Since the Flotilla incident of late May, several news reports have focussed on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There is no doubt that conditions must be difficult for people living under the yoke of the Islamist movement, Hamas which seized total power in the enclave after a bitter and bloody power struggle with Fatah in 2007. Since attaining power, Hamas has continued its refusal to recognise the State of Israel and its terrorist wing has carried out attacks using thousands of mortars and short-range rockets on Israeli civilian targets and has also cultivated links with other terror organisations leading to the imposition of economic sanctions and a blockage by both Israel and Egypt. 

Despite Israel’s easing of the blockade in early July, reports claiming that Gaza is in the grip of a major humanitarian and economic crisis persist. One such report appeared on the Sky News website, where it was reported that the situation is still “dire”. The article quotes John Ging, head of the UN’s Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, “Now we have to focus on the economy. We have 800,000 refugees queuing at our food distribution centres. They can’t afford to buy cans of Coca Cola from Israel… We now have to focus on getting these people back to work, on starting an economy, and that’s all of course about bringing in raw materials, starting the construction industry and then exports.”

 Most of us would agree with Ging that for the betterment of the population of Gaza, the Palestinian people as a whole and their neighbours and for the sake of peace, there should definitely be a focus on building a strong and viable Palestinian economy. In the West Bank where the Palestine Authority remains in control, the economy is slowly building up and the people are benefitting from this in a significant way. In many ways, there is much that their brothers and sisters in Gaza can learn from them.

BUT … people like Ging need to be a little bit more honest about the situation in Gaza. Things might be tough but Gaza is not in the mire which Ging and others try to paint it and, in fact, living conditions are better in Gaza than many other parts of the Arab and Islamic world – certainly better than in many parts of Africa such as Darfur where the genocide of the black population continues with little more than background noise from the United Nations and the media.

On the same day that Ging was waxing lyrical about the “dire” situation in Gaza, a brand new shopping mall was being opened across town. Among other things, the well attended launch of this new shopping mall (and I’m surprised Ging wasn’t invited) tells us two things. Firstly, it tells us that building materials are getting in to Gaza, which is consistent will Israel’s commitment to allow in building materials for particular projects. The second thing it tells us is that there is the demand in Gaza for a shopping mall which stocks some expensive products. This is not consistent with the message that many reports emanating from Gaza are trying so hard to tell us.

I am not trying to assert that there is no poverty in Gaza - poverty exists there just as it does in Israel where the poor at least have some semblance of assistance from the state (and I’m not saying things are perfect on that score either) rather than the cosmetic one attributed to them by Hamas which is unpopular and rules the population by fear. The question however, is whether the situation in Gaza is as bad as the world media would have us believe?

I would suggest not if Tom Gross’s analysis and photos of shopping malls, restaurants and Olympic-size swimming pools is any guide. Gross shows us that despite what we are being told, there are positive things happening in Gaza. Not enough perhaps, but it is a good start.

The day after the mall opening, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton held a press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. She declared, “the position of the European Union is clear – the blockade is unacceptable, unsustainable and counter-productive, and not in the interests of any of those concerned,” (Agreed, but so is Hamas and its continued belligerent stand towards the Jewish State and its people). 

She also stated, ‘in terms of some of the economic issues that we have discussed, I am very keen that we are able to provide for the ordinary people of Gaza a better life than the one I saw today,” so I would be interested to know, as many other commentators have been asking (see here and here), which Gaza Ms. Ashton was shown on her visit? How did she miss the tens of thousands of Gazans that visited the site of the mall and other places highlighted by Mr. Gross?

Last week Israel made arrangements for medical equipment including a CT scanner and an X-ray machine to be delivered to the Shifa Hospital. It also allowed materials for three greenhouses as a part of a USAID project. 27 truckloads from last week’s Libyan aid ship were delivered in addition to the 35 truckloads transferred the day before. This is in addition to the 150 truckloads that come in daily (see more).

Therefore, as Lebanon, with the assistance of Hezbollah and Syria, attempts to send another flotilla next week in an effort to break the blockade, we need to continually ask the question, why? When there is so much aid going in each day, when Israel has already eased restrictions in a very significant way and all around Gaza we are seeing examples of a better standard of living than is constantly being portrayed on the news, is there a need to keep organising these flotillas? Do we need more flotillas with violent jihadist cutthroats on suicide missions embedded among those who claim to have peaceful intentions? Why, when the only people that would most benefit are involved in the very same Hamas regime (see its Covenant here) that is bringing this so-called “dire” situation upon the population of Gaza and its neighbours?

