Tuesday's attack on an unarmed, humanitarian flotilla of activists carrying relief supplies for the besieged and blockaded people of Gaza is a reminder to the world of the lawless, outlaw nature of the Israeli state. Although the death toll is still unclear, as many as 10 activists, several of them Turkish nationals, died when Israel Defence Forces commandos swooped down on the vessels in international waters and used grossly disproportionate force to overcome the not unexpected resistance they encountered. The boats, their passengers, and cargo have all been illegally detained. Among those locked up by the Israelis are a number of journalists from around the world who had joined the flotilla to cover the story. The criminal Israeli response to what was intended to be a Gandhian act of solidarity with the Palestinian people is the product of the international community's failure to ensure that Tel Aviv's illegal and immoral blockade of Gaza was lifted. Israel cut off Gaza from the rest of the world in June 2007 as a means of weakening the political hold Hamas has on the territory. The rocket attacks were a pretext for the blockade, which quickly escalated into a full-scale war on the people of the territory. Gaza suffers all the evils of occupation despite the withdrawal by the Zionist forces in 2005.
The Israeli invasion of 2008-09 led to the commission of war crimes as documented by the UN-mandated Goldstone Commission. And the blockade of Gaza and its people amounts to collective punishment of civilians, another grave breach of international humanitarian law. Any other country would have been hauled over the coals by the UN Security Council for such rogue behaviour but Israel enjoys the backing of the United States. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama held out the faint hope of a more even-handed approach to the problems of West Asia. But as President, he has dismally failed to exert the kind of pressure needed to get Israel to withdraw from the territories it has illegally occupied since 1967. The crime that played out on the high seas on May 31 is very much part of the crime of occupation. There is little sense in the UNSC asking for an inquiry into the incident when previous inquiries into Israeli behaviour — notably the Goldstone report — ended in the dustbin. At the very least, the international community must ensure the immediate end of the Israeli embargo on Gaza. No goal or logic can justify subjecting an entire civilian population to an economic blockade. India has joined democratic forces round the world in condemning the attack on the flotilla. It must move beyond this now and actively work for the lifting of the inhuman blockade.
Keywords: Israel, flotilla attack, Gaza
Dear editor and friends,
The preemptive strike of Isreal is right and acted proactively in safegaurding its civilians. In India, we will collect evidence against terroist atleast for 25 years who will massacre hundreds of our brothers and sisters. In short we dont have guts as Isrel to go against our enemy and we will envy Isreal and keep critising them.
The editorial ignores the fact that the Israeli navy took over five ships of the flotilla bound for Gaza. The activists on those ships protested peacefully. There was no violence and nobody was hurt. But, some of the passengers of the sixth ship, the Marmara, mounted a violent resistance. They had bats, iron bars, knives and slingshots with glass marbles. They assaulted every soldier as he slid down from the helicopter. The soldiers were under orders to not use their handguns unless their lives are in danger. Seven of them were wounded. One suffered a serious head injury, two others were injured by gunshots, two more were stabbed in the abdomen and two other had broken arms.
Only then did they use their handguns and responded to the violent attack against them.
It is also very important to stress that a state, in a time of conflict, can impose an embargo, and while it cannot carry out embargo activities in the territorial waters of a third party, it can carry out embargo activities in international waters. Within this framework it is legal to detain a civilian vessel trying to break an embargo and if in the course of detaining the vessel, force is used against the forces carrying out the detention then that force has every right to act in self defense.
The unfortunate loss of life was a direct result of the violence used by the extremists on the ship.
In spite of the enormous anti-Israeli bias in your paper, Israel will continue to do its best to defend its citizens, if you like it or not.
I support the editorial. First of all Israilis should vacate the lands of Palestanian which they have occupied. Then all problems will be solved. As long as they are Palestanians are under occupation, nothing can be changed. Israil is behaving very rudely with the support of America.
"India has joined democratic forces round the world in condemning the attack on the flotilla."
India will always condemn whatever Israel does or says so as not to upset its Muslim population who will definitely be siding with the Palestinians. It is strange that the fact that the Israeli forces requested the "humanitarian flotilla" to stop advancing and to allow it to be checked by the forces has not been reported by your editorial. Israel is a country that has only enemies on all sides and the US supports it only as part of a political agenda. The world knows it. It is typical of India and her journalists to condemn military might and the usage of weapons by other advanced countries because our nation lacks the will to use counter-attack as a form of defence. Israel has never known peace since its independence and Hamas are constantly launching rockets to injure Gaza residents. Why is it that everyone only talks of the counter-attack and never the attack itself? What Israel did might have been extreme but it is unprofessional to place the blame only on them 100%.
