If many Israelis thought the approach of the Mavi Marmara flotilla looked like an imminent attack by a Turkish armada, a British-flagged catamaran carrying nine Jewish activists on their way to Gaza surely posed no threat to the Jewish state — or did it?
The IDF couldn’t take any chances and so as the Irene approached Gaza early today, Israeli commandos intercepted the latest waterborne menace and took over the boat, thankfully without killing anyone.
“The boarding of the yacht was without incident, and no violence of any kind was used by neither the passengers on board nor the Israel naval forces,” the IDF Spokesperson blog declared.
Haaretz told a somewhat different story:
Israeli activist and former Israel Air Force pilot Yonatan Shapira saying that there were “no words to describe what we went through during the takeover.”
Shapira said the activists, who he said displayed no violence, were met with extreme IDF brutality, adding that the soldiers “just jumped us, and hit us. I was hit with a taser gun.”
“Some of the soldiers treated us atrociously,” Shapira said, adding that he felt there was a “huge gap between what the IDF spokesman is saying happened and what really happened.”
Meanwhile, Yossi Levy, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman who has been carefully trained in the Avigdor Lieberman school of diplomacy encapsulated the government’s position in a string of insults.
The Foreign Ministry expressed its anger against the Israelis and Jews who took part in the sail. According to a ministry official, “They poured fuel into the bonfire of hatred against Israel worldwide. We don’t expect Israelis to be patriotic, but they should definitely not act as Hamas followers.”
The official criticized former pilot Yonatan Shapira and the Holocaust survivor who took part in the flotilla.
“This former pilot, who has joined the ranks of Hamas and sprays hateful graffiti [“Free Palestine“] on the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto, is not a pilot but an astronaut. A Holocaust survivor who sanctifies the name of the Jews’ murderers and takes time to justify those who don’t accept Israel’s right for sovereignty has probably not learned anything from the terrible past.”
Reuben Moscowitz begged to differ as he expressed disbelief that “Israeli soldiers would treat nine Jews this way. They just hit people.”
“I as a Holocaust survivor cannot live with the fact that the State of Israel is imprisoning an entire people behind fences,” Moscowitz said, adding that “it’s just immoral.”
“What happened to me in the Holocaust wakes me up every night and I hope we don’t do the same thing to our neighbors,” Moscowitz said, adding that he was comparing “what I went through during the Holocaust to what the besieged Palestinian children are going through.”
We thank the courageous participants of the boat Irene and are grateful everyone is safe. Growing up in the US, many of my heroes were leftist Jews who stood up against injustice and human rights. I am glad to see there are still some around. I am not Jewish, but today I will donate to Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that has consistanly, in my opinion, been activly engaged in standing up for the rights of Palestinians. Lets all continue the struggle,and continue to fight against aparteid, injustice and human rights.
We should all support the Jewish Voice for Peace, with however little or much we can, as these people are the salt of the earth. They are quite clearly the David against the hasbarist Goliath, notably including the A-D L. Israeli politicians of the latest variety simply revel in their role as bully-boys, to their shame.
The Foreign Ministry expresses anger @ the Jews on the boat as pouring fuel on the bonfire of hatred against Israel worldwide. Goodness, they stick a gun in the faces of their own, but denigrate those same people as bringing unwanted attention to the I.D.F. Poor, poor Israel today, after 60+ years of whining about what took place in W.W.II, that is the same process they extend to the Palestinians, but, can’t see the forest from the trees. Indeed, today, it seems there is no difference between the Nazi’s & the present Government of Israel.
The Israeli authorities should hand their heads in shame for this treatment of a Holocaust victim. They have destroyed the meaning of the phrase: “Never Again”. They are committing almost every atrocity to the Palestinians that the Nazis committed to them. It seems that is all they have learned from this terrible tragedy is –“Never to Me” — but I can do it to others. They have turned Gaza into a mass prison of 1.5 million souls. It is a crime against humanity. And then when someone tries to provide relief, they commit war crimes and piracy. Anyone interested in what day-to-day life in Palestine is really like shouild visit Today in Palestine (http://www.theheadlines.org/10/15-07-10.shtml) to find out how much theft, murder and humiliation the Palestinians are suffering.
Shame of Jews who, in the name of peace, are willing to sacrifice Israel. Have they not learned after all this time, that what the palestinians want is not peace? neither are they interested in a two state solution. They want the whole thing and that means no more Israel. And who the hell are all these westerners criticizing Israle’s right to self-defense? Any of these idiots live in constant fear of being hit by rockets? Any of them live surrounded by people who all they want is the destruction of Israel? The Jews were in those lands for milenia and no palestinian, no muslim and no jew traitor is going to destroy Israel. Long live Israel with Jerusalem as it is Capital, undivided and Jewish for ever.