On American screens, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s press conference is airing repeatedly: “On one of the six ships, the activists took part in a violent assault against our soldiers.”
This June 1 is Memorial Day in the United States, a holiday in memory of soldiers who died for America in all its wars. It’s a long weekend during which administrations and most offices will be closed.
Not only does the Israeli raid on the humanitarian convoy heading for Gaza not make the headlines of televised news, even on the specialized channels, but it is placed far behind the updates that continue to disturb Americans: the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“A Deliberate Provocation led by Al-Qaida”
The American media has thus reacted with a lateness that the time difference alone can’t explain. But the first reports by correspondents are, in the majority, not very favorable to Israeli accounts. Only the commentaries on the Fox News channel insist on the “unknowns” of the attack and the threat that Hamas poses for Israel.
The special MSNBC envoy, for example, describes the Israeli account in detail: the occupants of the ship were the aggressors. They have used “perhaps even armed weapons” against soldiers coming to inspect the boats. But it is concluded with a note of skepticism as to the legality of the Israeli raid: “All this doesn’t explain why the Israeli army attacked at night — and from its own admission amidst international waters.”
Malcolm Hoenlein, president of the Conference of Presidents, the American equivalent to CRIF (which encompasses the majority of the Jewish community’s big organizations), remains however “not worried”: “Why should I be? Once the Americans have the actual facts, everyone will understand that it was a question of a deliberate provocation led by Al-Qaida, Hamas and consorts coming to the aid of a terrorist entity.” By this, of course, he means Gaza.
“Pure Propaganda”
According to information given by M. Hoenlein, the Israeli soldiers arrived on board and were met with “insults and iron bars.” If they had led their operation in daytime, “there would have been many more victims.” As to the territorial waters, “no one knows where they are located” and the question is of little importance when a people “defends its existence.” On the other hand, what worries M. Hoenlein is “the European media, and also a bit the Americans, who will jump on the occasion to tarnish Israel.”
There was a much different tone from J.J. Goldberg, long time editor-in-chief of The Forward, the oldest Jewish newspaper in New York, labeled as a leftist paper. Surely, he assures, the “humanitarian” operation to Gaza was in his eyes “pure propaganda”: its initiators knew that Israel would never let it reach its point, because of the question of affirmation of its sovereign right. They have also refused, he adds, to deliver their merchandise to the Israeli port of Ashdod even as Israel agreed to route it to Gaza. The problem is that “Hamas supporters wanted a symbolic success and Israel, as always, falls for it by over-reacting.”
To him, Israel seems “definitely subjected to the Masada complex.” The Israelis in their majority “think that international law is a fantasy,” an inanity for intellectuals. They have, he continues, “entered a bubble, do not trust any government, any international authority or humanitarian NGOs. They have all become their enemies.”
Therefore, he does not think that the interception of the vessels and the victims that it caused will leave a strong mark on Jewish American opinion. “The ‘extreme’ Jewish right, deep down, regrets that Tzahal didn’t kill more than ten people. The majority with this opinion will insist on the notion of Palestinian provocation. As to the Jewish progressive opinion, it is making waves but is no doubt more reduced than we think.”
In the afternoon, David Harris, president of the American Jewish committee, one of the big American community organizations, published a press release. “Israel, under international law, had every right to intercept these boats after having warned the flotilla not to try to disembark in Gaza,” it states.
*Editor’s Note: The quotes, accurately translated, were not able to be verified
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