At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu said Israel had information that the “dozens of thugs” armed with iron bars, clubs and knives who clashed with Israeli soldiers on the Turkish ship were a distinct group not associated with the hundreds of other passengers on board. He said the group “boarded the boat separately, in a different city, organized separately, equipped itself separately and went on deck under different procedures.”
Unbelievably, this contention was fiercly denied by Huwaida Arraf, a leader of the group that organized the flotilla. "[She] called Mr. Netanyahu’s assertions “another pack of lies,” The Associated Press reported. She said that all the passengers were screened for weapons, and that the group’s partners in the mission had agreed not to bring weapons on board."
Dumb, dumb move Huwaida. The smart play would have been to agree with Netanyahu, and apologize for the foul-ups in your procedures that allowed the "dozens of thugs" to board the boat and put the soldiers and other passangers in danger. If you had done this, you'd also have also been able to reassert that the flotilla's mission was peaceful, etc. By calling Netanyahu a liar when his statement does nothing but help you, all you've managed to do is reconfirm that Palestenians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
(I wonder if RW bloggers will agree with Netanyahu, or it they will continue to assert that all participants were terrorists, travelling with violent intentions.)
Search for more information about the flotilla at 4torah.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment