EDITOR: And Now for the Hollywood movie of the IDF vs Al Qaida on the High Seas…
Israeli propaganda has now moved into overdrive. The scripts have been written, the narratives have been prapared for those in the west who need to believe in fiction, and deny reality. Israeli academics were sent a kit of Propaganda materials, and asked to do the job abroad and with the media. You can read parts of this bizarre kit below. The dailies, and especially Yediot Aharonot, the most-read evening paper, is blue for all the flag waving on its pages. Interviews with the soldiers who ‘saved Israel’ from an attack of of Al Qaida opertaives are covering every page, are carpeting radio and television in Israel.
Of course, this is the result of the ‘fiasco’ as some of its critics in the Israeli media called it. In order to cover up murder and lunacy and to counter the survivors’ stories, they have to crank up the lie machine to full volume. And who is going top believe them? The gullibles in the Jewish community, the BBC, and Obama, who, while being too intleligentfor this stuff, is still going to support them to the hilt, if his silence and the US vote against an inquiry are evidence of the ‘thinking’ in Washington. For those good people who still expected something from this smoke-and-mirrors man, this last twist should clarify the picture. Gone is the new politics, the Cairo speech, the New World of Change, and instead we have the black president with a ‘White Man’s burden’… Sad, indeed, but far from surprising. Put your pennies on any horse, but not on this one. It will go nowhere fast, and bring nothing by prevarication, denial of rights and justice in the Middle East and elsewhere, and the coninuation of imperialist wars. Watch this space.
3 flotilla fatalities ‘dreamt of martyrdom’: YNet
Before boarding the Marmara, Ali Khaider Benginin told his family he dreamt of becoming a shahid. Turkish press reports two other slain flotilla participants expressed similar wish. A Dutch activist arrested on flotilla suspected of ties with Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood
Aviel Magnezi
Published: 06.02.10, 16:27
The Gaza flotilla organizers insist that all activists killed on board the Marmara ship were innocent peace activists. However, new reports reveal a completely different picture.
Media reports in Ankara on Wednesday revealed that three out of the four Turkish citizens that were killed during the raid declared their wishes to become shahids (martyrs). Another Dutch report claimed a Dutch activist, who was arrested by the IDF is suspected of being a senior Hamas operative.
In an interview with Turkish newspaper Haber, the family members of Ali Khaider Benginin (39), resident of east Turkey’s Kurdistan region, revealed their relative’s true intentions.
“I am going to be a shahid; I dreamt I will become a shahid – I saw in a dream that I will be killed,” Benginin told his family before leaving for the sail.
According to the report, beniginin, who graduated from al-Azhar University in Cairo, served for the past two years as the chairman of a foundation for rights and freedom in education and culture. His family noted that he had spoken in the past about his dream to become a shahid in Gaza.
Another Turkish citizen killed during the raid, Ali Akhbar Iritilmis (55), a father of four from Ankara, was active in the IHH organization, which led the naval convoy to Gaza. “He was devoted to this activity, and always dreamt about becoming a shahid,” said his close friend Mehmet Faruq Cheber.
Anadolu News Agency reported that the third activist killed on boards the Marmara, Ibrahim Bilgen (61), an engineer and father of six, was active in the Islamic party in southern Turkey. “He was a role model to all of us; a true philanthropist. Therefore, it suited him to die a shahid’s death. Allah gave him the death he wanted,” said Ibrahim’s brother, Nuri Mergen.
The fourth slain activist, Muharram Kuchak, was also a volunteer with the IHH.
The three Turkish “shahids,” as it turns out, were not alone. Holland-based Teltarif newspaper reported Wednesday morning that Amin Abou Rashed, 43, and Anne de Jong, 29, are probably the only two Dutch citizens that were arrested among the flotilla participants.
The newspaper’s investigation revealed incriminating details from Abou Rashed’s past; intelligence sources claimed he is the local Hamas leader, while the Muslim Brotherhood’s website identified him as one of the organizers of the naval convoy.
According to Teltarif’s report, Dutch intelligence services have been following Abou Rashed’s activities for a long time. He worked, among other places, with al- Aqsa Foundation, suspected of acting under the guise of a charity, while funneling its donations to Hamas.
An Email from an Israeli university professor:
Various Israeli official bodies, including the ministry for Hasbara [i.e. propaganda] have sent messages to Israeli citizens urging them to take an active part in the “propaganda war”. They are told not to ask questions but rather to spread the official messages in every possible way in the virtual world: talkbacks, forums, Facebook etc.. I have the material which is mostly in Hebrew. Although every citizen was asked to use the languages he knows. The attached file is in English. It would be nice if some of you can publish it on the net in order to unveil this coordinated campaign.
