AP PHOTO: Pro-Palestinian Turks shout slogans “death to Israel” as they protest against Israel, at the entrance of Israeli ambassador’s residence in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, May 31, 2010.
These past few days it seems a lot of people in Jordan have been keeping an eye on the approaching aid ships set for Gaza in an effort to break the Israeli blockade that has been suffocating Gazans for the longest time now. Most, including myself, simply assumed that Israel would shoot at the ships and, as usual, Israel did not fail to meet the low expectations we constantly set for it. The self-proclaimed “most moral army in the world” boarded the ships in international waters (there’s a law against that, right?) and shot dead 10 unarmed activists, wounding dozens more.
There’s really nothing to say other than express one’s outrage and surmounting frustration that never seems to be hindered when living in a region drowning in low expectations. Israel illegally boarding NATO-inspected aid ships in international waters and then shooting unarmed people, who it claims were wielding knives and clubs, is perhaps the perfect analogy for Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine.
But here’s the ultimate low expectation: the world will remain fairly silent. US President Obama, who meets Netanyahu tomorrow, will either blame the activists or Hamas for the massacre. Turkey will probably be the only one to demand a public apology from Israel, and, if worst comes to worse, will temporary sever diplomatic ties.
This will all be forgotten by the time the World Cup starts.
Now, let’s sit back and see what happens next.
Meanwhile, in Amman, protests are already starting up as people march from the Associations complex in Shmesani to the Prime Minister’s office on the 4th circle – but I highly doubt they will last long. Photos can be found on 7iber.
Yup.. But I could already tell from the amount of status updates of fb and twitter as well as the general rhetoric around so far that this is gonna pinch Israel a little. wont slide as easily as you claim, i think.. but it definitely will slide..
Israel never fails to prove how immoral of a state it is. Up till this moment 19 people were killed and around 26 people were injured.
The incident is horrifying, not only because it targeted civilians but also because it is another indication to a great deal of arrogance on the Israeli part, as after several days of back lashing at the convoy it actually carried out this horrendous attack.
How did the world react? I guess many governments assume their people watch a lot of soup operas they actually will believe anything they are told; Israel denied knowledge of the attack carried out by its army! Really? Now, come on a country that can locate wanted activist and target them even in Dubai did not know its “very moral and humane” army was about to do this?
What about the Jordanian government which for some reason always denies denies denies until other countries confirm injuries or courses of events, according to news reports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called in Israeli embassy in Amman officials, what for? A strong warded note.
In addition to a vicious inhumane crime, this is also pushing it too far globally and asking everyone to demean their common sense and intelligence, set back and relax, and watch the bitter reality TV.
One of the radio stations managed to contact by phone the President of Anti-Normalization Committee-in Jordan- wife who was worried but very proud of the clear message the convoy will leave whatever the outcomes might be.We hope that whatever the Israeli army chooses to carry out, that everyone whether participants of the convoy or Gaza people will not be harmed.
Will it be just another episode of this endless Israeli-World silence series? Probably yes and the show will go on…
Sickening…and whats worse – as you said – nothing will change…everyone will forget about this soon enough…we have put to the back of our minds that 1.5 million people have been unde seige for 3 years…we quickly got over the invasion of Gaza last year that left 1400 or so Palestinians dead…the death of a mere 20 peace activists should be forgotten about by the time the world cup kicks off…and our leaders – Arab and International – will do nothing but make a few statements and call for an investigation that will deliver nothing.
i wrote a letter of protest , we r trying to make large number of people send it to UN , EU,Israel minsirt of foreign affairs , amnesty …etc,,,
just copy the e-mails , and the letter then send them
http://tahyyes.blogspot.com/
hmmm… you might want to correct the caption of the image, the sign carried by the Turkish guy does not say death to Israel, but that Israel is a killer (i.e. murderer).
The head of the Free Gaza Movement actually came here to SoCal to promote her idea two months ago… A bunch of us where supposed to go but never ended up making it! The thing is, they have done this several times in the past, with much less trouble than this. I remember the worst thing that happened to them was that their ships where rammed by Israeli ships but nothing to the extent of a raid… They should have seen this coming, then again, if they where successful in the past over 5 times what changed this time around?
I feel equally frustrated. Israel’s actions can never be justified, ever. This constant sick excuse of “Israel needs to defend itself”..and against what? for God’s sake.
Although the world will continue to condemn this and do nothing more, I feel like at least this time some good might come out of this. Turkey will be the pioneer in acting against Israel. Cutting diplomatic relations will be very strong, and inspite of the Turkish people’s continuous sympathy, it will be great to finally have their government standing strong against Israel as well.
I would say shame on arab countries, to see a non-arab country take the kind of action they should take. I feel so disappointed, as always.
@Fares: I have my doubts about the ease of it…i think it’ll blow over quickly.
@Luna: the caption is an AP caption and not my own, and it does say “shout slogans” so it’s not referring to the sign the man is carrying.
