Israel Failed in Executing its Response to the Turkish Flotilla

Israel’s number one navel Special Forces unit, Shayetet 13, succeeded in its mission to halt, commandeer, and divert the “aid” flotilla to Gaza. However if the underlying objective was anything more than stopping unauthorized aid, they failed miserably.

First the facts. Israel has made it clear for weeks that this flotilla, like the many that came before it, will not reach Gaza. Instead, like in the past, Israel would confiscate the materials vet them for use as weapons and then transfer them, along with the daily tons of materials that Israel and the international community provide, through the land entrances between Gaza and Israel. It is important to note that until Israel ended Hamas rocket attacks on Israel in 2008 ALL aid, including the materials for 1,000s of rockets was allowed in. No less important is that the sponsor of the flotilla is the IHH which has strong ties with Hamas and other anti-Israel organizations (http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e105.htm). Finally, after Israeli commandoes boarded the ships they were mobbed by the most extreme elements of the anti-Israeli movement (as opposed to pro-Palestinian, I will explore this difference in the near future) from across the globe, who were wielding axes and knifes, and even stripped one of the soldiers of his pistol. After seeing that their paintball guns were not stopping the “peaceful” mob of activists from beating 6 of their comrades into a pulp, (SEE YOUTUBE VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo&feature=player_embedded) the Israelis opened fire, killing over ten people and injuring over thirty more.

Four questions:

1. So why the casualties this time around?
Clearly Israel is used to the International community, and most Middle-eastern nation’s attempts at besmirching Israel. The most egregious examples are when terror organizations intentionally use civilians to attack Israelis. Why did Israel fall right into the anti-Israel movements hands?

2. Moreover one has to ask why Israel has been so outspoken over these past weeks about its intention of stopping the flotilla from reaching Gaza, using terms like “provocation”, to label the motivation behind the flotilla? Why give just another anti-Israel flotilla exactly what it wanted, publicity?

3. Another piece of the puzzle surrounds the question of why did Israel launch its operation 40-80 miles off the coast (very different reports coming out), way beyond its recognized territorial borders? Perhaps you answer that they were attempting to surprise the flotilla, maybe. However Israel made it clear that it planned on stopping the flotilla, with their usual system, which includes boarding. Why would Israel intentionally and with no obvious purpose violate international law, and board these ships in international waters?

4. Finally why in the lead up to the incident did Turkey claim that there would consequences if Israel stopped the flotilla, and now “Turkey appeared to be taking the lead in gathering international support against the Israeli attack, with the government already pressing international organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, the European Union and the Arab League to take action” (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turk-israeli-ties-beyond-the-point-of-no-return-2010-05-31). was the flotilla Turkish?
Alternatively, there is more here than meets the eye. Is it possible that there were elements on the lead Turkish ship the Mavi Marama, where this incident occurred, that were placed there specifically to trigger violence, to create a “provocation”. According to reports most of the casualties were Turkish (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians), which is significant considering that there is little chance that these commandoes were shooting indiscriminately, more probably they aimed at their attackers. It is no surprise that most of the people on board a Turkish ship were Turkish, but why was the lead ship flying under a Turkish flag?

If we conclude that this flotilla was sponsored in part by Turkey (Israeli sources have been clear that it is), than is it somehow tied to Turkeys domestic politics, which is beginning to see a CHP resurgence under its new mustached leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu? Could the 10,000s marching in Istanbul screaming anti-Israel slogans, spurred on by Erdogans usual rhetoric harnessing populist feelings by proclaiming Israel’s act "terrorist"?

Were the commandoes subjected to an organized attack planned well in advance to foment a provocation? Was Israel aware of this and declared unambiguously that this whole flotilla was an attempt to create a provocation? Was Israel sending a message to Erdogans and his major benefactor, Iran, that Israel will not hesitate to go into others terroritory and to halt a perceived attack?

Regardless of whether this was just another anti-Israel flotilla gone bad or whether this was a political move by one of the savviest politicians around. While this incident will neither bring peace closer, or end the blockade. Israel failed in executing there response to the Turkish flotilla.