Second thoughts: Flotilla

With almost a week of hindsight, I am now prepared to say that my worst fears were unfounded: This has not turned out to be Israel's Selma. Thank God.

What we know now is the following: 

(1) Six ships tried to run the blockade. Had they gone about it nonviolently, this would have been a legitimate protest, and a fair way both to bring attention to what they believe is a serious humanitarian crises and to deliver what they believe to be much needed assistance. However, as noted by many before me, Ghandi these flotilla people were not. 

(2) Five ships were diverted to Ashdod. One refused to go. It was raided by IDF soldiers, who were attacked with makeshift weapons such as kitchen knives and batons. This happened because at least some of the flotilla participants wanted a violent confrontation. As the New York Times put it in the first sentence of an editorial: "The supporters of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla had more than humanitarian intentions. The Gaza Freedom March made its motives clear in a statement before Monday’s deadly confrontation: “A violent response from Israel will breathe new life into the Palestine solidarity movement, drawing attention to the blockade.”

At Selma, Martin Luther King also wanted a violent confrontation, but here's the crucial difference: King and his people marched nonviolently. They didn't raise a finger against the Alabama troopers, and even after they were attacked with hoses, dogs and worse, the black marchers steadfastly refused to fight back. Because the flotilla people initiated the violence any comparison to Selma fails.

Also:  I do not retract what I said about the raid being both a strategic and tactical blunder. The reasons for this judgment have already been given.

Also: The exaggerations and mischarecterizations made by Israel supporters hurt Israel more then it helps. I'm all for getting the story straight, which is what I've attempted to do in this post and others. However, many of the hasbarahniks aren't concerned with the facts, but with their own spin.

A good example is the "We Are the World" parody currently making the rounds. One of the lyrics suggests that we won't see the truth on TV as IDF videos of soldiers being attacked flash across the background. The problem is I have seen every single one of those videos on my TV, even on CNN, the right's favorite whipping boy. Who does it help when we exaggerate media bias? All such statements do is destroy your credibility. Here is Jon Stewart making the point quite perfectly as he mocks Glen Beck for saying no one but Fox is showing the videos a full 24 hours after they appeared on every station, including CNN.

Another example is that claim that the flotilla was made up of terrorists and Hamas supporters. Though I have no doubt that there were Hamas sympathizers on board, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some actual terrorists participated, I think its more accurate to say that the flotilla was largely made up of people who honestly and sincerely believe that innocent people are suffering in Gaza, and want only to be of assistance to them.

Now, its fair to ask why FreeGaza and similar organizations don't care about those who are suffering in places like Sderot, but their likely reply isn't hard to guess. The are likely to say that the situation in Gaza is far more dire. For instance, anyone who wants to leave Sderot can, whereas the Gazans are trapped.; also no one in Sderot is starving or denied basic medical care but there is at the very least a widespread perception - true or false - that people in Gaza are denied such basic necessities. In short, they may be misguided, but I do believe that the flotilla participants - for the most part - think there is a serious humanitarian crises in Gaza, and were sincerely attempting to be of non-violent assistance. (What about the handful of rifle scopes? I said "for the most part". I don't know that the presence of 20 or 30 or 100 rifle scopes among several tons of food and medicine discredits the entirety of the mission. It just means that among 6 shiploads of people, not everyone was equally committed to non-violence. See above where I conceded some actual terrorists may have participated in the mission)

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Search for more information about flotilla  at 4torah.com.

In which I attempt to get to the bottom of the flotilla's alleged refusal to take a letter to Gilad Shalit

First, a brief recap: 

For the last week or so, Israeli bloggers and newspapers(1) have insisted that the Gaza flotilla refused to carry a letter to Gilad Shalit. Some of the same bloggers and papers also insisted that flotilla was hypocritically concerned with starving Palestinian children and imprisoned Arabs, but at best indifferent to the children of Sderot, and to the IDF soldiers held by Hamas.

I accepted these claims at face value.

After the IDF raid on the boats, I came across a claim that Mark Daly, an Irish Senator who was participating in the journey, had offered to take any letter, and to deliver it to Gilad Shalit. I posted about this briefly, and heard from the usual round of morons and idiots that this was quite obviously a lie(2). As I said at the time, I have no way of knowing if the claims about Daly were true, only that there were two conflicting reports. I also said, and will say again, that I think its pathetic that only one or two people out of 5 or 6 hundred seemed concerned about Gilad Shalit, and willing to bring him letters and packages.

