Let the aid flotillas sail to Gaza

It is politically inexpedient for Israel to do what is necessary to stop Hamas. Harm's way, don't you know.

Neither Mr. Benn nor any of us is deligitimizing Israel, only the criminal policies of her rightist government. These are destroying Israel from within.

Last year there was an ex marine who was being sent to Gaza to help train the paramilitary... Israel just abducted the main rocket maker in Gaza... What hamas needs more than anything right now is people who know how to fight and how to make bombs/weapons... If i were the Israeli FM i would say to Turkey ok well let the ships in but let us vet the crew manifest first... Turkey should have no problems in keeping suspicious characters out of the flotilia and then all problems are solved...

Perhaps Israel also thought that the hardships would turn the Gazans against Hamas. But don't tell me the purpose was not to punish them.

I can only give my opinion. Israel must do what is can to prevent (1) the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and (2) avoid the scenario of the Mavi Marmara. So I agree with Aluf Benn to allow the ships to proceed to an Israeli port for inspection....but if the flotilla refuses i say allow the ships into Gaza directly and monitor as best as possible what arrives. IF...arms are seen and used then I say the IDF uses every arm possible to blast Gaza infrastructure to bits. Once the befefit of doubt is lost then all gloves come off.

"If the flotilla organizers are so foolish as to smuggle rockets and bombs in the ships' hulls and are then caught red-handed, Israel would enjoy a huge public relations coup." There is no such thing as a huge public relations coup in favor of Israel. Even Goldstone's retraction didn't cause one, except in very, very limited circles, and in the Israeli media. It hasn't even been mentioned at BBC, CNN, DW, RAI, TV5, TVE, etc. Israel won't enjoy a PR coup until Jew-hatred subsides for a brief respite. And that's not likely to happen soon.

Before Nutty-yahu became Pm; of Israel. the people we told jokes about; were Aggies: And how dumb they act. But Nutty-yahu makes the same mistakes over and over. He makes an American Aggie look like an intilectual giant.So go ahead and stop the flotilla IDIOT!!! You might get a surprise

If we let this flotilla come then what happens with the next one and the next one? Pretty soon there will be no more blockade and the passengers will stop being idealist idiots to weapons smugglers. If you want a blockade then it has to be enforced fully. The Mavi Mara said from before they sailed even their primary goal was breaching the blockade ( political not humanitarian ). They were offered time and time again if they had aid then bring it to Israel to be searched and then transported overland. If that had been a humanitarian operation they would have agreed to those conditions. In the end it wasn't the peaceful idealists we were expecting it was an armed mob that commandos with paintball guns as their primary weapon were faced with. They were not equipped for riot control because they didn't expect violence. When the paintball guns proved useless the only other weapon they had to defend themselves were their mini uzis. The best thing for the REGION is for this flotilla not to set sail. If they want to come for purely humanitarian reasons and give things to the palestinians then agree they will dock in Israel where their cargo can be searched and delivered overland. It will save everybody alot of trouble, the last thing we all need right now is more political stunts in Gaza. We may need to reconsider tactics like sabotaging the boats. Send a Mossad team to Turkey and either sink or badly damage the ships so they are in no condition to sail. They can suspect Mossad involvement but can't prove it. When Saddam Hussain was planning his nuclear reactor Israel sent Mossad agents to France to sabotage components when they were on the ships. Another time Israel commissioned France to build some missile boats, they were built and never delivered for politics so agents were sent to France to take the boats and sail them to israel. If we can do things like that I very much doubt these ships would be to much trouble.

Food, water, building materials, school materials, electricity, and so on are kept in shortage so the people of Gaza live in mud and ongoing assassinations from above.

Aluf Ben's article is right on all points bar one. The "World" will take note of everything and anything that happens in Gaza. Hamas will use this for positive propaganda with ease. As a Britsh Jew Aluf ben please note the deligitmisation of Israel has gone deeper than Israelis may appreciate. In Israel after all there is no mainstream anti semitism. Too many UK commentators will just say that Israel could have let the Turkey convoy in and this is proof of israeli guilt. Just one persons opinion.

