Dozens of ships have been making their way through the Mediterranean Sea for weeks now toward the Gaza Strip. This is the Global Sumud Flotilla, an effort by hundreds of international activists to break Israel’s siege on Gaza. But it’s primarily aimed at drawing international attention to the humanitarian crisis, the hunger and the massive death caused by Israel’s military operation there.
This massive flotilla was organized in response to Israel’s takeover of a flotilla that tried to break the siege in June. The navy arrested the participants in that flotilla, who included climate activist Greta Thunberg, and they were subsequently deported from Israel.
Since the Sumud Flotilla embarked, it has been attacked on two occasions by mysterious drones. In the first incident, in Tunis, a flare was dropped that damaged one of the boats. And on Wednesday, roughly 10 stun grenades were thrown at the boats in an effort to damage them. No country has claimed responsibility for these incidents, but everyone assumes, quite reasonably, that Israel is behind these attacks in an attempt to prevent the ships from reaching Gaza.
In response to the attacks, the governments of Spain and Italy have announced over the last two days that they will send ships from their own navies to protect the flotilla. The naval vessels will presumably abandon the flotilla before it enters Gaza’s territorial waters, thereby preventing a military conflict with the Israeli navy. But it represents another worrisome deterioration in Israel’s international position. When countries close to it send warships to protect their citizens from the Israel Defense Forces, it’s above all testimony to Israel’s failed handling of events.
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Israel’s aggressive behavior toward the flotilla bolsters the suspicion that it has something to hide in Gaza. This conduct meshes with its ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza and its killing of Palestinian journalists. If Israel is indeed conducting a legitimate war in Gaza, as the government and the IDF claim; if there is indeed no starvation and no hunger; and if the IDF is indeed acting in compliance with international law by protecting the civilian population and ensuring its welfare, then why this insistence on preventing the flotilla from entering, much less risking additional damage to Israel’s image and international standing to do so?
The flotilla’s passengers aren’t carrying weapons, and should they land on Gaza’s coast, this would in no way boost Hamas’ combat capabilities. Using violence to stop the ships and arresting and deporting the activists will merely add another charge to the indictment the world is drawing up against Israel.
The government should allow the flotilla to reach Gaza, as a first step in an effort to prove to the world that Israel doesn’t see Gaza’s children and its other hungry civilians as its enemy.
The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel
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