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Here is a strange echo from history.
It is a documentary made by the BBC in 1973 about the story of the ship, the Exodus.
It was the ship full of Jewish refugees - many of them survivors of the Holocaust - that tried to break the British blockade of Palestine in 1947.
The participants from both sides appear and describe in detail how British soldiers boarded the ship 21 miles off the coast of Palestine killing 3 of the refugees and wounding others.
The prize-winning writer and creator of Wallander was among those on board the Gaza flotilla. Here he shares his private diary of the events leading to his capture
31 May 2010: An American solidarity activist was shot in the face with a tear gas canister during a demonstration in Qalandiya, today. Emily Henochowicz is currently in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem undergoing surgery to remove her left eye, following the demonstration that was held in protest to Israel’s murder of at least 10 civilians aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters this morning.
The American political consultant Roger J. Stone Jr. is often credited with coining the embattled spook’s mantra, “Admit nothing. Deny everything. Make counter-accusations”. As P.R. strategies go, it’s combative. But if your job has you frequently trying to defend the indefensible, it may be as good a credo as any.
See, I have a grudging respect for the Israeli government’s press operation. Mark Regev is almost always dealt a shitty hand of cards. But he’s the T-1000 of public relations men. He’ll make the case, however preposterous: Up is down. Black is white. Even when, say, a film crew captures Palestinian children mown down on a beach by Israeli shells, he’ll still somehow grind out a score draw. (Hamas forced us to kill those kids. This is exactly what Hamas wanted etc. etc.)
Has Israel lost it? Can the Gaza War of 2008-09 (1,300 dead) and the Lebanon War of 2006 (1,006 dead) and all the other wars and now yesterday's killings mean that the world will no longer accept Israel's rule?
Don't hold your breath.
You only have to read the gutless White House statement – that the Obama administration was "working to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy". Not a single word of condemnation. And that's it. Nine dead. Just another statistic to add to the Middle East's toll.
Survivors of the Israeli assault on a flotilla carrying relief supplies to Gaza returned to Greece and Turkey today, giving the first eyewitness accounts of the raid in which at least 10 people died.
Arriving at Istanbul's Ataturk airport with her one-year-old baby, Turkish activist Nilufer Cetin said Israeli troops opened fire before boarding the Turkish-flagged ferry Mavi Marmara, which was the scene of the worst clashes and all the fatalities. Israeli officials have said that the use of armed force began when its boarding party was attacked.
It's time the Israeli government's PR team made the most of its talents, and became available for hire. Then whenever a nutcase marched into a shopping mall in somewhere like Wisconsin and gunned down a selection of passers-by, they could be on hand to tell the world's press "The gunman regrets the loss of life but did all he could to avoid violence." Then various governments would issue statements saying "All we know is a man went berserk with an AK 47, and next to him there's a pile of corpses, so until we know the facts we can't pass judgement on what took place."
The Gaza relief flotilla embarked from Turkey, where leaders were angered by the American diplomacy. Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davotoglu, in the U.S. on an official visit, compared the Israeli raid to the Sept. 11 attacks. "We expect the United States to show solidarity with us," he said at a breakfast in Washington.
Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States and has been important to U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fascinating article from a former diplomat pointing out that NATO is legally obliged to respond to the Israeli attack on the aid #flotilla and what it says if they don't
THE Israeli ambassador to Ireland has been heavily criticised after withdrawing from an Oireachtas committee hearing today into the flotilla raid in which nine people were killed.
The head of a Turkish charity that organised the aid flotilla attacked by Israeli forces said activists had rushed some of the soldiers and snatched their weapons, but had thrown them overboard without using them.
A 19 year old American was killed by the IDF taking the #flotilla. He had one bullet wound to the chest and three to the head.
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