Israel Update for June 2010

David Dolan

Israel seems to never go more than a year or two in recent decades without some major international crisis deeply affecting the country. The last severe birth-pang was the December 2008-January 2009 "Cast Iron" conflict in and around the Gaza Strip, which stirred up unprecedented worldwide animus against the small Jewish state, merely half the size of Lake Michigan. Widespread condemnations of Israel flowed during the conflict despite the clear fact that just three years before, Ariel Sharon had totally and painfully uprooted 8,000 Jewish residents from 21 Gaza communities, only to be met with massively enhanced Hamas rocket fire upon nearby Israeli civilian areas.

Two years before that, it was the military offensive in Lebanon that sparked off an international uproar, even if that operation was only launched in response to Hizbullah's unprovoked kidnapping and killing of several Israeli soldiers who were quietly patrolling the northern border. That action came six years after all IDF forces were evacuated from South Lebanon, as demanded by Hizbullah and the world community.

The hostile actions by Shiite Hizbullah and Sunni Hamas militiamen were clearly directly linked to Iran, if not actually ordered by Tehran - a country governed by a radical Islamic regime that is defying the world by openly enriching uranium while vowing to wipe Israel out as a nation.

Fifteen months later, Israel is back on the hot seat after IDF personnel intercepted a flotilla of six ships on the Mediterranean Sea, carrying "humanitarian activists" from some 30 nations whose leaders had previously declared their defiant intention to deliberately violate an Israeli naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Now more convoys are either being planned or on their way, including ships from Iran and Lebanon, signaling much more trouble ahead.

It was probably no coincidence that the flotilla approached Israeli territorial waters just a few days before the United Nations Security Council was scheduled to vote on new sanctions against Iran, which were approved on June 9 by a twelve-vote majority, with two countries voting against and one abstention (by Lebanon, whose parliament is deeply divided between Shiite supporters of Iran and Sunni and Christian opponents of the rogue Shiite regime). The emerging axis that Tehran is forging with the governments of Turkey and Brazil was apparent in the sole negative votes cast by those countries.

The May 31 IDF interception at sea set off a series of chain reactions that some analysts said could end in another major Middle East war, possibly this year. Indeed, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, closely allied with Iran, threatened just that outcome during a BBC interview in mid June. Provoking a deadly new regional conflict is precisely what Iran's nefarious leaders and their supporters are working for, said some Israeli military analysts. A few even saw growing and ominous parallels to previous world wars, noting that Turkey backed Germany in World War One, and stayed neutral when the Nazis looked for inspiration toward "Aryan Iran" before and during World War Two.

Here We Go Again...And Again

Israeli political and military leaders had been busy all year preparing for an expected turbulent summer ahead. They anxiously noted that Shiite Hizbullah forces continued to receive massive deliveries of missiles and rockets of ever increasing range and explosive power. Most were paid for by Iran and smuggled in across the Syrian border or by sea, in blatant violation of the UN ceasefire resolution which ended that chapter of the long and bitter Muslim jihad war to destroy the Jewish state. Included in the ever flowing river of arms were extremely menacing Syrian Scud D missile parts, as earlier reported in these monthly news summaries.

All this occurred as Syria's long entrenched leaders, backed by populist Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, publicly maintained that Israel was planning to aggressively attack Hizbullah positions in May-which Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu strongly denied, and obviously did not take place. Saying they would respond militarily if IDF forces struck the fanatic Shiite militia that has left other Lebanese political and religious factions in a state of constant fear, Syrian leaders threatened to launch powerful missiles at "every Israeli city and town" if war broke out in Lebanon.

Instead it was Turkey, Syria and Iran that were apparently planning hostile action in May, actively backed by thousands of seriously duped Westerners and others who seem to have thought they were only setting sail on the charming Mediterranean Sea in order to "give peace a chance." All would have contributed much more to strengthening actual peace and stability in this volatile region if they had simply stayed home and hugged a nearby tree.

Israeli leaders knew many months ago that dozens of "aid" ships were planning to set sail for the Gaza Strip as spring turned to summer, with foreign journalists on board to record the show. The voyages were being openly planned despite ample Israeli warnings to international leaders and aid organizations that such vessels would not be allowed to pass through an IDF cordon without proper inspection. They also realized some of the ships were being chartered by Turkey, Israel's largest regional Muslim "ally" whose increasingly unfriendly leaders seemed to be itching for a fight with Jerusalem.

Israeli officials had earlier watched with growing concern as their critically strategic alliance with Ankara slipped further and further away under the weight of ever more antagonistic statements and actions by Turkish Muslim political leaders (such as last October's last minute exclusion of Israel from participation in planned joint air force exercises with US and Turkish jets in the skies near and above Turkey, which the Obama administration did little to counter, at least publicly). So they understood Turkish inclusion in, and in many ways leadership of, the planned flotilla operation could only spell more serious trouble ahead.

Nevertheless, officials were shocked and surprised at the volcanic eruption of fiercely anti-Israel sentiments the IDF interception triggered on Turkish streets, and also around the world. With all Israeli tourists now being told to stay away from the nearby Muslim country, reports are growing that all diplomatic relations may soon be severed by Ankara. Bewildered Israeli leaders indicated they would not contest that uncalled for action.

Warnings Not Heeded