Surely, it’s time for world leaders and the world media to review what is really happening in Gaza. The only way the world can “Free Gaza” is to free Gaza from Hamas. Only then can we start thinking realistically about ways in conditions for people in the region on both sides of the divide be improved and the path to peace be truly paved.

Finally, please read this fantastic article, entitled ‘Palestinians in the Arab World: Why the Silence?’ by Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab-Israeli journalist who was in Australia in May.

For the many who condemn first and get the facts later, AIJAC has provided an important fact sheet here on what happened (although of course there is none so blind as they who do not wish to see).

The Blockade

. Israel considers itself to be in a state of war with Hamas-ruled Gaza

. Being at war with Hamas, Israel is within its rights to enforce a maritime blockade on Gaza in order to prevent Hamas from obtaining weapons and other materiel that would aid its war effort.

. Israel allows humanitarian aid to pass through land crossings into Gaza

. Land crossings are used because they facilitate inspection of the goods to ensure that no military materiel is being smuggled through

. In 2009, 738,000 tons of goods went from Israel into Gaza, which is over 2,000 tonnes per day. The flotilla carried 10,000 tonnes (equivalent to what goes into Gaza every five days).

. Egypt shares a land border with Gaza, but does not allow people or goods to cross it.

. The flotilla organisers were offered to oversee the transfer of the 10,000 tonnes of goods to Gaza through the conventional land crossings by Israel. They rejected this offer and refused to cooperate with Egypt, which made a similar proposal to transfer goods through the Egyptian port of El-arish. This indicates the organisers’ goal was not to deliver humanitarian aid, but to force a confrontation with Israel.

Organisers of the Flotilla

. International Humanitaire Hilfsorganization (the IHH) is the main organisation behind the flotilla

. In 1996 the IHH was identified by the CIA as having links to numerous Islamist and terrorist organisations. It has open links to Hamas and has been linked with global jihadi movements in Bosnia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya.

. In January 2004, the head of the IHH met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal

. Another of the organisations behind the flotilla, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), has gone on record saying Palestinians should pursue both violent and non-violent tactics

. A co-founder of ISM, Hawaida Arraf, acknowledged in the Washington Post that the ISM “cooperates with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” all classified as terrorist groups by Australia.

. Arraf co-wrote an article with fellow ISM member Adam Shapiro in which they stated, “Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both violent and non-violent. But most importantly, it must develop a strategy involving both aspects. Non-violent resistance is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation.”

 The Confrontation

. Israel, being in a state of war with Hamas-ruled Gaza, enforces a maritime blockade

. The ships were attempting to break this maritime blockade

. Israel told the ships they were not allowed to enter, the ships announced their intent to enter, Israel then commandeered the ships

. Five of the six were commandeered without the use of force.

. On the sixth, the Mavi Marmara, flying under the Turkish flag, Israeli naval commandos encountered violence upon boarding. They were attacked with slingshots, knives, steel poles, Molotov cocktails, and live fire, resulting in a number of injured soldiers, two of whom were critically wounded.

. Two guns were taken off Israeli troops and used to fire on those troops

. Israeli troops only responded with lethal force after they felt that their lives were in imminent danger, as specified in the Israeli rules of engagement.

 Video Evidence

. Footage of IDF soldiers being attacked as they land on the Mavi Marmara: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LulDJh4fWI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2duPV9MQIc . The Israeli Navy warning the flotilla not to approach Gaza and offering to accompany it to the Israeli port of Ashdod to unload the goods and transfer them to Gaza under the observation of flotilla personnel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKOmLP4yHb4. Video testimony by Israeli soldier:

http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/05/3105.htm . IDF soldier being stabbed by flotilla participant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buzOWKxN2co Sailor’s First-Hand Report: We Came to Speak; They Came to Fight

 One of the Naval Special Forces commandoes who sustained a broken arm while under attack by the Mavi Marama ship’s passengers, reports, “Each soldier who descended was taken by three or four men and they simply exploded, beating him up. They lynched us.

