Violence erupts when a “flotilla of humanitarian aid ships” are stopped by the Israeli military, and once again the “Blame the Jews First” brigades are in full cry. United Nations diplomats bellow, spokesmen for the usual Muslim governments profess their hypocritical outrage, and Israel is portrayed in many media quarters as the bad guy in another conflict over the Palestinians. And as usual the first casualty in this latest “incident” is the truth about how it fits in the unrelenting murderous campaign to wipe Israel off the map.
Let’s start with some basic facts about the flotilla and who organized it. Last week, Cypriot officials denied the flotilla permission to enter the island nation’s ports. As reported by the Cyprus Mail, not only was the flotilla denied port entry, but the Cypriot government refused to allow small boats to ferry 17 members of the Irish, Swedish and Bulgarian parliaments from the island to join the 700 “peace activists” on the eight ships. This denial was remarkable, considering that seven previous such flotillas had been allowed port access. Somebody in the government of Cyprus did the research that is so lacking in much of the reporting about the flotilla, its organizers and its likely cargo.
What that somebody no doubt found is credible information about the terrorist-linked International Humanitarian Fund that is based in Turkey and is among the chief organizers of these peace charades. The IHH is a virulently ant-American, pro-Hamas radical Islamist group founded in Turkey in 1992 by Bulent Yildirim. The group has been linked to the ultra-radical Muslim Brotherhood and to al Qaeda by French, Danish and U.S. intelligence agencies and is one of 50 similar groups that raise and channel funds to Hamas. Hamas is the Iranian-backed terrorist group whose political arm controls the Gaza Strip where the latest flotilla was bound. Hamas refuses to renounce its founding purpose, which is to obliterate Israel. Knowing these facts helps explain why the captured flotilla leaders refused Israel’s offer to unload the largest of the eight vessels and publicly display the contents of its cargo hold. For more information on the flotilla, see the reporting of Jonathan Schanzer in the current issue of The Washington Examiner’s sister publication, the Weekly Standard.
Finally, Israel is being pressured to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip despite the fact that it is at least as justifiable an act of self-defense under international law as was the U.S. blockade of Cuba during the 1962 Soviet missile crisis. Israeli officials warned the flotilla that it would be stopped if it tried to run the blockade. Israel’s right to self-defense is not recognized, however, by the Blame the Jews first crowd.
