[geeks] more on dune

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 03:54:58PM +0100, Mike Meredith wrote:

>Whilst such assurances may well be enough to suggest the use of
>non-lethal weapons in boarding the ships, it doesn't mean that lowering
>soldiers one by one wasn't dumb in the extreme.
>
>After all such information cannot be trusted ... the people making the
>assurances could be lying, mistaken, or are being deceived.
>Particularly seeing as the flotilla was made up of a coalition of
>different organisations.

Looking at it from an Israeli point of view, anything we did, from letting
them go without sending anyone to "greet" them, to sinking them with a
torpedo from a submerged submarine with no indication there was anyone
there  would have gotten us international and internal condemnation.

In the end, it worked out well for Israel, a significant portion of the US 
population in a recent poll supports the blockade, no Israelis were killed and
except for a small portion of the population, everyone here is in support
of a continued blockade, less aid to Gaza (instead of the 10 tons per day
we provide, free drinking water, electricity and cooking gas), and stronger
intervention on the sea.

It also had the effect that the flotilla organizers made sure that
the next ships arrived at the blockade with no problems, invited Israeli
escorts on board, went to an Israeli port and allowed the cargo to be
unloaded and inspected without incident.

I have no proof, but I suspect that while the first flotilla members spent 
a few days in jail being forced to eat kosher food and deprived of their cell
phones and TV before being deported, the ones that cooperated were put up in 
hotels and given a tour of Israel until they were transfered to Gaza.

In the end, nine shahadim wannabes got their wish, no Israelis were killed,
only a few were badly hurt, the world is not 100% against our actions and
we are united in our support of the blockade, which makes it a win win 
as far as I am concerned.

And yes, I am not being callous about anyone, if someone wants to martyr
themselves, there is nothing I can do to stop it, and my wife knows the
mother of the soldier who was hurt the most, so he is not a nameless faceless
uniform to me.

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
I do multitasking. If that bothers you, file a complaint and I will start 
ignoring it immediately.