“They had metal clubs, knives, slingshots, glass bottles.At one point there was also live fire.

“I was among the last to descend, and I saw that the group was dispersed, everyone in his own corner surrounded by three or four men. I saw a soldier on the floor with two men beating him. I peeled them off of him and they came at me and began beating me with the clubs.

“That’s how I broke my arm. At that moment I had no weapon in my hands, like everyone else who descended on the cables empty-handed. My paintball gun was behind me.

“They came and attacked me, I brought them down to the floor, I took a few steps back, I took out my paintball gun, they came at me, and I shot at their legs. One of the clubs destroyed my paint gun and I moved on to my pistol which was the only thing to hold against them. At this point my arm no longer functioned.

“From the opening of the corridor, they were shooting at us the entire time with live fire”

The naval soldier also described how his unit was shot at from the entrance to the ship’s corridor: “I saw two from my group lying flat on the ground. From the opening of the corridor they were shooting at them the entire time with live fire, bullets. We identified a gun barrel, and one of us shot at the guy holding it. Afterwards we entered and he wasn’t there.

“[They were] about 30 men; they simply came for war. We came to straighten things out, to speak to those who went downstairs, but each of us who descended was simply attacked.

“There were some from my group that were thrown to the lower floor, and the passengers took their equipment. They jumped to the water as a last resort. We were told that if they didn’t listen, we should shoot at their legs with the paintball gun. ‘The pistol is only for if you really feel your life is in danger, which shouldn’t happen. It would be extremely abnormal.’ But in the end, that is what happened.

“We came with the intention of stopping the ship and taking it to Ashdod, and we did not come with the weapons we usually have; we came for something entirely different.”

Although the details still remain unclear - and will doubtlessly be spun in different ways -  here are some of the initial reports of the violent outcome of the surprise raid by the IDF.

Jerusalem Post summary.  According to the Jerusalem Post, “the soldiers encountered fierce resistance from the passengers who were armed with knives, bats and metal pipes. The soldiers used non-lethal measures to disperse the crowd. The activists, according to an IDF report, succeeded in stealing two handguns from soldiers and opened fire, leading to an escalation in violence.”

Press conference proceedings from Danny Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister stating that the Gaza activists on board had weapons.

EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton called for an extensive probe.

Protests occurred in Turkey.

Report from the IDF spokesman.  Other reports and video from this site show the violent response against the Israeli commandos.

George Friedman in Stratfor provides a thoughtful analysis of the strategic implications of the events, including the potential problems for Israel - considering that provoking violence and an international reaction was an important goal of the flotilla organisers.

Never a dull moment regarding Israel. 

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides a good summary of the ongoing supplies to Gaza, as well as a legal overview of why the blockade is justified. 

Haaretz suggests that the flotilla will be diverted to Ashdod and suggests that the on-board activists should be greeted with an exhibition of the missiles and other weapons fired on Israel by Hamas.

It is good to see some pro-active PR response by Israel to this latest propaganda ploy.

The BBC has presented an informative soldier’s assessment of what happened in Gaza here through the eyes of Iraq war veteran Colonel Tim Collins.

This account is a welcome relief from the anti-Israel distortions that are common in the BBC - as typified by a recent program about Jerusalem.  The review of the program by CAMERA included a link to an excellent perspective on the BBC Panorama program by Robin Shepherd in which he states “The slipperiness of the tactics employed, the unabashed censorship of vital historical context, and the blatant pursuit of a political agenda constituted a lesson in the techniques of modern day propaganda”.

Earlier this week, Mark Regev, Israeli spokesman and former Mount Scopus student, was interviewed by Phillip Adams on Late Night Live.

The main topic of the conversation was Gaza and the Goldstone Report.  Mark expressed himself well, and is a great credit to Israel and the Jewish people.  Hopefully, Australians will better appreciate the biases and difficulties Israel has to face. 

The radio interview can be found here.

Although the thrust of the Goldstone report is to demonise Israel, and potentially lay the foundations for more international approbrium of the Jewish State, the report acts on different levels, twists and turns.  Already, we have seen the curious move by Abbas to defer discussion of the report - what were the motives for that?  It is a fairly open secret that Fatah was eager to see Israel demolish Hamas.  In parallel, surrounding Arab countries were not averse to the defeat of Hamas as a blow to Iran’s prestige.

