Royse City Herald-Banner, Texas, David Wilfong column: Sometimes you (the government) have to put your foot down [Royse City Herald-Banner, Texas]
Jun. 9--ROCKWALL COUNTY -- This column might strike some of you as being ironic.
You'll remember that my very last column was about "Draw Mohammed Day" and how some people were being total jerks as opposed to making a statement. The day ended up being a celebration of anti-Islamic sentiment, and I do believe that was simply wrong.
This time, unfortunately, the tables have turned.
I've been rather irritated this week by the international news media and several national governments over the "Gaza flotilla raid" (which wasn't even a "raid" to begin with.
I've seen all the video released by the Israelis as well as having been in contact with one of my journalistic colleagues in Israel. There quite simply are no "unanswered questions" about the incident, and there is no possible angle in which the deaths on board those vessels were caused by anything other than the stupidity of the "peace activists" involved.
The folks over in Israel are quite upset, understandably, over the cutting and splicing of the videos before they are presented in the media, as well as certain facts surrounding the event that don't seem to be included in any of the reports.
So I'll give you some of these facts here.
Fact #1
There was no "element of surprise" when the Israelis approached the flotilla.
In fact, there had been constant radio communications between the flotilla and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The flotilla knew they would be intercepted. The IDF knew the flotilla was not going to alter its course. The flotilla knew the IDF was going to board the ships.
It was never a question of if the IDF was going to board, only a question of when. And the IDF received assurances that the occupants of the boat would not become violent.
In other words, the "peace activists" lied, and set up an ambush. If you've not been on YouTube lately, there are clear videos (from cameras on both sides) that show the "peace activists" handing out weapons and preparing themselves for the arrival of the Israelis.
Fact #2
It was not a "raid," it was a "boarding."
There has been much babbling about "international waters" and other such stupidity in the media lately.
The U.S. Coast Guard stops, boards and inspects vessels in international waters all the time to check whether or not they are carrying illegal drugs.
These ships are searched, diverted and so forth every day.
The Israelis, who legally and justifiably had cause to board the ships in the Gaza flotilla broke absolutely no laws of any kind in carrying out this action. It was not a "raid," it was not an "attack," it was supposed to be a rather routine boarding.
And since the Israelis already had the assurance of the flotilla participants that there would be no violence, the soldiers boarded the deck of the ship armed with paintball rifles.
That's right folks, you heard it correctly -- PAINTBALL RIFLES.
Fact #3
All governments and media who have access to the evidence already knows where the violence started.
This is what seems to irritate me the most. It's obvious.
The videos clearly show the very first IDF soldier being lowered onto the deck and being ambushed.
I heard a BBC reporter stating that so far no video released has shown "when the first shot was fired."
True, but the BBC, CNN and the government do know for a fact that it was sometime after the first soldier was lynched and tossed off the top deck of the ship.
After that, there's not much more to know.
The question is why the international media, which knows beyond the tiniest shadow of a doubt that this was a clear ambush, is still holding out the question in the minds of their readers/viewers (as well as using obviously inappropriate terminology such as "raid" and "attack")?
Obama needs to make a stand
Right now, the government of Turkey, as well as many other nations, is demanding that Washington immediately denounce the actions of the Israelis.
I think it quite telling that Turkey was demanding that Obama jump on the anti-Israeli bandwagon before any evidence could be examined.
I'm also particularly disappointed at the U.N. Members of this international organization were calling for action against Israel before any video was released. Now that the videos have been released and all who have examined them now know that the IDF's account of events is completely true and factual ... well, now they want to hold an "inquiry."
Why do I get the feeling that certain elements in the U.N., knowing that their claims are completely false, are buying time while they desperately search for some angle (true or fabricated after the fact) with which to pathetically cling to the position that Israel somehow screwed up in this matter.
I personally have been critical of Israel at times in the past. I think that "Cast Lead" was a case of overkill and I would also (like the participants in the flotilla claim) like to see the suffering of the civilians in Gaza come to an end.
I think that the average guy on the street in Gaza is stuck between a rock and a hard place -- a very determined Israeli military and a lunatic political organization known as Hamas.
Yes, I know Hamas was elected fair and square, but I don't think the average Palestinian knew what they were getting. After the Hamas takeover, the terrorists took measures to insure that their local political competition was silenced.
If we want to see an end to all the crap going on over there, we do need to be "critical" of the actions of Israel. But being "critical" of Israel also means standing up for truth when the truth is that Israel is doing the right thing.
Which is what they did in this instance.
Everybody's all upset about the nine moronic idiots that died aboard the Turkish ship. Yeah, I'm sorry for their families, but what did they really expect?
I'm more sorry for the four Israeli soldiers that were shot after going onto the deck of a volatile ship while bending over backwards not to be "threatening."
Many in the world are calling for Obama to denounce the Israeli actions.
Obama needs to take this opportunity to look the world straight in the eye and say:
"NO!"
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