[News] Activists cause their own deaths by attacking nonconfrontational Israeli commandos

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Belén Fernández – International activists cause 
their own deaths by attacking nonconfrontational Israeli commandos

By 
<http://palestinethinktank.com/author/guest-post/>Guest 
Post • May 31st, 2010 at 12:49 •
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/05/31/belen-fernandez-international-activists-cause-their-own-deaths-by-attacking-nonconfrontational-israeli-commandos/


At a press briefing this morning following the 
<http://pulsemedia.org/2010/05/31/israel-attacks-freedom-flotilla/>massacre 
by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commandos of 
passengers on board the Mavi Marmara, one of the 
boats pertaining to the Freedom Flotilla 
attempting to break the siege of Gaza, IDF 
spokeswoman Avital Liebovitch claimed that the 
passengers had engaged in “severe violence against our soldiers.”

According to Liebovitch, the violence was 
premeditated and was administered via live fire, 
sharp items such as knives, and weapons “grabbed” 
from the IDF commandos. While underscoring 
Israel’s unique ability to portray its armed 
forces as victims, the analysis failed to provide 
a compelling reason for why­if the alleged attack 
using grabbed weapons was indeed premeditated­the 
IDF did not throw a wrench in the works by simply 
refraining from raiding the ship.

Apparently not satisfied with sporadic violations 
of logic, Liebovitch reiterated that the IDF had 
not desired a confrontation with the activists 
but that the justness of the confrontation­ which 
she herself admitted occurred “not in Israeli 
territory”­had since been proven given the 
passengers’ alleged reaction. The Israeli 
tendency to award retroactive justification to 
its actions was also evident during the 2008-2009 
attack on Gaza, which Israel advertised as a 
defensive war against Palestinian rockets by 
severing the portion of the cause-and-effect 
timeline that involved 
<http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11217.shtml>deliberate 
Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement 
with Hamas. The inversion of aggressor and victim 
did not of course prevent Gazan civilians from 
perishing in this particular confrontation at a 
rate of approximately 400:1 vis-à-vis their Israeli counterparts.

As for the inversion of aggressor and victim 
aboard the Mavi Marmara, a 
<http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2010/Israel_Navy_warns_flotilla_31-May-2010.htm>communiqué 
on the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry 
this morning confirmed that pre-planned 
“life-threatening and violent activity” against 
the IDF commandos could have been averted had the 
humanitarian vessels heeded the invitation of the 
Israeli Navy to dock at Ashdod, “where they would 
be able to unload their aid material which would 
then be transferred over land [to Gaza] after 
undergoing security inspections.” Such charitable 
offers regarding the fate of 10,000 tons of 
international aid have yet to be reconciled with 
the continuing Israel denial that there is a 
humanitarian crisis in Gaza, or with the fact 
that pencils and laundry detergent have not in 
recent Gazan history been eligible for overland 
transfer. The naval invitation to Ashdod has 
meanwhile been called into question by 
Liebovitch’s declaration this morning that the 
purpose of the confrontation on the Mavi Marmara 
was simply to prevent the passengers’ entrance to Israel.

Other finishing touches to Liebovitch’s 
post-massacre performance include her 
announcement that it was fortunate that the 
commandos participating in the raid “had those 
guns” to defend themselves during the attack, 
despite her earlier claim that said weaponry had 
been a critical feature of the premeditated 
violence. We can only assume that the same sort 
of fortune is awaiting the IDF in the event that 
it is forced into another confrontation with 
Gazan civilians, whose fabricated humanitarian 
crisis is of course the root cause of the plot by 
international activists to attack Israeli soldiers.

also here: wp-content/uploads/2010/05/liebovitz-thumb.jpg




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