Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A honor guard

The flotilla is already on its way to the shores of Gaza. Hundreds of activists from Ireland and the United States and Turkey and Greece and Sweden, also some Israeli citizens. Nine ships laden with medical supplies and school supplies and construction materials.

This morning Yedioth Ahronoth announced the special honor which the State of Israel decided to grant to the sailing activists: the Commander-in-Chief of our navy, Admiral Eliezer (Cheney) Marom, will give them his full and undivided attention. The admiral personally – he personally, not an underling nor a deputy – will be in command of "Operation Sea Winds". That is the code name given to the operation of blocking the aid boats at sea, and dragging off, and capturing each and every one of the activists and binding them and transferring them to the new residence prepared for them at the new detention facility established on the coast of Ashdod.

As noted by the paper, it is difficult and complicated operation for the Navy of the State of Israel, which is a relatively small force which gets only a minute piece of the defense budget pie. Undoubtedly a difficult and complicated operation, but the tough guys of the Naval Commandos are waiting for the command to embark on their Zodiac boats. The chiefs of the armed forces are apprehensive that "the activists on the boats might try to confront the commandos who take them over, record the riots which may ensue and cause embarrassment to Israel".

That's really not very nice. Is this the way for peace activists to behave?


...and a bit of selective memory

There was a time – not so long ago, either – when it was nearly impossible to mention in Israel that the Armenian people, too, have undergone a terrible genocide. When Armenian citizens of Israel and residents of East Jerusalem wanted to hold a silent vigil in front of the Turkish Embassy, it was completely banned by the police. And when a leftist Education Minister named Yossi Sarid tried to introduce the subject of the subject of Armenian Genocide into the school curriculum of Israeli pupils, this irresponsible initiative was soon cut off.

All this was, of course, in another aeon, the time when Turkey was a strategic ally of Israel. But today? When these bastard Turks dare to sail to the shores of Gaza? The time has come for every patriotic and self-respecting Israeli to shout it from the rooftops and tell the world what happened to the Armenians.