PrintOctober 15, 2010
'Freedom Flotilla' Number Two Set for December Launch
Same Terrorist Group Behind First Mission Aims to Reach Gaza on the Second Anniversary of the Gaza War
In purported deliverance of needy Palestinians, four months ago, a Turkish "aid" flotilla of pro-Hamas supporters attempted to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Despite a weeks-long buildup and stern warnings from Israeli officials against the "humanitarian" efforts of a known terrorist group (IHH), the organizers and "Freedom Flotilla" crew continued their mission to Gaza -- leading to a lethal takeover by Israeli commandos and the death of nine Turkish "peace activists."
Some inconvenient facts about the Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla prove the entire incident was nothing more than a provocation by Islamic terrorists and their enablers. Leaving aside for the moment the Turkish government's decisive role in the clash and that the Turkish government-sponsored NGO behind the operation (IHH) is a terrorist group with direct links to genocidal terrorist organizations Hamas and al-Qaeda, the entire operation was never about delivering humanitarian supplies to Palestinians -- it was a PR war against Israel from jihadists seeking martyrdom in front of al-Jazeera cameras.
As NY Post columnist Ralph Peters noted, whereas the first wave of intercepting Israeli commandos armed themselves with paintball rifles, "Purely by coincidence, dozens of 'peace activists' waited with sharpened iron bars, clubs, slingshots -- and rifles ... This was a stunt from the start." But for those on the Religious Left, "terrorist" is a word that does not exist -- or is reserved for "Christian" Timothy McVeigh, a terrorist who a) did not kill in the name of Christianity and...b) was not a Christian.
Now, according to a recent statement from IHH, the pro-Hamas organization plans to launch a second flotilla against the Israeli blockade. "The convoy will set off in New Delhi, capital of India, on December 2 ... [and] aims to reach Gaza on December 27, the anniversary of the Gaza war," the group said in its statement.
In what appears to be a very strategic effort to expand Turkey's role and influence in Asia, the IHH announced that activists from seventeen Asian countries are expected to participate in the next "movement for an end to Israeli siege on occupied land." The slogan for the second flotilla will be "the peoples of Asia are side by side with the Palestinian people."
The convoy will pass through the large public gatherings organized for India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria in trucks and buses loaded with aid before sailing for Gaza.
The AFP report describes IHH as the "Islamist charity that operates in several conflict zones around the world," whose aid efforts were "stormed" by Israeli forces in May. In stark contrast, the AP leads with the following: "The Turkish charity IHH, which sponsored a Gaza-bound flotilla that Israeli commandos boarded in a deadly raid last spring... [and] aim to break blockade by December 27."
As for the common narrative about malnourished Palestinian children dying from a humanitarian crisis, it is hardly due to the Israeli government or their naval blockade -- at least according to one official. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Yigal Palmor argues that over a million tons of aid has entered Gaza since 2009 -- almost a ton of aid for each man, woman, and child in Gaza. What the elected government officials do with that aid, one can only speculate. All the same, the pro-Palestinian group behind the Freedom Flotilla refused offers to have Israeli or humanitarian agencies deliver the flotilla's aid to Gaza. Naturally, this led to worldwide condemnation of Israel.
A demoralized Caroline Glick lamented the Left's "unprecedented" information war against Israel, successfully helping to delegitimize the Jewish state internationally. "At the UN on Friday, 189 governments came together as one to savage Israel. There is no other issue that commands such unanimity," Glick wrote at the time. "The NPT [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] review conference demonstrated that the only way the international community will agree on anything is if its members are agreeing that Israel has no right to defend itself."
John Adams may be right about facts being stubborn things and how "whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence" -- but ideology can. This is best demonstrated, without fail, by populist views on Islamic extremism and Israel.
Eschewing facts for political correctness, countless members of the "Fourth Estate" and the government continue to consider brazen acts of terrorism against Israel simply irrelevant. Jihadists remain "activists" -- and IHH is still a "charity."