The highly trained Israeli attackers knew what they were doing. They were ordered to use laser precision to deliberatley target anyone who did not look 'Western'.
Hence the deaths of only dark skinned activists.
However, these apartheid loving raciss miscalculated, as President Obama said, they have found themselves on the wrong side of history.
I find this so called "editorial" offensive in its blatant and bigoted approach to Israel and its callous and puerile justification of the actions of the terrorist regime of HAMAS. Where was such strong condemnation or outrage against HAMAS when it was launching hundreds of rockets a day at Israeli towns and cities? Where was the sanctimonious analysis and petty slander when HAMAS was busy building tunnels to smuggle weapons and bombs rather than allow the Israelis to provide food and medicine ? Where was this ludicrous admiration for these deluded activists when Iran was shipping a boat load of weapons to the impoverished Gazans ?
As an Indian I am disgraced and ashamed that such condescending and naive editorials on how XYZ should have behaved when India itself has been a life long recipient of such condescension from across the world in our fight against terrorists in Kashmir! You should be ashamed "The Hindu"!
Appreciate The Hindu for moderating comment section so that views are expressed in a dignified way.
I support the editorial stand.It's a fact that Israel is behaving as a terrorist country over-reacting in delicate circumstances with no regard to international diplomacy.Now the world has to come together to make it clear that Israel is not the superpower to do as it like in the international waters using ambiguous terms of some threat some where.
I am no supporter of Israel and my motivation in this comment is the journalism/media angle. This is a completely biased story but reflects the general tone of the media in reporting this story. Everyone is sure about who the oppressor is and the oppressed. The Israeli/Jew side of the story is the minority one which no one wants to look into. "The Hindu" is so sure of this that they have named the organizers of this ship as "Gandhian". Surely, carrying humanitarian aid is a noble deed which no sane human being will object too. But has Israel ever said no to that ? Given the political context, what made the organizers think that they can get away without Israeli intervention. Definitely, Israel needs to be blamed for these deaths but so are these "Gandhians" who waited to club the soldiers to death as well as the organizers for misplanning this humanitarian agenda and allowing it to be hijacked by miscreants. I expect "The Hindu" to represent Truth, however unpopular it might be.
The whole article is detestfully biased. The writer has tried to project Israel as the eneemy of Arabs and Muslims. But, will the writer explain why the organisers of flotilla refused to get their ships screened by Isreali authorities at Ashdod port? There were many ways by which humanitarian aid may have been dispatched to Gaza than why IHH chose the sea route? It is well known to the whole world that IHH may have smuggled rockets and arms to Gaza like before secretly. So it was a right for Israeli commandos to land on those ships and check what they were carrying. Without getting any har proof how can the writer blame Israel and use such derogatory words for Isreal? Hamas and IHH have succeed in raising the sentiments of Muslims against that Jewish state. I wonder why the Indian Muslim organisations were so swift in denouncing Israel, when they keep mum when Pakistani Militants persecute Hindus on the other side of the border.
This is quite pathetic. Honestly, I expected the Indian media and people to be a little more sophisticated. My mistake I suppose, even Turkish coverage of this incident seems far less hysterical than this.
I detest the use of the word "Gandhian" in the article. I saw the video of the operation on youtube. And It was quite clear that the so called "Gandhians" were beating the Israeli soldiers. Please don't jump the guns without getting the facts right.
Israel, a country besieged by hostile elements, especially Hamas that forcefully took over Gaza from the legally elected Palestinian leadership. It has become a stumbling block for any peaceful negotiation for settlements. Hamas is holding a section of the Palestinians forcefully in Gaza and has become an entity that challanges the Palestinian authority. The Palestinians in Gaza are clinging on to Hamas not by a close affinity but out of fear of severe repression. Israelis are annihilated on a daily basis by a barrage of rockets from Gaza fired by Hamas. Israel, as a country that is being terrorised by Hamas, has all the right to prevent covert operations to provide aid to build up an arsenal that is directed towards Israel.
How are we different in treating Naxals, Manipuri or Kashmiri?
If the Jews had learnt their history well, they'd never have done this. It was the 1947 British raid on Exodus that played an influential role in highlighting the situation of the Holocaust victims and the international outcry helped pave way for the birth of Israel on Palestinian land a year later. The 2010 Mavi Marmara might very well be the Exodus of Israel itself.
Israeli Regional Superpower backed by World Superpower US.
Seconding other comments - why this bias against Israel? They have just done what I believe or hope India would do towards the militants coming from our neighbor. In spite of warnings they chose to press on. If they really wanted to bring "aid" to the common man in Gaza - why did they not go via UN? or let Israel inspect the goods and let it pass through? Would India allow Pakistan or China to send "aid" to the people in Kashmir?