I exspect every state to do its duty and protects the Freedom Flotilla from further piracy.

must also be acting in self-defense when they board civilian ships and are confronted by knives and cudgels. Mr. Benn, most of us don't wish to see Israel as an evil and criminal country. Those are your words, bear in mind. In fact, many of us always try to see the other side of the story, your side of the story. But when we try, and if we don't agree with what we see, right wing Israelis brand us as anti-semitic(term that has become devoid of any meaning because of such practices) delegitimizers of Israel. Believe me when I say, it is not easy out here to say that you are fascinated by Israel's accomplishments(and you have many of those), and would like to emulate some of them in your country. You face scorn because of that attitude. And do you know why? Because the first thing that comes to mind of any person not particularly knowledgable of Israel is the occupation, settlments, land theft, ethnic cleansing, assassinations, wars, torture of Palestinians, promises unfulfilled, Mavi Marmara... This is how ordinary people view Israel. Yet when someone points out that it would be best if Israel changed this picture of herself, and that picture can't be changed by a PR campaign and clumsy attempts at cover up, that someone is brande an enemy of Israel. We are not sheep to be led where Israel wishes us to go. We see what is going on, and it is not pretty. One doesn't need to be a Zionist to love Israel, nor is a person sending good natured critiques towards your country an ardent supporter of Israel's destruction, Mr. Benn

You still have to admire the Gaza people for being able to make heavy weaponry from things like: ginger, cardamom, jam, potato chips, chocolate, notebooks, toys, fishing nets...

I would add one important point. In order to improve ties with turkey, Israel should agree a joint security deal, where Turkey guarantees there are no weapons on the ships. Turkey has already intrercepted a few Iranian planes smuggling arms, and are capable of checking these ships too.

might as well invite the terrorists to take over Israel while you're at it. Thank G-d he is not in charge or, there'd be no Israel.

We must tighten our sanctions against the Hamasniks to deter them from firing more rockets. Otherwise, we will be putting rhe residents of Ashdod and Beersheva in danger.

Of course they must be stopped no matter what.

that will stop these from happening

Nonsense. Just hear Israelis talking.

it did however, carry members of the ihh...a recognized terror org...why should it have been allowed through? no...what israel is doing is correct if there is actual aid on board...let them offload at an israeli port...the aid will get through

Of course Aluf supports the flotilla, it's an Anti-Israel event.

Mr Benn is very mistaken in one aspect of his article: the purpose of the siege of Gaza is not, and has never been "to prevent the smuggling of heavy weaponry into the Strip." It is, and has always been to collectively punish its inhabitants for having elected the wrong leadership, and to force them to topple it.

Dear Sir: I see your point. Question--once we allow a so-called civilian flotilla to dock in Gaza, how can we have any justification from stopping an Iranian ship from docking? Isn't that at least one reason that Iran was so quick to sail through the Suez recently?

Most western governments, including Israel, seldom try to win a conflict by letting the enemy fight alone. Only the greatest generals in history (including George Washington) were famous for their skill at avoiding conflict and casualties.

You've said it all.

"In the absence, however, of confirmed information on the presence of weaponry on the protest armada, it should be allowed to pass through." Yes, indeed. After all, if you insist that you have the "right" to stop ships going to Gaza merely because you are paranoid - and not because you have solid intel - then you are claiming the "right" to control the Gaza Strip. And that's "occupation".

1 the purpose of the armada is to break the blockade. it is not simply to embarrass israel, although they hope to do that too. 2 if the blockade is broken, these enemies of israel will bring in items useful for the construction of weapons. they would also bring with them terrorists and take out terrorists. 3 although this armada supposedly does not contain weapons, the next might. 4 the entire strategic posture of israel would be undermined. it is simply not possible to ensure quiet on the borders if gaza is allowed to be open to all who come. gaza would be swarmed with more jihadists and more weapons than it is even now.

You state in a clear logical way how to manage this situation for the best, and the sit back and watch good old Liberman and Bibi do the opposite, and when the blood is everywhere, and the world in uproar they will smirk and make comments about "defending ourseves and Most moral army in the world".

And Israel will win the propaganda plug and spoil theirs.

So far, following the Turkish flotilla incident, Israel has decided to allow into Gaza all items except those fit for military use. (It is not clear that this decision was fully implemented.) What remains of the "siege" is not allowing the Export of finished goods even if raw materials can come in, as well as the prevention of movement of Gazans in and out of that territory (irrespective of security considerations). The inability to export essentially destroys the Gaza economy, rendering the population destitute and in need of food relief. With exports, the Gazans will not be in need of relief and all future air/flotilla private initiatives will become pointless. Here is a good way to put an end to this problem once and for all: Just lift the rest of the economic siege, which actually achieved nothing positive. (The original intent was to have the Gaza people bring Hamas down.) And here is another reason: a legal opinion: "The [Goldstone] Report states that Israeli acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country, that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed"- unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/0/9B63490FFCBE44E5C1257632004EA67B?opendocument . In any event, the prevention of airplanes and ships from going into Gaza is justified by security concerns. Once the "economic siege" is lifted, there will be no humanitarian reason for air/flotilla incidents, and it will become acceptable to use military force against such "invaders".