerns about scraping the blockade for fear of arms shipments, weapons which would ultimately threaten Israel.

While there exists justifable rationale, where the Israelis failed was in their own rigidity. The blockade of Gaza is untenable, given the labryinth of tunnels which exist, the massive underground economy, stopping ships from entering was always a flawed bandaid that could never accomplish Israel's goals. Despite the problems with Hamas at the helm in Gaza, the blockade changed the focus to another example of Israeli repression, ordinary Palestinians suffer once again. The Israelis have to realize that whatever moral right they have to protect themselves is effectively lost, once they stifle the livelihood of people, who have no stake in Hamas, and what they represent.

In some respects, yesterday was inevitable- Israel holding firm, the blockade remains vs a determined activist group that was bent on challenge. When you step back, a peaceful resolution was highly unlikely. It is here that the Israelis made grave errors, you can't drop from the sky onto your adversary, in the dead of the night, and expect to be "greeted as liberators". It simply doesn't work that way, the crime is really a failure in basic logic.