Lina, Arab countries are lost case, do not wast your breath, they are part and parcel of continuous crimes, just look at Husney’s regime in Egypt ,what a loser and collaborator, if husney allowed food and medicine to go through the Rafah Crossing, non of those international activist would have to be murdered in such gruesome way, Down with all collaborator including Mahmoud Abass in Ramallah, and that loser collaborator has been ordered to crack down on peaceful protest in the west bank cities and villages.
MASS revolution is needed to bring about such meaningful change because Arab collaboration with the Zionist entity is behind all this messy situation.
الثورة والمقاومة هما الØÙ„ الأمثل والواقعي لطرد هؤلاء المتعاونين والمتخادلين مع هذا النضام العنصري والدخيل على أوطاننا
This video here shows that the people on board those ships where the ones who attacked first.
BUT:
* Why did Israeli soldiers shoot at the passengers from helicopters flying overhead? There is evidence showing Israeli troops showering the passengers with bullets before they got on board the ships.
* Why did the Israeli navy board the ship when they could have simply blocked the ships’ paths?
* And why did Israel strike in international waters, long before the fleet had arrived in Israeli waters?
Bit.ly/bx8p5o
i didn’t even see the video but i’m sure that israel has done something as horrible and unexplainable as it’s own existence.
the funny thing is how they manage by the end of the day,to turn every mess they do to their advantage!!!!we need to learn from this enemy,for it is a strong one,and we have a big fight ahead
سقط القناع
عرب اطاعوا رومهم
عرب وباعوا روØهم
عرب وضاعوا
سقط القناع
“المرØوم Ù…Øمود درويش
apparently they think it’s legal…
Israel’s foreign ministry says that under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area. It adds: “Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law.”
(BBC website)
Doesn’t make it any less ugly.
When you attack armed soldiers with knives and sticks the outcome is usually brutal. I am not sure Israel had the right to board the ship but (every one knew they were going to) the people on board should not have attacked.
footage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10208027.stm
@R.N.A
The blockade is made void by the same document that article sighted
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/560?OpenDocument
102. The declaration or establishment of a blockade is prohibited if:
(a) it has the sole purpose of starving the civilian population or denying it other objects essential for its survival; or
(b) the damage to the civilian population is, or may be expected to be, excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade.
103. If the civilian population of the blockaded territory is inadequately provided with food and other objects essential for its survival, the blockading party must provide for free passage of such foodstuffs and other essential supplies
104. The blockading belligerent shall allow the passage of medical supplies for the civilian population or for the wounded and sick members of armed forces, subject to the right to prescribe technical arrangements, including search, under which such passage is permitted
Gonzales… You are watching a one sided video.. Why dont you watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cQ69oKFtVg&feature=player_embedded
that is why the attack happened man… if you fire ammunition on a group of people be sure that when you board the ship your ass will be stabbed!
NAS, by NATO you mean Turkey?
Fares…I watched the video. Still I think if the Israelis had fired indescribably like it is claimed then there would have been more casualties – considering the scale of the battle on board it seems like they did use restraint. Obviously this whole thing is awful but everyone is making it seem like Israel went there to massacre people. I don’t think that is the case.
indescribably – read: indiscriminately
If the USA did not provide its supportto Israil, it is the case that Israil would be completely wiped out in two days by Turkey in the event of war.
The evidence is that USA will now be in a position to sell billions of dollars in armaments to Israel. In such an economic state its in, USA will surely welcome this sort of development. It is an opportunity for USA to profit from this event.
@ahmed the semi-saviour and those who think like you; I think your statement sums up the real truth of how so many think, and that is that the truth is not important, it doesn’t matter what the truth is, what ever happens is the fault of Israel. Like in the U.S., what ever happens, Obama will blame George Bush, the truth is not important. Who cares what really happened … this is just another incident that can be used against Israel. What I know is that the ship knew it would be stopped and boarded and that the ship had more than one chance to stop and unload its cargo … even in Jordan … but thy refused. Those on board were expecting this and they were prepared, and it was as they planned. Those on board could care less about the dead …. the more dead the better, for dead people is good politics. Few news channels showed Israel soldiers being attacked. Few news channels reported all the facts. The real objective was to create an international incident that would condemn Israel, but the only ones condemning Israel are the ones that always condemn Israel. When I hear Turkey or Iran condemn Israel, I don’t pay any attention because I expect nothing but condemnation from them. At the same time, I don’t see those condemning Israel embracing Hamas. Why don’t those who are so quick to condemn Israel show their support for Hamas? Even the Palestinians keep their distance from Hamas. And someone asked “why” Israel does this? When your neighbors lives for your destruction, when they make it a part of their constitution, you really have to ask “why”?
This is useless conversation. It is what it is and people will do what they have to do to protect themselves against those who will continue in their attempts to destroy them.