While loss of life (no matter what side) is very painful - this sounds more like a suicide attempt.
For all those who feel (if any) that Israel is being unnecessarily condemned for the Flotilla killings.
1. Israel itself has not said anything about the passengers having any guns or arms except sticks,knives,clubs.
2. A trained group of soldiers finds out that the only way to subdue a few overzealous protesters armed with the weapons mentioned above is killing 19 of them.
3. Why were they trying to forcefully board the flotilla out of the blue, the ships were still in international waters, They could have stalled them and asked for a third party verification of the cargo along with a few Israeli officers included. (what do you expect a bunch of anti israel protesters obviously feeling a little rebellious to do, welcome the intruding soldiers).
4. And finally what right does Israel have to blockade an area obviously ill gotten, exert its sovereignity over it and subject a million people to inhuman conditions and still expect the world to keep silent and not show solidarity or try to refute its baseless claims to palestinian territory.
5.If you still feel the article is one sided please have a look at the Goldstone report.
This editorial is politically correct and experientially inaccurate. First of all, there is nothing "Gandhian" about suicide attacks or vowing to destroy an entire country.
Even if they are at fault, no commando unit tolerates being beatn up. When the Israeli defense forces are attacked they kill.
I can't but appreciate the Israeli administration's determination to protect its citizens. I wish my country has got the same respect for its citizen's life. Even after regular, repeated terrorist and naxal attacks where common people are getting murdered, we haven't seen a concrete plan or response from the Indian government.
Isreal attacked the ships despite knowing that it should face this international outcry. It did this as a responsibitlity towards its own citizens - it is the government's job to protect its citizens. Isn't it? Terrorists and naxals are taking free shots at our country and instead of taking concrete steps to curb this and protect our citizens we involve in intellectual debates about human rights. And absolutely NO ACTION ensues after this.
Great, thought provoking, unbiased article. Kudos !
Israel has fallen into the trap fabricated by Islamist radicals. It was known to those enemies of Judaism that by provoking the Israel they may meet their goal of projecting Israel as a terrorist state.
This is a one-sided editorial written without assessing full facts. Israel was defending its territory from being violated.When commandos boarded the ship they were attacked & had to use force to defend themselves.
Not a Word about terrorist groups like Hamas & Hezbollah that fire rockets into residential suburbs every day, and why there is a blockade in the first place, shows the lack of fairness in this article. If the blockade is to be lifted all the Gazans have to do is reject Hamas terrorism and accept Israel as a sovereign state. All the rhetoric about wiping out Israel off the map et al, does not help. Israel has every right to defend itself from terrorism.
Totally biased Editorial. No mention of the highly negative ideology of Hamas which is the basic reason for such embargo as well as provocative stand by Turkey instead of the flexibility shown by Israel.
I would advise everyone to please read Balaji's comments carefully before going on a runaway criticism of Israel. I'm no fan of Israel, but it just seems so logical in what they have done. Has any of you seen the video footage? I wonder how come humanitarian workers turn so violent??
What would India do if Pakistan was to send humanitarian aid to Kashmir?? Would it let them go if it did not stand by the rules of the country?? Would it let go if the *humanitarian* workers attacked with metal rods and threw the Indian soldiers off the ship??
When soldiers encounter a threat to themselves, they do what they have been trained to do:--shoot. That makes them different from a civilian police force, for instance.
The Hindu should not have taken such a tough anti-Israeli position in its editorial. The facts of the case are not fully known. What has happened is definitely very sad and regrettable and Israel should certainly take the bigger share of the blame, but to automatically presume that Israeli forces were sent to slaughter unarmed civilians or presume that they used "unreasonable" force is not justified.
China protects N Korea the US protects Israel. Unless this stops both countries will continue to test the limits of international law.
I hope P Chidambaram has been following the slow collapse of Israel which now looks inevitable to go the S Africa way. This is what happens when you try to control poor people's aspirations with force. Smart strategy calls for a carrot and stick not a stick and stick, which only leads to both sticks breaking after a point.
Charity begins at home.
Why is this charity? When millions died, killed and have been dying in African countries due to AIDS,poverty and due to terrorism across the globe, why is this charity to Gaza? Why don't these great lovers of freedom at least ask for voting power in Muslim countries?
What Isreal did was legitimate and it has every right to defend its borders.
This is a totally biased article. I think Israel has got something that India needs to learn. It doesn't care about criticism as long as it's able to safeguard its territory. Every country in this world is first concerned about itself, so should Israel and so should we. When people go on saying "crime against humanity" without knowing what really happened and for what reason, it sounds so naive.