To read propaganda file use link
EDITOR: The voice of truth
Former US Ambassador Edward Peck, serving as a diplomat under eight US presidents, who was on the boat where the murders happened, speaks for an hour about the brutality and and madness of the operation. His critique of the US position and of President Obama is clear, searing and very fair. view and distribute link widely.
Former US Ambassador Edward Peck: Democracy Now
Israel’s Explanation for Deadly Gaza Aid Attack “Full of Holes as a Window Screen”–Former US Ambassador Edward Peck
Former US Ambassador Edward Peck was on the Gaza aid flotilla that came under attack by Israeli forces. At least nine people were killed and dozens wounded. Peck says Israel’s explanation for the attack is “twisting the truth” and is “as full of holes as a window screen.” [includes rush transcript]
US and the Middle East: Holed below the water line: The Guardian Editorial
Work has to finally start on rebuilding a peace process worthy of the name
Day two of the aftermath of Operation Sea Breeze, and it was anything but. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, flew back from the US, postponing a kiss-and-make-up session with Barack Obama to discuss the Israeli premier’s pet subject, Iran. Egypt opened its border with Gaza, as much to give vent to domestic anger as to provide temporary relief to its hapless neighbours. The UN huffed and puffed, as the first eyewitness accounts of what happened on the high seas on Monday morning began to emerge. “There was a plan, and they went according to the plan,” concluded Annette Groth, a German politician on board the Mavi Marmara. “They created terror and were shooting without warning. They wanted to demonstrate their power and demonstrate if you want to go to Gaza, don’t even try it.” An Israeli cabinet meeting demanded a probe into a decision which seven of its most senior members took. Don’t hold your breath.
None of this matters. The real question is: will anything change? Or will the deaths of those on board the convoy pass loudly but swiftly into history, as the killings of Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and James Miller have before them? The few clues around yesterday were all depressing ones. Opening the Egyptian border temporarily to humanitarian aid is gesture politics. What Gaza wants is what was in those ships – concrete, steel, building materials with which to repair the damage inflicted by Israel’s punishment raid last year. But as an Egyptian security source told Reuters, those are the last things that will be let through the Rafah crossing. “Hard materials” will still have to go through Israel. No change there.
Nor was there any discernible movement in the UN security council debate. Turkey, whose citizens had been killed by Israeli naval commandos, proposed a statement condemning Israel for violating international law, demanding a UN investigation and the prosecution of those responsible. What did the administration of the man who promised a new approach to the Middle East do? It went back to the old approach. The US watered down Turkey’s just demands, so the shootings became “acts”, and blame was neatly apportioned to both sides. Alejandro Wolff, the deputy permanent representative of the US on the council, said the direct delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea was neither appropriate nor responsible. Forget the signals that words like these send to Gazans. They are used to them. The next time Barack Obama appeals to the Muslim world it will be to deaf ears, and for this his administration has only got itself to blame.
As Robert Malley, director of the International Crisis Group’s Middle East programme, said yesterday, the international community has been complicit in a policy of isolating Gaza and weakening Hamas – a policy that he called both morally appalling and politically self-defeating. Yesterday there was scant sign of Washington abandoning an approach which has repeatedly failed.
The reason is that so many other failing US policies depend on it: the support for a beleaguered Palestinian Authority as the sole representative of Palestinians; the attempt to talk up the work of one man without a party, the prime minister Salam Fayyad, as transformative; and proximity talks which will never be able to bridge the gap between the maximum Mr Netanyahu can give and the minimum even a weakened Palestinian leader like Mahmoud Abbas can accept. One error of judgment reinforces another, and another, and another. Meanwhile the settlements keep on growing.
As the edifice underpinning these misjudgments starts to fall apart, work has to finally start on rebuilding a peace process worthy of the name: one based on dealing with both wings of the Palestinian national movement without preconditions. That is the only realistic way out of this morass.
Turkey and Israel: a deepening chill: The Guardian CiF
The power of public opinion – and the internet – will be a major factor in how the flotilla disaster shapes Istanbul’s diplomacy
by Fadi Hakura
Turkey has traditionally enjoyed a close – albeit quiet – relationship with Israel since diplomatic ties were established in 1949. Mirroring the general climate in the Middle East, relations between the two countries experienced a trough after the 1967 war, peaked following the 1990s Middle East peace process and deteriorated since Israel’s 2008 military operations in Gaza. Coming soon after the diplomatic spat over the treatment of Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, the tragic loss of Turkish lives when Israeli commandos stormed the flotilla en route to Gaza, has sent a deepening chill over those once-strategic ties. While barriers between Turkey and Israel are proliferating, they are tumbling down with neighbouring Syria, Iran and the Gulf Arab region. In recent years, Turkey has lifted visa restrictions with Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, signed countless agreements with Arab countries, and launched a strategic dialogue with Arab governments.
