A Minority View
The Israeli blockade of Gaza is absolutely necessary. If there was no blockade, Iranian ships, loaded with ballistic missiles which could reach the length and breadth of Israel, would be free to dock in Gaza. For Israel, lifting the blockade would be an act of suicide—and that's exactly what the entire world wants! None of this is about helping the poor, deprived Palestinians. It's all about pressuring Israel to capitulate to the demands of Jew-hating Arabs, Jew-hating Europeans, and Jew-hating Americans—particularly Hussain Obama, our Muslim president—so the Israelis can be easily defeated and totally annihilated in the next Arab/Israeli war.
The Palestinians in Gaza are not starving. That's just pro-Arab propaganda. The Israelis allow tons and tons of food and supplies into Gaza every month. They allow all kinds of International Aid organizations to donate supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza. The people who were involved in the "Freedom Flotilla" couldn't care less about getting "humanitarian aid" to the Palestinians. They boasted publicly that their real goal was simply to break the blockade. If they wanted to supply aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, they could have used the land route that all the other legitimate aid organizations use.
Delivering "humanitarian aid" was not the purpose of the "Freedom Flotillia". This whole exercise was premeditated, state-sponsored terrorism by the Turkish Government. Israel is a sovereign nation and Gaza is under its military control. The waters around Gaza belong to Israel, not the Palestinians, not the Arabs of Jordan or Lebanon, not Turkey, or any one else. No nation or organization has the right to just sail into Israeli territorial waters whenever they want to—especially when their primary aim is to undermine Israel's sovereignty.
Any individual or organization who does so can (and should) be treated as enemy combatants. And any country that sponsors, or is directly involved with such an endeavor is declaring war on the State of Israel. The "Freedom Flotilla" was being escorted by an official Turkish ship, flying a Turkish flag. That means the nation of Turkey was sailing into sovereign Israeli territory uninvited, with the express purpose of starting an international incident. The Turks were declaring war on Israel and every one of those boats should have been sunk the second they entered Israeli waters. That way, the so-called "peaceful activists"—which were actually hardened Muslim terrorists—would be too busy trying to stay alive to attack and wound any Israeli soldiers.
Apparently Turkey, in conjunction with Ireland this time, is sending two more ships to continue challenging Israeli sovereignty. They think that sooner or later, Israel will have to open the blockade because of international outrage and pressure. They will not accomplish what they want. Gaza will continue to be blocked as long as Hamas is at war with Israel. The anti-Semites of the world may be having a fit because Israel won't willing commit suicide for them, but images of Israeli elite commandos being beaten with iron bars, and one thrown off the top deck of one of those boats (because they were told to use restraint), have infuriated many Israelis. The more the world unites against the Jews, the more the Jews will unite against the world.
Israeli troops were unprepared to face the experienced Muslim terrorists that were on that ship. They thought they would be dealing with the kind of left-wing "peaceniks" they have dealt with in the past. That's why they were armed with "paint ball" guns instead of the usual commando gear. They did have side arms; but they were not allowed to use those hand guns unless their lives were in danger.
The Israeli establishment greatly underestimated the murderous intentions of the terrorists aboard the Turkish vessel, Marmora. And the Israeli intelligence community failed miserably in this case because they simply didn't understand the kind of people who were on those ships—even though these terrorists broadcast their intentions very clearly on Al Jezera before they even got close to Israel. Of course, real war never looks good on television.
So the terrorists gained a great propaganda victory (as usual). But that's not saying too much, since the majority of the people on this planet already hate Israel. When Muslim terrorists spew their anti-Zionist lies to the nations and the world media, they're just "preaching to the choir".
Altogether, 679 terrorists from 40 countries were involved in the Freedom Flotilla—most of them Turks and Greeks, and most of them on the Marmora. They were all taken ashore at the Ashdod port. Forty-eight were deported. Dozens more preferred jail. But soon they will all be released and get a free ticket back to their slimy holes, where they can continue to spend their time hatching more plots to kill Jews.
Netanyahu is trying to placate European and Western Jew-haters but it won't work. Only one thing will please them—Israel's destruction. The ship's cargoes were examined for illegal materials, and all legitimate aid supplies were sent through to Gaza—at least everything that hadn't expired or was junk.
During the first few minutes of the confrontation, three soldiers were wounded. One was evacuated by helicopter after sustaining a stab wound to the stomach. He has undergone surgery. The second soldier was hit in the head with a bat. The third one suffered skull fractures. IDF Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, visited Israeli soldiers injured in the raid on the Turkish ship and said: "We sent you on this mission, and you operated splendidly".
Israel needs to stop apologizing to the world for not wanting to commit national suicide. "Peace activists" don't come with knives and bats. "Peace activists" don't come with a pre-determined agenda to kill Israeli soldiers. The people on that ship were not peace activists. They were Muslim terrorists intent on killing Jews. Israelis are not the ones who should be apologizing for what happened. They acted like any sane country is supposed to act when its sovereignty is being undermined or threatened.
Israel tried to deal with the situation by diplomatic means and an appeal to logic. But this is useless when you are dealing with animals who want nothing but your destruction. Nobody in Israel wanted to see blood being spilled. But Israel is not in control of what's happening. All they can do is react to the attacks and the provocations they receive—and a Jew-hating world doesn't like it when Israel protects itself.
What will Israel do this time? It has no choice. It must screen whatever comes into the Gaza Strip. It must also maintain a naval blockade around Gaza because Hamas has established an Iranian outpost there. Every other nation on this planet would do exactly the same thing (or worse) if they were in Israel's shoes. Yet they hypocritically demand that Israel do what they would never do!
What the nations are really demanding, beneath all the flowery rhetoric and talk about "peace" in the Middle East, is that the State of Israel commit suicide to please them—and they are furious that Israel will not comply.
Well, I have news for all of you Jew-haters out there...
I have news for all of you who wish Israel would let themselves be annihilated...