Powerline:

Victory Party at the morgue. This is the official right-wing line on the massacre: it’s exactly what the pro-Gaza Turks and activists planned all along. It was a suicide mission of some sort, an effort at violent political theater meant to embarrass and shame the Israelis, and now the world is falling for it.

It’s all so simple, everybody knew exactly what was going on. The IDF spokesperson blog:

– “IDF Forces Met with Pre-Planned Violence when Attempting to Board Flotilla”

Yid with lid:

– “It was a set up. This time the flotilla organizers wanted violence and they were going to attack the IDF to make sure they go [sic] it.”

Canadian press, who were covering P.M. Netanyahu’s visit and his comments after the tragedy:

– “But B’nai Brith Canada alleged the flotilla was organized by Islamists ‘whose obvious goal was to provoke Israel into a response.’”

Let’s play this out, then. Why in the world did the commandos choose to embrace the role the ham-handed activists asked them to play? The IDF did it anyway, knowing it would probably kill some of their political enemies and hand them a great victory?

After all, the flotilla was carrying thousands of tons of relief for Gaza. And it was not running weapons and explosives to the terrorists. So . . why did the clever, violence-abhorring, super-civilized Israelis choose to do exactly as the pro-Gaza barbarians begged them? Anyone?

Is it possible the Israelis are simply losing control? They’ve developed the sort of blind self-righteousness that causes them to march into catastrophes that others would avoid?

How could anyone think that boarding a vessel holding hundreds of people who despise Israel (and their commandos) might not explode in visceral anger? Something that would guarantee the commandos using their weapons and precipitating an international crisis?

Israel’s defense of “We did it because we had the right to” doesn’t come close to washing. The use of force requires wisdom, something the far more technologically advanced Israelis seem to be using less and less of.

That technology makes it possible to blockade Gaza, a population of 1.5 million people. That equates to America’s fifth or sixth largest city: imagine Israel locking down Philadelphia or Phoenix. Then you can begin to get a feeling for the tremendous amount of anger and outrage that’s been building over the last three years. When you consider that it was enacted after Gaza chose Hamas by democratic means, it gets worse.

The truth is that the flotilla massacre wasn’t an act by Israel that defended the lives of its citizens. It was an act to defend their siege of Gaza, something they continue to unwisely pursue. It drove them to board, in international waters, a ship full of otherwise peaceable activists delivering supplies to needy people, and now many of the activists are dead.

Maybe they wanted a violent confrontation. If the Israelis have gotten so stupid, if they refuse to think any more about their actions, choosing instead to push forward just like any other over-militarized and angry state, these convenient tragedies will continue.

Nice Guys Finish Last
Noah Pollak – 05.31.2010 – 12:52 PM

To my mind, the most astonishing thing about the flotilla disaster is that the IDF sent its elite naval commandos into a highly charged potential combat situation that was being closely scrutinized by the world media — armed with paintball guns.

In addition to their lead-ball guns. Wooh, crazy.

The intent, of course, was to show that Israel wished to avert escalating the confrontation . .

. . by boarding the ship in international waters with their elite commandos. There are other ways to avoid confrontation.

. . and merely sought to bring the ships to port, transfer their cargo to Gaza, send the “peace activists” home, and bring this mini-drama to a close. But the results were catastrophic.

And why does Israel think it can dictate how people, Turks, mostly, live their lives? International waters. They ended up dictating their deaths. Israel does not retain the right to kill everybody that hates it. Israel does not retain the right to dictate how dramas in international waters unfold.

Instead of proving Israel’s good intentions, the commandos found themselves unable to take control of the terrorist blockade runners, who knew, of course, that any bloodshed and violence that followed the Israeli boarding party would be laid at the feet of the Israelis.

Especially since it was the Israelis that killed everybody. Makes you wonder if the “terrorist blockade runners” were psychic. Sure, the psychics knew it could be a p.r. disaster — so what? When you’ve got some pro-Gaza people on a boat, even armed with clubs and slingshots, they’re not ambushing anybody. When armed Israeli commandos forcibly and illegally overtake and kill these people, it’s clear where the responsibility lies. Israel has no right to kill people that could embarrass it.

Armed with the proper equipment, the naval commandos could have done precisely what they are trained to do — take command of a ship decisively and with great speed. This can only be done when the men boarding the ship are able to immediately neutralize their opponents and establish complete control.

They didn’t use enough force. How’s that for “Israel, right or wrong” politics? Never mind that they broke the law by even attempting the moronic exercise– they should have been even tougher on the activists. They should’ve boarded the ship with 10 times the commandos and immediately tied everybody up. And then they could’ve quickly found that the ship flotilla wasn’t a gun-running operation and apologized to the international community without killing anybody. Yay!

But the Israeli commandos obviously could not establish complete control. They fast-roped into an ambush and were beaten and stabbed. Would this have happened if they had real guns in their hands? Probably not.

Would there have been a massacre with not-real guns? Probably not.

Those who sent an elite unit into a hostile confrontation armed with toy weapons made an incredibly stupid decision. And a uniquely Israeli one. In recent memory, Israeli military action has been violent but not decisive, bloody enough to provoke the outrage and condemnation of the world (at this point, a stubbed toe will do), but not enough to actually change facts on the ground (the Hamas and Hezbollah wars being prime examples).

So Israel needs to steel itself as both violent and decisive. Unlike today, where they deferred the violence for a few minutes.

These halfhearted wars and battles have earned Israel demerits in world opinion without enough to show in improved strategic position. Exit question: How many new flotillas to Gaza are being planned right now in Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East?

The terrorism escalates. I fear for the nice guys.

Gaza flotilla participants created war atmosphere before confronting Israel
Participants chanted Islamic battle cry invoking killing of Jews and called for Martyrdom
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

On the day before the Gaza flotilla confronted the Israeli navy, Al-Jazeera TV documented the pre-battle atmosphere created by men on board the flotilla, who chanted a well-known Islamic battle cry invoking the killing and defeat of Jews in battle:

“[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!”

Khaibar is the name of the last Jewish village defeated by Muhammad’s army in 628. Many Jews were killed in that battle, which marked the end of Jewish presence in Arabia. There are Muslims who see that as a precursor to future wars against Jews. At gatherings and rallies of extremists, this chant is often heard as a threat to Jews to expect to be defeated and killed again by Muslims.

Al-Jazeera also interviewed a woman who said that the flotilla participants’ goal was “one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or reaching Gaza.”

Well, if it was a “war-like atmosphere” the day before, go ahead and kill them. Sporting that sort of attitude on a boat at sea, they get what they deserve. Especially when they’re arrogant enough to “confront . . the Israeli navy” by being overtaken and boarded.

Can’t take a righteous beating, huh?

Because anyone begging for an all-out clash with the Israeli Defense Forces brings “bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots.” So the IDF routed a flotilla of activist Boy Scouts, bravo. They sure as hell weren’t terrorists, those guys carry guns and bombs.

In no particular order, the little stories of 2008 that said a lot.

Sarah Palin did not learn much, or get better with time. Or was it Republicans?

Stunned? Headless? Elected? Two out of three ain’t bad…