The emergence of Turkey in the Middle East has been marked by a palpable shift to the Arab world and Iran for a variety of reasons. One is economic interests: Turkey’s annual trade with Israel stands at $2.5bn compared with over $30bn with Iran and the Arab countries. At the same time, Turkey imports almost a fifth of its natural gas consumption from Iran.
The power of graphic, real-time media images streaming from Israel’s 2006 and 2008 wars in Lebanon and Gaza respectively, or from the raid on the flotilla, has clearly inflamed Turkish popular reactions.
Yet the key reason for the shift is the continuing democratisation of Turkish society. It was previously the norm for the Turkish state establishment to ignore, or downgrade, the influence of public opinion on foreign policy. That is no longer the case. Today, as Turkey proceeds along the path of greater democracy and civilian rule, public opinion is becoming a crucially important ingredient in foreign policy choices.
As far as it is decipherable from surveys, Turkish public opinion is quite hostile to Israel and the United States. It seems that Turks have a deep distrust of both countries, feelings that will be bolstered by the loss of Turkish lives. Conversely, however, it would be premature to assume that Turks necessarily desire overtly warm ties with Iran and the Arab world. They normally cite Europe, and particularly Germany, as the region that they most trust in international affairs, despite repeated obstacles bedevilling Turkey’s EU accession process.
These survey results, therefore, point to an intriguing and realistic understanding by the Turkish public on the future of Turkey in the Middle East. They appear to want closer relations with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia without sacrificing integration efforts with Europe, nor getting overly entangled in the Middle East. In fact, that understanding matches two important lessons drawn from recent events. Prime among such lessons is that Turkey is not the only major player in the Middle East. There are multiple players – ranging from the US and Israel to Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia – with sometimes converging interests, and on other occasions competing goals. That’s why not only the US, but also some Gulf Arab states, did not exhibit any enthusiasm for the Turkish-Brazilian deal with Iran to swap 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium for higher-grade uranium.
Similarly, Turkey has thus far resorted to diplomatic protests against Israel – from withdrawing its ambassador and releasing robust and muscular statements to securing a vague condemnation from the UN security council. In other words, Turkey has not threatened any military retaliation. Nor has Turkey opted for a complete breakdown of relations with Israel, which is a real possibility, though not a forgone conclusion.
Another important lesson is that Turkey’s capacity does not always match its foreign policy ambitions. Turkey is still a maturing democracy with a developing economy, which places strict limitations on its abilities to project power in the Middle East. Consequently, the complications of the Middle East require a delicate balancing of capacity and ambitions as well as carefully defining priorities. Nuance is the one word most relevant to Turkey’s foreign policy.
Why we sailed to Gaza: The Guardian CiF
I was a passenger on the first effort to break the Gaza blockade. Our mission was to show that normal people cared
By Lauren Booth
Since the military attack on a fleet of civilian ships in international waters, Israel’s well oiled spin machine has imposed a total news blackout about the survivors, taking their phones and denying them access to consular representation. The void has instead been filled with disinformation about the passengers on board the Mavi Marmara ferry. For those of us with colleagues and loved ones of whom we still have no clear news, such lies only exacerbate our anxiety and fury. So, before I have to read another weasel word from politicians about inquiries into the motives of the flotilla, let me shed some light on the kind of people either hospitalised or being illegally held in prisons in the south of the country.
In 2008 I was a passenger on the first ever effort to break the Gaza blockade in a peaceful, non-violent, but very direct way. Tired of the international community’s refusal to act while 1.8 million Palestinians were being systematically denied their human rights on a daily basis, 46 people from all walks of life prepared to sail from Cyprus to Gaza. Kathy Sheetz, a nurse from the US, Therese McDonald, a Scottish postal worker. and Osama Qashoo, a Palestinian film-maker now resident in the UK, were on board then as now. And we too were called “provocateurs” by the Israeli media, “leftwing radicals” and “terrorist sympathisers”.
Our mission was simply to show the population of Gaza that normal people cared about their plight; that we saw their hunger, their fear, their imprisonment, their struggle; and that we – everyday folk with good hearts – would do what we could to bring their plight to the eyes of the world.
Then, as now, our intention was never to go anywhere near Israel’s shores, nor its waters, nor its military. Then, as now, the cargo on our ships was rigorously checked by European port authorities and stamped as free from any weapons whatsoever. We believed, back in those innocent days, that this would not furnish Israel with even the most vapid excuse to board or attack us on the pretext that we were a security threat. Then, they did not. This week, they did.
Let me ask you one final question that’s been troubling me, as sympathy for those apparently fragile Israeli commandos continues to pour in. If you were on a boat in the Mediterranean and hundreds of the world’s most notoriously violent soldiers started falling from the sky, wouldn’t you defend yourself? The brave human beings on the Mavi Marmara were acting in self-defence. And because of this many died. Something of the hopeful child in me died with them.