In which I attempt to get to the bottom of the flotilla's alleged refusal to take a letter to Gilad Shalit

Through the magic of Facebook, I found Senator Daly's email address and wrote to him:

Many of the Israeli and Jewish blogs say the flotilla expressly refused to take any message to Gilad Shalit. The Shalit family and their lawyer do not contradict this. Yet you, a flotilla participant, are on the record as having offered to take any letter. Can you help me get to the bottom of this contradiction?

Senator Daly was nice enough to respond, but because I do not (yet) have his express permission to publish the note, I can only tell you that he confirmed the reports. He says the he and two of his Irish parliament colleages sent a letter to Noam Shalit offering to personally deliver letters and packages to the Red Cross in Gaza or to the United Nations Relief Works Agency in Gaza on behalf of their son Gilad. He said that in this letter he also committed to asking both agencies to do what they could to make it possible for Gilad to receive packages and visitors. Senator Daly also said he and his colleagues would "reiterate" their calls for Gilad's release while in Gaza. Senator Daly did not say what - if any- reply he received. In Cyprus, authorities denied Senator Daly permission to embark and he did not end up making the trip to Gaza.

In a follow up note I asked him to comment on claims made in the media and on blogs that the boats were carrying weapons and munitions. He denied this emphatically and said that all cargo was for the people of Gaza and that none of it would be given to Hamas representatives. (Of course, I have no way of knowing if this is true, and repeat what the Senator said only to demonstrate good faith.)

I hope to continue my dialog with Senator Daly, and with his permission I will report back.

NOTES
(1) I don't believe any of the bloggers did their own original reporting. I believe they were basing themselves entirely on the newspapers. In short, the RW bloggers were doing what they always accuse us on the left of doing, ie, blindly accepting the truth of whatever some member of biased media happened to report. I do this, too, by the way, and don't intend to stop. That's blogging. But it would be nice if the RWers were to stop making such a big deal about it, in that they do the exact same thing themselves.

(2) I also heard from some who attempted to make a distinction between Daly, who offered to take the letter, the FreeGaza movement which refused. I don't know enough about how the organizations are structured to say if this distinction is legitimate. If Senator Daly is kind enough to continue answering my questions, I will ask him. I'll also ask why he and the two other Irish politicians seem to the only ones who were willing to bring something to Gilad Shalit.

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Search for more information about the flotilla at 4torah.com.

Flotilla Reaction: Letters to the Editor

The following letters-to the editor appeared in the New York Times. They represent a very interesting cross-section of opinion, and once again reveal the RW bloggers are either lying or speaking out of ignorance when they say the paper out-and-out opposes the Jewish state.

Flotilla Reaction: In the New York Times

Some puzzles: If the NYT hates Israel, as the unreflective so-called lovers of Israel insist, why did they give Micheal Oren, Israel's Ambassador to the US, space to provide a full sized justification of the raid? And if I'm so mean to Israel, why am I linking to it here and posting Oren's piece in full beneath the jump?

Embracing the Double Standard

A GUEST POST BY GUSHNIK

The double standard. Whenever there’s a discussion of Israel, global politics, and the media, it’s sure to be discussed. And whenever the word “flotilla” somehow becomes part of our collective vocabulary, it’s never far behind.

The international world is always condemning and criticizing Israel for its actions, but the Palestinians never get their fair share of the blame. What’s more, the widespread human rights abuses in the Arab world (whose leaders never miss an opportunity to pile on anti-Israel rhetoric) are routinely overlooked. Simply put, when Israel is covered by international media, there is often a double standard.

Before getting all worked up about it, consider this - maybe this is how it's supposed to be. Maybe, just maybe, there should be a double standard.

Maybe the Jewish State should be held to a higher standard than the Arab world. As the chosen people and ambassadors of God, we should not be able to get away with things that North Korea and China do daily. We should be better - and maybe that comes with a lower tolerance from the rest of the world.

Now, this is not to say that the UN is consciously trying to give us mussar whenever it passes another resolution condemning Israel. Nor does it mean that Ban-Ki Moon is disappointed whenever Israel doesn't adequately play the part of a light unto the nations. And Hamas certainly doesn't care about holding Israel to a higher standard because of its prophetic role.

But maybe this is just the way the world is supposed to work, and instead of writing off criticism as unfair, we should take it to heart.

Not sure if I really buy this; it's just a thought that I'm throwing out there. Please share yours.

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Flotilla reaction: Shmuel Rosner

Shmuel Rosner:

The soldiers were surprised by a mob; they saw their friends being lynched; they acted as any soldier would have and should have acted. To save their fellow soldiers, they opened fire. Civilians were killed. It's no cause for pride—but also nothing to be ashamed of.

Roger that, with one quibble: It is a source of shame that the IDF was surprised by a mob, and came on board unprepared for violence. (And of course its the results of the operation -- furious Turkey, empowered Iran, more blockade runners on the way, who are daring Israel to shoot them - and not the operation itself that make this such a debacle.)

Liberal Flotilla Reaction: Fred Kaplan

In the article that follows liberal, leftie, Fred Kaplan of Slate, the Atlantic, New Yorker, and NPR explains why the raid was an act of jaw-dropping stupidity.

ATTENTION Joe and whoever else if of the opinions that liberals don't think Israel has the right to defend itself. Kaplan says this clearly: "Israeli commanders had the right—as a matter of national security—to block the ship's passage, even by boarding it if necessary, especially if they first issued radio warnings to turn back or face consequences (as, in this instance, they did)."

Read the rest after the jump

Liberal Flotilla Reaction: Marty Peretz

He was AWOL until late last night, but lefty, liberal, Gore supporter, Martin Peretz has finally posted about the flotilla debacle, under the headline "In The Great Flotilla Debate, The Facts Are On Israel's Side"; naturally, this man of the left is 1000 percent in support of the raid. Highlights follow (and don't miss the praise for Obama) (for some reason those honest RWers can't find it in their hearts to praise Obama, but.. whatever:) Here's Marty:

Look, I wish the Israeli raid on the so-called “Freedom Flotilla” had ended differently. Why, I ask, didn’t Israel’s navy disable the engine of the Mavi Marmara and drag the ship into port? Who knows? The engines of the other boats were apparently disabled—or so reliable sources say.

But, frankly, when some 800 men and women, distributed over six boats after weeks and weeks of preparation, are headed towards Gaza on the wings of slogan and hysteria, you don’t take that many chances. Somebody has trouble in mind.

Was the raid legal?

I need to remember that there are two sides to every story. Regarding flotilla business, I've twice fallen into the trap of presuming that Israeli bloggers and newspapers were reporting the whole story. Last week, I accepted at face value the claim that the flotilla had refused to take a letter to Gilad Shalit. Now I see that at least one person, an Irish politician, said last week that he would take any letter and present it to Cpl. Shalit, or to Hamas authorities.*

On Monday, I took it for granted that the raid was legal and made the point that regardless of its legality it was still stupid, as what it accomplished was the very opposite of Israel's strategic objectives. Now, I see that the legal community is divided, with credentialed scholars on both sides of the argument.

More from Explainer

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*I'm going to reiterate here what I said yesterday: It's pathetic that only one person from among the hundreds who traveled with the flotilla offered to take a letter; still, Israeli bloggers and newspapers should be acknowledging it.

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Search for more information about complexities at 4torah.com.

World's worst analogy

Joe, in the comments, attempting to discredit my Zionism:

What would you think of a man who always criticized his wife publicly, called her names, belittled her ideas and choices, and then said "See how much I love her? I am always trying to correct her and set her straight"?

The reason this analogy fails is because a country isn't a person, with feelings. A woman is. You can't insult a country. It has no emotions. We think poorly of the man who constantly insults his wife because of the effect the insults are likely to have on the woman's emotional state. When you're speaking of a country, this is of no concern.

Joe continues:

It is ridiculous to claim that you love Israel when your entire interaction with it is criticism.

I think Joe may have forgotten about the prayers, the donations, the visits -- or doesn't his relationship with Israel include those things? Tell me Joe, do you do anything more for Israel other than sit in a comfortable chair and confirm the unquestioned correctness of anything Israel happens to do? Is your "entire interaction" with Israel blind, reflexive applause? Are you Dwight Shrurt to Israel's Micheal Scott?

I am not a cheerleader. I'm not here to make Israelis and RW Zionists feel good, no matter what. I'm no pom pom waver. After the flotilla debacle people who care about Israel SHOULD be demoralized. I know I am. Being demoralized after something idiotic happens is healthy and normal.