Several pro-Israel scholars and bloggers have now joined forces to establish a comprehensive site entitled Understanding the Goldstone Report.  This will be an important, living entity that will be a place to go to. Speaking of “go to players”, here are some highlights from another “go to” person and of course this one.

The introductory conclusions to the critique of the Goldstone report are strong:

• The report violates international standards for inquiries on UN rules on fact-finding, replicating earlier UNHRC biased statements.
• The Commission systematically favoured witnesses and evidence put forward by anti-Israel advocates, and dismissed evidence and testimony that would undermine its case.
• The commission relied extensively on mediating agencies, especially UN and NGOs, which have a documented hostility to Israel; the report reproduces earlier reports and claims from these agencies.
• At the same time, the Commission inexplicably downplayed or ignored substantial evidence of Hamas’ commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of terror, including specifically its victimization of the Palestinian population by its use of human shields, civilian dress for combatants, and combat use of protected objects like ambulances, hospitals and mosques.
• The Commission openly denies a presumption of innocence to the Israelis accused of crimes (while honoring Hamas’ presumed innocence) and acknowledges that it made accusations of crimes without proof that would stand up in court.
• The report contains numerous gratuitous digressions into issues beyond the purview of a fact-finding commission that are inaccurate and profoundly hostile to Israel and Jews.
• The Commission distorted legal standards, imposing on Israel standards that reverse their generally understood and applied meaning, while ignoring important rules of international law that put the onus of responsibility on an organisation as base, by Goldstone’s own standards, as Hamas.

The critique is a reminder that the best defence is a strong offence.

Hopefully enough clear-minded people will see through the bias and bigotry of the Goldstone Report and those that fashioned it, that this will become a pivotal moment where people will say to the Israel-hating NGOs and UN toadies Have you no sense of decency!

There have been some excellent responses to the Goldstone Report which are listed

Edwin Bennatan, Alan Dershowitz, Grappling with Goldstone - how Israel should respond, Caroline Glick

It is worthy to note that the daily presses don’t seem to have made a big deal of it and the US has criticised the report. We can only hope enought sensible individuals realise what a “piece of work” it is.

Although a harsh and biased anti-Israel report by Goldstone’s Human Rights Council Report on the Gaza war was expected,  the panel outdid itself in its defamatory language against Israel.  According to this Jerusalem Post article,

“An initial Foreign Ministry promise to “read the report carefully” transformed quickly into “nausea and fury,” in the words of ministry spokesman Yossi Levy.” …”Israel has examined itself in the light of day in innumerable investigations and a robust system of independent courts,” said Levy. “We have nothing to be ashamed of, and don’t need lessons in morality from a committee established by Syria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Somalia.”

Israel is “nauseated and furious about a report that did not surprise us in its imbalance, but did surprise us in the lack of any real pretense to balance,” he said, calling it “one of the most disgraceful documents in the long collection of shameful documents put out by the United Nations.”

“The immediate message of this report is: Terror pays. It says that terrorists who attack Jews, unlike terrorists who attack Americans, Spaniards, or other Arabs, will earn the protection of the UN,” he said.

While relative quiet is now present in Sderot - representing a significant improvement from the intolerable situation prior to “Operation Cast Lead” the events and moral and legal ramifications of the Gaza War continue to be followed with intense international interest - generally producing more heat than light. 

It is therefore welcome to read an accounting by Israel of its role in Gaza.  Before reviewing this important document, though, any discussion of what recently happened in Gaza first has to acknowledge a context where previous and ongoing conflicts, including ones waged by Australia, Britain and the USA, and many other countries, have resulted in far more civilian casualties and far less media interest, than that shown towards Israel’s actions in Gaza. 

Any individual who minimises his/her own countries’ actions but is eager to criticise Israel, has to consider what it means to be a hypocrite or as Bob Marley says, Dip for diplomatic, ‘Yp for hypocratic.

Also, one has to acknowledge that even Human Rights Watch, no friend of Israel, has slammed, in a 31 page report, the unlawful acts of Hamas.

The Israel summary, entitled  The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects,  was recently released by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is shown here. 

The comprehensive document includes a section providing insight into the legal aspects related to the principle of “distinction” ie to not target the adversaries civilians,  and the principle of “proportionality”.

The Executive Summary is reproduced below: