“Israeli Army commander and top Likud member Uzi Dayan today warned on Israeli Army Radio that Israel would consider any attempt by the Turkish military to protect future aid ships from attack an “act of war.” With Israeli protesters already condemning Erdogan, is war on the table?
Dayan then added that Erdogan’s presence on a future aid ship would also be a casus belli for an Israeli war against Turkey.
Turkey has expressed outrage at last week’s Israeli attack on a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, an attack in which Israeli troops killed at least nine civilian aid workers. Israel has insisted that the aid ship was secretly in league with al-Qaeda and has since tried to spin Turkey as the villain for even allowing a ship to try to deliver aid to the besieged strip.
The Israeli killings have only increased the number of groups planning attempts to deliver aid, and Israeli officials have promised to stop all these attempts militarily as well.
The explicit threat of war against Turkey is something new, however. While Israel starts wars with a casualness rarely seen in other nations, an attack on Turkey, a key NATO member with an enormous military, would be something quite different from a monthlong attack on the Gaza Strip or blowing up metro Beirut with air strikes.”
Israel at war with NATO via Turkey? How’s that work? If Israel is a satellite state of the U.S., this is, in a round about fashion, a civil war or insurrection brewing? Or just a shake up within the behind the scenes power structure of those who rule, like what you hinted at with the Deepwater oil leak?
This article reminded me of the scene in the film Gandhi where the reporter was saying on a telephone to his home office that Britain had lost it’s moral authority to rule India. This was at the point British troops were clubbing the Indians who were lined up for salt and asking, “May I have another?” or something similar. The way history keeps being revised, such may have never happened, but if hoards of people start flowing the only way to stem the tide is to make war or withdraw. Or so it seems.
Maybe in addition to a naval blockaide they need to build another Wall in the sea along the coast? Just what the world needs, more Walls.
I wonder if it’s a good idea to have these sort of provocative aid missions.
1. During the salt march, propaganda wasn’t as highly developed as it is today.
Today, every news story is interpreted every which way..
2. Even if the flotilla aid mission “worked”…and world opinion has solidified against Israel, does that make it easier for the pro-Israeli side to change its mind…or harder? I tend to think, harder..
In other words, both sides become more entrenched and less likely to interact peacefully..
It fortifies the Masada syndrome..
I think what we want is to encourage Israel to see itself as “just another country”……and its engagement with other states as the usual balancing act…not existential negotiation.
Dear Israel,
The Torah strongly commands kindness to the aliens in your midst:
‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.’ Leviticus 19:34
Can you not show that you are the better man and treat the Palestinians with kindness and respect? Or will you continue to use the tactics of your oppressors?
The Jews were meant to be a blessing to the world, not a curse. Have some faith in the Lord, not the US military.
Hmmm.
The exceptionalist narrative is what’s causing the problem.
It’s only one step from “God’s Chosen” to “God’s accursed.”
Let’s look at Jewish nationalism as just that. No worse, no better than any other nationalism.
Entitled to self-defense – in the normal sense of the word.
Not entitled to paranoid suspicion and unprovoked aggression.
From “acting like a mad dog” to “is a mad dog” is also only one step
“The exceptionalist narrative is what’s causing the problem.” mb4
If the Jews truly believed they were exceptional, not because of their own merits, but because the Lord chose them, then they would trust in the Lord and wait on Him to deliver Palestine to them as He promised:
“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:25-26 (New American Standard Bible)
@F. Beard
LOL. The first quote says “stranger” not “enemy”. The Palestinians (collectively) are enemies, not strangers.
As to the second quote. Google “Two Boats and a Helicopter”. If you are of a theological bent, you could say that God gave Israel to the Jews by giving them the strength to take it. If the scope of human history teaches anything, it’s that if there is a God, He doesn’t act overtly.
“If you are of a theological bent, you could say that God gave Israel to the Jews by giving them the strength to take it.” Bob
The Lord cannot be painted into a corner. Much in the Torah is counter-intuitive to human understanding because the Lord really exists and is Sovereign. He is no human belief construct. Consider for instance the capture of Jericho. Completely a non-starter as far as human wisdom is concerned. That is the whole point; to demonstrate that though the Lord uses humans and desires their cooperation, strictly speaking, except for His love for us, the Lord does not need us.
To the extent the Jews rely on themselves in Israel they are doomed to failure. Humanly speaking they are in an impossible situation.