If you just clap your hands and pretend Israel didn't shoot itself in the foot (or worse) on Monday morning another debacle becomes more likely. Clapping your hands after a debacle is dishonest and detrimental. I just won't do it. Neither should you.

I have a longer post in the works on how to love Israel in a way that is healthy and functional and does not turn you into a drone. Stay tuned.

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Search for more information about loving Israel  at 4torah.com.

A note about my flotilla palooza

My love for Israel does not transcend politics - whatever that means - nor should it. I want Israel to be strong, successful, and peaceful. That can only happen via politics. What happened Sunday makes a strong, successful, peaceful Israel much more difficult to achieve. It's empowered Iran, enraged Turkey, and caused Egypt to lift the Gaza blockade. Another flotilla will soon disembark, this one perhaps escorted by the Turkish navy. What then? Do we go to war? Does the fact that Israel was "right" mean fewer people will die?

To pretend that the decision to intercept the flotilla was anything but dumb, dangerous, and detrimental --a strategic blunder-- is make the next flotilla fiasco more likely. The best way to help Israel is to tell the truth about Israel. Papering every bad thing over out of some blind misguided idea of "love" turns you into a tool and destroys your credibility. Though most have supported my flotilla posts, some have objected The complaints largely are from deaf, dumb, and blind RWers. I'm not trying to make them happy. I'm trying to make them see what they won't see. My position on them is the same as my position on the gdolim lovers. Blind charedism is just as bad for us as blind zionism.

One or two have called the posts "anti-Israel". I disagree with this assessment most strongly. My flotilla posts are PRO Israel.  There is nothing more patriotic then dissent. Dissent is what keeps the powerful from becoming fat, lazy, and irresponsible. Dissent is the best antidote to corruption, and  it keeps your country, and your culture strong and prosperous.

My favorable view of dissent is is why I object to kneejerk Zionists, and it is also my argument with kneejerk Charedists. Blind, unquestioning agreement with people who ought to be be questioned, challenged and made to explain themselves is the work of the sheep in Orwell's Animal Farm. Both the sheep and the kneejerks do themselves and our precious communal institutions a disservice when they support the unsupportable. Both prop up people and policies that should instead be torn down, replaced, or rejuvenated.

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Flotilla Fiasco Boon for Iran

This just gets worse and worse...

The Diplomat:

On June 4, Iranian Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei will lead the Friday prayer’s sermon at Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum to mark the 21st anniversary of Khomeini’s passing.

And, as he looks around him, under his breath, he’ll most probably be thanking the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Gaza flotilla fiasco. With Khamenei’s own popularity at an all-time low, it couldn’t have come at a better time for him.

What they are saying in Israel about the flotilla, plus a word of advice to hasbarah bloggers

Some RW bloggers like to shut down debate about Israel by screaming "you don't live here" -- as if the location of their own armchairs makes them more qualified to evaluate the news reports all of us are reading. So, in the interest of demonstrating that many Israelis, too, are convinced that the flotilla raid was a dumb, dangerous, detrimental decision, here are some selections from that country's newspapers:

Yossi Sarid

Had we simply let the flotilla reach Gaza - an option that was proposed - a cry of victory would indeed have erupted from the other side, but it would have died out in a day or two. But the Israel of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barak, of ministers Moshe Ya'alon and Benny Begin, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Eli Yishai and even Dan Meridor, is vying with Hamas and Hezbollah over who can produce the most resounding demonstrations of strength - which amount to nothing but humiliating evidence of weakness. [Haaretz]

Avi Shavit:

Endless questions are being asked. What happened to Israel's vaunted creativity? Why was the worst of all possible options chosen? Where was the army chief of staff? Where were the intelligence services? "Why didn't we see that instead of tightening the siege on Gaza, we were about to tighten the siege on ourselves?"[Haaretz]

Ben Caspit:

"The naval operation ... was complete stupidity. A mixture of failures that led to a disgraceful fiasco. [Maariv]

Sever Plotsker

"There isn't a broom broad enough to sweep this failure under the rug" [Yediot]

How stupid was the IDF? Apparently, they didn't even attempt to clear the decks with smoke grenades or tear gas before dropping one by one into the middle of an angry mob. Is this how the heirs of Entebbe fight now? As Saird put it, this is now an army that "trips every time it is ordered to march."

