Israel Update for June 2010

Indeed, many in Israel felt that IDF commanders badly mishandled the situation, and should have at least anticipated the strong possibility that rappelling soldiers would be met with stiff resistance from some of the Muslim men on board. Soon after the clash occurred, calls came for Defense Minister Ehud Barak to resign, although the subsequent release of the revealing videos dampened those demands. IDF commanders did say they would make greater efforts to prevent any further deaths in the expected new wave of flotillas that are being planned by pro-Hamas activists in the coming weeks and months.

Israeli officials were relieved to learn on June 20 that the Lebanese government would probably not allow a Hizbullah-backed ship to set sail the following day from Beirut port with Muslim women and Maronite Catholic nuns on board, since it would likely end up docked at an Israeli port-forbidden under the formal state of war that exists with Israel. However news reports said the organizers were hoping to get around this ban by falsely stating the ship was only headed to the nearby island of Cyprus. Officials were earlier distressed when the Egyptian government announced it would allow another convoy heading towards the area from Iran to pass through the Suez Canal. Analysts said the move was a reflection of widespread public support around the Arab world for the flotilla campaign, which was also weakening Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in his struggles to suppress the rival Hamas movement.

Meanwhile Arab media reports said a large flotilla of American warships, including an aircraft carrier, passed through the canal on June 18 heading south toward the Red Sea, which connects with the waters off Iran. The US convoy was reportedly accompanied by one Israeli warship.

The Actual Situation

Feigning "outrage" as if they did not have the slightest inkling an IHH ambush was being planned, Turkish leaders were joined by many of their international Muslim counterparts in branding the IDF actions as "a massacre of the innocents," a "huge crime against humanity," and many similar epitaphs. Syrian dictator Bashar Assad came up with possibly the most colorful slur, stating that Israel was being led by a "pyromaniac government." He maintained that PM Netanyahu had "destroyed any chances for peace in the near future," adding threateningly that the IDF action at sea had increased the likelihood of war breaking out soon in the explosive region.

Fortunately a few world leaders did not join in the intense anti-Israel barrage. While calling upon Jerusalem to ease its Gaza Strip foreign aid restrictions, US President Barack Obama also expressed understanding for Israel's need to check cargo flowing into the Palestinian coastal zone. This came after he pledged an additional 400 million dollars in American aid, some of it in the form of mortgage payment relief to Gaza residents, (which must have been envied by many US citizens in dire straights with their own mortgages!). Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair said "Israel has the clear right to defend and protect its security." But he also urged the Netanyahu government to "ease the lives of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip," and called upon Hamas to "immediately release" kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

European and American officials subsequently welcomed an Israeli inner cabinet decision to lift many restrictions on foreign aid and Israeli goods reaching the estimated 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip. The June 17 decision caused some consternation in Israel, with even a few cabinet ministers charging that Netanyahu was caving in to severe world pressure at the expense of citizens living near the small coastal zone who have been frequently exposed to Hamas rocket fire. However others termed the move as long overdue, saying the restrictions only enhance the popularity of the radical group which violently seized control of the area from PA forces in June 2007.

Israeli officials pointed out that most aid restrictions apply to items that could contribute to the Hamas war machine, like concrete and steel to build bunkers, along with other "duel use" items that can easily be redirected from civilian hands to weapons-making factories, as has occurred in the past. They noted that even before the flow of goods into Gaza was relaxed by the government, around 100 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies passed through an IDF border checkpoint every day but Saturday, much of it paid for by Israel. Over 1,200 tons of medical supplies alone were trucked into the area over the past two months, said an IDF spokesman.

However UN relief workers said the aid was not enough to meet daily needs, although foreign film crews recorded ample food and medicines in Gaza Strip shops and pharmacies during June. All of the items brought on board the flotilla ships were subsequently trucked into the area.

Only time will tell if the international pro-Hamas flotillas are largely designed as propaganda tools aimed at weakening Israel, or are the actual harbingers of a major Iranian-inspired regional conflict ahead. One thing is certain: Israel's God is restoring His chosen people to their ancient homeland in order to save them here, not to destroy them. He has promised to cast their sins-not them-into the sea: "He will have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).