Been busy of late in corporate lawyer world defending weakling multinational investment banks against the depredations of pension funds, but the Israeli Defense Forces' ("IDF") ham handed raid on the Gaza Flotilla roused me from my dogmatic stupor by sheer force of its stupidity.
First, we all know that the phrase "military intelligence" is oxymoronic, but what idiot at the IDF or the Israeli government authorized this raid? Did it not occur to the geniuses behind this raid that a disproportionate show of military force in international waters against people armed with sticks and knives is exactly what the publicity hungry activists wanted? Most people weren't paying attention to the Gaza blockade but every sentient news reader is now. And how many people would have paid attention if you'd just let the ships dock but you prevented them from unloading, or some other less ostentatious approach? Instead we've been treated to a display of Israeli dick swinging followed by Israeli self defensive whining now that people justifiably want to cut that dick off. Which brings us to point two.
Second, the reason no one except the obtuse buys the IDF's self defense justification for their homicides is because it's ludicrous. This was a white flagged ship in international waters attacked by commandos from one of the fiercest and accomplished armies in the world. The flotilla didn't try to board any Israeli vessels on the high seas, it was the other way around. If anyone was acting in self defense, it was the flotilla, not the armed to the teeth IDF.
Finally, how long can the Israelis kid themselves that they're not treating the Palestinians in the same despicable ways that the Jews have been treated for centuries throughout the world. Talk about losing you moral compass.