The only thing more mystifying then the IDF's tactics was the strategic decision to intercept the flotilla in the first place. How did anyone in Israel's strategic command think this would turn out well? And the only thing more mysterious than that strategic choice, is the deaf, dumb, and blind applause of the hasbarah bloggers. Why can't they see the writing on the wall? By attempting to tell us that black is white, and that a defeat is a victory all these armchair warriors for Israel are doing is undermining themselves and demonstrating how out-of-touch they are. They call themselves ambassadors for Israel, but who trusts an ambassador that can't report simple facts? Let the hasbarah bloggers follow the example of the columnists and acknowledge the failure, and encourage smarter decisions and more efficient tactics next time.

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Search for more information about flotilla follies at 4torah.com.

Flotilla Fallout

New round of headlines from around the world this morning continue to drive home the point that Israel's decision to intercept and raid the flotilla was a dumb, dangerous, detrimental decision:

• Israel accused of "kidnapping" seven Irish citizens‎ (Irish Times)
• In Asia Protests, Condemnation Follow Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla‎ (Voice of America)
• Erdogan Calls Israeli Raid On Flotilla A 'Bloody Massacre' (Radio Free Europe)
• '40 Britons' Detained By Israel (Sky News)
• The IDF Soldiers Were Sent on a Mission That Defies Logic (Huffington Post)
• Turkey demands Israel be 'punished' over Gaza raid (Times Online: UK)
• Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists (Guardian)
• Israeli Raid Hands Hamas a Victory (Time Magazine)
• Israel loses more than it wins in attack on flotilla (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  

Most damaging is this:

• Egypt lifts Gaza blockade following flotilla raid (J-Post)

And then we have this frightening bit of news

Two Turkish activists were reported to be among those killed in the flotilla. Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences

So along with possibly irreparably damaging ties with Turkey to the extent of inviting a confrontation with the Turkish navy, and deeply offending Europe, Israel's raid seems to have also sacrificed its relationship with Egypt. Previously, the two countries cooperated on the Gaza blockade. Now that seems to be off. So instead of making it harder for activists to make deliveries to Gaza, what Israel's boneheaded raid has actually done is make it EASIER for blockade runners to reach Gaza while also encouraging more attempts.

Let this go down as the dumbest thing Israel has ever done. As a supporter of Israel, I'm outraged at how the country has shot itself in the foot.

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Search for more information about the flotilla at 4torah.com.

Very confused about the Shalit letter

According to the Israeli bloggers and newspapers, the flotilla refused to take a letter to Gilad Shalit. I took it for granted this was true.

Now I'm seeing that Irish Senator Mark Daly agreed to carry the letter and to attempt to deliver it to Shalit or Hamas officials. I honestly don't know what to believe, but will agree that its sad, indeed, that only one person among six shiploads of people agreed to take the letter. Still, if one flotilla member did in fact make the offer, the Israeli bloggers and papers are lying reporting an untruth.

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Search for more information about the flotilla at 4torah.com.

Flotilla reaction: Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan:

Another gripping video is here, showing the activists attacking the commandos boarding their ship.

A simple point. The violence by the activists is pretty abhorrent.[DB: It's worse that abhorrent. I don't think anyone is mistaking these peace activists for pacifists. Certianly no major newspaper is. All of them are reporting that Israel says they were "attacked first" which true, I suppose, but the attack was in response to having their boats raided. ] These are not followers of Gandhi or MLK Jr. But the violence is not fatal to anyone and it is in response to a dawn commando raid by armed soldiers. They are engaging in self-defense. More to the point: they are civilians confronting one of the best militaries in the world. They killed no soldiers; their weapons were improvised; the death toll in the fight is now deemed to be up to 19 - all civilians.

It staggers me to read defenses of what the Israelis have done. They attacked a civilian flotilla in international waters breaking no law. When they met fierce if asymmetric resistance, they opened fire. And we are now being asked to regard the Israelis as the victims.

Seriously.

[DB: I agree with what Sullivan is saying here. Israel doesn't own international waters, and supporting Hamas while on a boat in international waters, though a pretty ugly thing to do, is not a capital crime. You don't get to raid boats and shoot people just because you don't like the politics of the sailors.]