The Hamas is doctrinally committed to destroy the state of Israel. Why none of these charity organisations tries to see that Hamas comes into peaceful terms, at least, recognize Israel. Who actually should be more committed to the people in Gaza, Hamas or Israel. Instead the hidden agenda of the charities seems to gradually shake the existence of Israel.
The attack and killing by the Israeli forces is gruesome and inhuman.
Israel is the greatest security threat of the 21st century.
The cynical PR campaign never fooled anyone knowledgeable.
This attack is simply a signal to the UN, Europe, the rising powers and lastly the US that any attempt to curb Israeli adventurism and yes, piracy and terrorism will be met with irrational, wild and disproporionate responses.
Remember when Golda Meir said Israel went nuclear that if Israel goes down, they will take the world with it.
Israel is definitely India's envy. No wonder India will keep suffering against the terrorists, scared of international reaction if it uses force to instill peace in Kashmir and change it into a state like any other in India. Israel had clearly warned against the mission but who's fault is it if the foolish people did not listen. Israel would have handed over the aids themselves after checking them.
It's a crime against humanity and we expect the Indian Government to condemn this Israeli action and record its protest at the highest level.
Nothing surprising about your editorial - its along expected lines.
Just as an aside, here are the facts:
1. The ‘Freedom Flotilla’, a convoy of six ships of varying sizes, led by the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, ostensibly carried “urgently required relief material for impoverished Palestinians” living in the blockaded territory.
2. Israel has imposed its blockade, including maritime blockade off the coast of Gaza, because it is currently in a “state of armed conflict” with the Hamas regime which has repeatedly attacked civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled in via the sea route and through tunnels connecting the Palestinian territory with Sinai in Egypt.
3. Israeli authorities had repeatedly requested the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ organisers to hand over its ‘relief supplies’ for inspection before being despatched to Gaza Strip and not to attempt reaching the Gaza coast. The organisers refused to either allow an inspection of the cargo or to hand it over to the relevant Israeli authorities.
4. The real organiser of the flotilla, the Turkish Insani Yardim Vakfi, or IHH, an Islamic charity with a radical anti-Western orientation. There is sufficient documentation to prove that beyond its legitimate philanthropic activities, the IHH provides extensive support to radical Islamist organisations, including Hamas, and that in the past it has maintained contacts with and provided support to global jihad organisations.
6. Given these facts about those behind the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ and its dubious cargo of material to help Hamas build tunnels and produce improvised rockets, Israel was within its rights under international law to stop the ships in international waters as the purpose behind the ‘moral crusade’ was to undermine Israel’s sovereignty.
Why this one-sided review? What has Israel done to India that evokes such indignation? The flotilla was a set up and Israel walked into it.
While going through this editorial, it gave me the impression of being totally biased against Israel. Didn't expect this from a national newspaper 'The Hindu'. There might be the other side of the story as well & being a neutral country, the 'tone' of criticism is not of the standard as expected. Israel has one thing that helps getting criticisms, 'guts'. Our 'hostile' neighbour has been doing great 'favors' to us since 1947 & still we are trying 'to provide proof' to nail hafiz saeed as if our neighbour is sincerely gonna do our will ever.
Rightly said, dont point a finger at someone else as three are still pointing towards you.
Great meaningful article, but why this kind article condemning the state did not appear when Sri Lanka did the same killing thousands of people and did not allow food or aid agency for more than 3 years?
It's such a heinous crime against the human right in the world. If anyone violates the right anywhere in the world then we will have to retort them as united human beings.
Sashi Tharoor, while he was minister in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, was reported to have said: 'Israel is India's envy'.
There is nothing about Israel that India could be envious of. We( includng Thiru Palaniappan Chidambaram) have to learn NOT to emulate the Israeli example of dealing with a political and social problems with military might.
Israel is the foster child of U.S.A.
Jews should know better how the concentration camp life was.
And never treat other people same way.
US supports Israel to let them tighten the noose on the arab countries. Islamist fundamentalists send suicide bombers as an act of vengeance but get named as terrorists. Well, is this not a cascading effect? When will the US understand that it's their call, to let peace prevail on this blood ravaged planet.
In this editorial, the newspaper totally ignores that Israel is besieged from all sides by their enemies trying to send rockets into their civilian areas. Hamas has a record of smuggling in weapons through tunnels and ships. In such a case how can Israel allow a flotilla of humanitarian aids and probably hidden weapons to land in enemy territory? If aid is the issue, Israel has agreed to transport the goods by road.
Of course, this is not to condone the actions of Isreal. But when pushed to the corner and fighting for life, people and countries will behave differently.
The US backs regimes like Israel and Pakistan as it suits their goals of subjugating certain rising powers in the world. India should note this and change it's foreign policy accordingly.
Please Email the Editor