International outcry over the commando raid on a flotilla bringing food and medicine to Gaza continues to grow. Israel insists that its soldiers were merely defending themselves in the shootings that left 9 people dead. Human rights activists insist that the troops opened fire on civilians onboard the ships. Whatever the final facts, the tragedy has brought even greater scrutiny of the long-condemned blockade in Gaza that has led to a humanitarian crisis.
It appears that all nine fatalities were Turkish citizens and Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the raid “banditry and piracy” on the high seas and “murder conducted by a state.”
Seven Israeli soldiers were also wounded, one seriously.
Israel has been criticized for years over the blockage, which has barred medical and other supplies from countries from France to Turkey to England. Israel imposed the blockade in response to Hamas winning elections in Gaza. Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, the Israeli military’s chief liaison with the Palestinian-controlled territories, said “We will not allow ships to come to Gaza while Hamas is in control there.”
While various organizations and countries have denounced the blockade as causing great hardship, Israel recently taunted critics by releasing a video of the Roots restaurant — one of the finest restaurants left in Gaza to show that fancy meals are still be served. The IDF noted “we have been told the Beef Stroganoff and cream of spinach soup are highly recommended.”
That move backfired as humanitarian groups alleged that the pictures were dated and the food was smuggled through tunnels for a small percent of wealthy Gazans. Eighty percent of Gazans are being supported by international relief supplies and the United Nations has said that the blockade is causing a health crisis in Gaza.
The blockade itself raises serious legal questions, particularly as a form of collective punishment against Gazans for their election of Hamas party members. Under international law, Israel cannot deny basic supplies to the population. There is also the question of the right of Israel to board the vessels in international waters. Furthermore, there are strict guidelines on the response by military and police in law enforcement situations. The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 12 June 1994, is viewed as customary international law and limits such claimed acts of self-defense to proportional acts:
3. The exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations is subject to the conditions and limitations laid down in the Charter, and arising from general international law, including in particular the principles of necessity and proportionality.
4. The principles of necessity and proportionality apply equally to armed conflict at sea and require that the conduct of hostilities by a State should not exceed the degree and kind of force, not otherwise prohibited by the law of armed conflict, required to repel an armed attack against it and to restore its security.
Arguments that these searches were acts of self-defense are undermined by Israeli officials tying the blockade to the Hamas election as opposed to gun running. There is no question that Hamas is a legitimate concern for Israel and that Israel has a legitimate interest in ending the attacks on its borders. However, international law requires proportionality and protects foreign flagged vessels in international waters. To the extent that these searches are viewed as collective punishment, they would be viewed widely as an international violation.
While Israel has said that the ships can land in Israel for inspection and transfer to Gaza, international groups charge that the government holds on to the supplies and slows supplies to a trickle to punish Gazans for their support of Hamas. The World Health Organization has charged that Israel is stopping medical supplies and needed machines, like x-ray machines, from entering Gaza, here.
Prominent Jewish figures have also joined in condemning the blockade, here.
One country likely to face increased pressure is Egypt which under U.S. and Israeli pressure has closed its border to these goods passing through to Gaza. With the ongoing scandal over Israel’s assassination in Dubai in violation of the laws of various allies (here), this latest incident has already sparked massive protests around the world.
UPDATE: As expected, Egypt has opened its border to goods in response to the raid, here.
mespo727272, While we disagree on few topics I must disagree with you on this one and submit that the video I posted establishes that the Israelis fired first. Once the shooting starts all bets are off. AS I recall there are rules for enforcing a blockade that include an opposing force establishing a line of resistance (even if it’s only one ship), giving notice by voice or semaphore, firing (non-lethal) ‘sparkle’ shells to establish position of the ships, etc. These rules were worked out a couple of hundred years ago as I recall reading. You actually may have more knowledge of these procedures than I do as I haven’t read history as extensively as you or some others on this blawg have. In any event, we will have to disagree on this one.
Cue the music for dueling videos:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Mespo:
I agree with you that Israel has a moral right/duty to protect itself and to do otherwise is not rational. The Palestinians/Hamas have dedicated themselves to the destruction of the state of Israel, nothing more needs to be said. What this ship did was an act of war, I would have sent it to the bottom. I think the Israelis showed remarkable restraint given the circumstances.