This is like a mini-Gaza all over again. The Israelis don't seem to grasp that Western militaries don't get to murder large numbers of civilians because they don't like them, or because they could, on a far tinier scale, hurt Israelis. [DB: The Israelis are tired and frustrated and sick of being bombed and attacked. This is an explanation, not a justification.] And you sure don't have a right to kill them because they resist having their ship commandeered, in international waters. The Israelis seem to be making decisions as if they can get away with anything. It's time the US reminded them in ways they cannot mistake that they cannot. [DB: I disagree with Sully. The US isn't the world's school marm. The US should do what's right for the US and not waste time, treasure and political capital reminding other countries that they have made mistakes. That job belongs to bloggers, the media, and civillians]

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Flotilla II

The question isn't whether or not the attack interception of  the flotilla was legal, or if it was right, or if it was moral. Let's stipulate it was all three: legal, right and moral. None of this matters one little bit, because the real question is whether or not the decision to attack intercept was smart or stupid.

A sampling of the day's headlines show us just how dumb a choice Israel made:

• Syria, Lebanon say flotilla attack can lead to war
• Israeli Leadership Faces Fallout‎
• Gaza Flotilla Attack Sparks Demonstrations Worldwide‎ 
• Sweden summons Israel ambassador on flotilla deaths
• Assault likely to rebound on Israel
• Turkey condemns Israel over deadly attack on Gaza aid flotilla

Its hard to see how letting the boats land would have caused any more damage to Israel and its reputation.

Flotilla

3:11 a.m

Ive been following the gaza flotilla story since about midnight when the first #flotilla hashmarks started appearing on Twitter. This was a good thirty minutes or so before anyone had it on Google news and an hour at least  hour before JPost and Haaretz confirmed at least two dead. Now its after 2 am and were hearing as many as 15 dead and every news organ has it.

All else aside, it was quite the 21st century experience watching the story develop on Twitter. Arab sympathizers had it first and their rumors included the claim that European parlimentarians were among the dead, and that Turkey was viewing the attack as an act of war on Turkey.

More than an hour later, as Israel started to wake up, the hasbara tweets began and we started hearing that the IDF comandos were attacked after they boarded the boats and that of course Israel was not only
totaly justified in everything that had happened but that the larger strategy pursued was also perfectly flawless.

I took some issue with that, replying that strengthening your enemy and weakening your supporters is a strategy move straight out of the chochmei chelm playbook. How does acting tough help, when it plays right into your enemies hands? The ensuing conversation is part of why I'm still up, and somewhat agitated.

Here's the thing. I think Israel did a dumb, dangerous thing today. I think the enemy wanted a confrontation, a confrontation that would produce martyrs, and Israel gave it to them. When I last checked Googe News, many  headlines  read "Israel attacks relief flotilla" That's nothing  but a big PR win for Hamas. Even if those boats were loaded to the brim with guns (and for the sake of Israel's international reputation I hope to God they were loaded with guns) its hard to see how the arrival of those guns in Gaza would have hurt Israel more than those headlines. They will be used forever to "prove"  that Israel is the sort of country that
fires on humanitarian ships in International waters (As of now, the confrontation is said to have occurred in international waters. I hope that's wrong.)

If guns don't turn up (and lets hope they do), it seems clear to me that Israel has badly tarnished its reputation, and possibly ceded the moral high ground to their enemies. This is a disaster for Israel. If no guns turn up on those boats, the attack on the flotilla turns Israel Bull Conner. Moreover, it seems obvious and self evident to me that Israel was played, and outsmarted by an enemy that wanted exactly what Israel seemed all too happy to provide. The fact that the flotilla seems to have wanted the attack, is also a strong suggestion that they weren't carrying guns. Israel should have known that, and avoided the trap.

But on Twitter there are those who don't see it this way, who remarkably insist that world opinion is
irrelevant and that anything Israel chooses to do is ipso fact correct.

This blind love, though on some levels admirable, is bad for Israel. World opinion does matter, and even the country you love best can make serious strategic errors. The attempt on Twitter to defend Israel's mistake reminds me all too much of how the anti Slifkinites defended the gedolim after their sensless and absurdly damaging to their own goals ban on Slifkin's work was announced. All that mattered to some gedolim supporters was that the gdolim were right and that those who disagreed for any reason were evil. Long term strategy, nuance, and any consideration for the big picture just went out the window. Instead we were given loyalty tests, litmus tests, and other trials of faith. All that mattered to some Jews, was that the rest of us were behind the gdolim one thousand percent.

I think something similar was at work this morning, among certain Israel supporters. I think they are likewise blinded by love for their country.