The level of weaponry is not an issue, a slingshot with a heavy stone or lead weight will kill as well as a bullet at the right distance and axe handles are as good as police batons. The machetes and knives speak for themselves.
Buddha:
“But please, I’d like to know why a force claiming to have been using minimally damaging pacification technology like stun grenades and gas – perfectly suited for disabling opponents with knives and sticks – opted for lethal force instead.”
****************
I think it had something to do with the iron bar wielding crew that I saw hacking away at the greatly outnumbered IDF. Do you really think these folks weren’t looking for a fight by trying to run the blockade and then attempting to repel the IDF? What else could the IDF do short of torpedoes? If they were suspected of supplying Hamas with airborne munitions that are routinely raining down on Israeli school kids, I would have stopped them too.
Buddha Is Laughing, Hey BigGreen, thanks for the good will. I don’t get to post as much as I’d like but I still read this blawg almost daily.
We’re well enough tho the SSA has driven me mad: for 3 years they sent me annual reports saying I have 40 qtrs- I paid in about 18K. So I applied online last Wednesday. Thursday I got my report through the mail and it shows 39 quarters and later in the day I got a phone call from my ‘case manager’ saying the same. The problem tracks back to 1964/65. ’64-’65! Srsly. So I’m looking for a part-time midnight-shift job I can spend a quarter at and work once the better half goes to sleep. (It’ll take me 5-6 yrs to get my 1/2 of the payments back but I’m kinda’ pi**ed right now so I’m in a reactionary mode :-\ ) I had other plans for the next few months. Man, what do they say … life is what happens while you’re making other plans? Yes, that and things I wouldn’t dream of saying on a blawg so refined as this one 🙂
mespo,
Those are also hardly the kinds of weapons for an assault team either. Lat time I checked, Israel has nukes which trumps a knife or a stick as a general rule. So do Uzi’s and tear gas. Not to mention helicopter gunships with rockets and .50 cal auto-cannons. On the open seas, self-defense is often the only defense against piracy. Worldwide, piracy rates have soared recently. See for yourself.
http://home.wanadoo.nl/m.bruyneel/archive/modern/figures.htm
That “cache of arms” is a joke even in those terms. Pirates often are better armed that that, especially considering the ease of obtaining things like AK-47’s (and cheap knockoffs, it’s an easy to manufacture design) that part of the world.
But please, I’d like to know why a force claiming to have been using minimally damaging pacification technology like stun grenades and gas – perfectly suited for disabling opponents with knives and sticks – opted for lethal force instead.
Lottakatz:
“I believe that as much as I believe that drug raids on the wrong house magically turn up illegal drugs and/or illegal weapons anyway.”
********************
Absent evidence to the contrary, the best evidence we now have is contained in the video bdman referred us to in his comment and which I posted.
O-mi-gawd…they wuz slangshots in that terrifyin’ cash of weapons…how cud Izrailee cummandoes with AK-47s and in full cumbat gear face such a onslot of far-power!
Karl Friedrich,
Your comment was an inappropriate low blow and cheap shot. I suggest that you learn to read the English language properly and be more observant. Professor Turley has set aside a full section of this blawg devoted to corrections and he welcomes anyone’s suggestions regarding “factual and grammatical errors.”
_______________
“Corrections”
“This page is reserved ONLY for suggested factual or grammatical errors — not for disagreements over the conclusions or interpretations found in blog entries.”
________________
How many people do you know who—in full public view—are open to criticisms about their grammar? We have several people here who are dedicated to ensure that the site projects proper grammatical sense and that it is factual. I am sure they volunteer out of sheer reverence to the man and his principles. Most learned people who visit this blawg are interested in Professor Turley’s brilliant legal mind and his scholarly opinions regarding the U.S. Constitution—they are not interested in his grammatical skills.
We all understand that Professor Turley does the work of at least three individuals, he most often writes for this blawg in the early morning hours, between rounds of litigation, and during breaks in his duties as a professor—all in addition to his obligations as a fine, devoted family man.
Henceforth, I will not respond to you and I prefer never to see the name Karl Friedrich here again—or whatever other pseudonym you might assume.
Bdaman: “Supply of weapons discovered on board the ship ”
—
🙂 I believe that as much as I believe that drug raids on the wrong house magically turn up illegal drugs and/or illegal weapons anyway.
Ah, those happy peace activists. I bet those knives were for whittling scrimshaw and the tap wrapped bats … why, obviously for a rousing game of on-deck baseball:
And what LK said.
(I hope all is well with you and your family there in the Show Me State, Mrs. LK. It’s good to have you posting again.)
Maaarrghk!
For the record, any paintball gun can be lethal. If you put something other than paint in the balls. Injecting them with ricin alone would make them as deadly as any lead, steel or copper slug.
The boats were attacked in international waters using stun grenades and tear gas before the IDF soldiers boarded. This report which was recorded as the event unfolded and before the ship(s) were boarded makes it clear that casualties on the ships were taken prior to the boarding.
The IDF came in shooting and it matters not what. I do not personally believe that paintball guns were the weapons being used but I will entertain the intellectual exercise. How does one, at night and under covering fire (of stun grenades, tear gas) and in the attendant chaos, tell a paintball gun from a real one until one is shot or has one in ones hand? One doesn’t I suspect, one sees only weapons and reacts accordingly. The use of force to resist the boarding is legal and predictable.
To arm the IDF with Paintball guns and have them used initially is good cover to justify a much more lethal response farther along in the battle and provide a foundation for casting oneself as a victim.
I don’t buy it. If this wasn’t Israel the actions of the IDF would be called piracy IMO.
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0531/raw-video-reporter-claims-israelis-fired-activists-boarding-ship/
Multi-language reports throughout the following clip.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn-l_JltCB4&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Supply of weapons discovered on board the ship
01 June 2010 , 01:15
After passengers on board the Mavi Marmara departed the ship at the Ashdod port, security forces began checking the boat and found a cache of weapons on board.
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/05/3106.htm
Now I’ve just GOT to get me one of those lethal paint ball guns before they make them illegal.
Fact is, like it or not, Israel has a history of doing audacity very well. They always get away with it, so why should they stop.
This will all blow over and they know it.
Although personally if some goon dropped out of a helicopter with a gun (paintball or not) onto my ship I would like to think that I would try to throw the bugger over the side. Or at least poke him with a pointy stick before he shot me.
mespo,
How about something from a victim’s mouth instead of bdaman’s?
Eyewitness reports Israel opened fire before boarding.
Israel’s blockade is the causal provocation here, as was the U.S. and other countries not willing to stand up to Israel over their invasion of Gaza. Thugs will act like thugs when you let them. But who is stupider? The responsive counter-provocation or the provocateur to stupid to realize attacking civilians in the open ocean is the type of escalation multinational wars are made of? “Trap” or not? This is an overreaction and a criminal act on sovereign territory (I have not seen where the ship’s registry lies, but I guarantee they aren’t flying the Israeli flag). Or have you forgotten (and I know you haven’t, you historian you) the initial causes of the War of 1812?
Mes. the IDF were armed with paintball guns and this is all they intended to use. However once the passengers on the ship began the escalation and resorted to violence against the IDF, the IDF had no choice but to use lethal force.
LOVE:
How could I miss that shirt? It’s the same one I saw you wearing on the news last year when you were grinning and waving atop the testicular cancer float during the Gay Pride Parade on Castro Street. You sure are a world traveller.
Like bdman, I come down squarely on the side of the Israeli’s here. The IDF radioed the Turkish flotilla as they advanced toward the Port of Gaza and advised them they could off load the humanitarian supplies and then accompany them over the land route to those in need. The Turks flatly refused, prompting the confrontation they knew would come about. Israel had every right to be concerned about munitions being smuggled into Gaza under the cloak of humanitarian aid as had recently happened here in the “Francop” incident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yADXrICHmls&feature=related
The events on the deck captured in IDF video, demonstrate to me this was no Ghandi-esque passive resistance but a calculated move by the Turks to provoke a fight. They got one. How else can you explain the Turks use of stun and fire grenades and the violent use of iron bars and poles to repel the IDF. I know this much about the IDF: they are rigidly trained and one of the best fighting forces in the world. Folks like that do not come guns a blazing against a “humanitarian” vessel in the video age.
V. T.,
That is why I stated that it has been rumored and I also stated that it has not been proven.