The Israeli Government seems to hope that false ,flowery rhetoric outmuscles images and emotional content. Unfortunately it seems to have reinforced their error rather than relieve.

Is it possible also that here is another dig at POTUS by deliberately bringing up the inflammatory language of the pre 1960s South? The timing of the flotilla fiasco also seems particularly odd, given that there was supposed to be a warm-let-bygones-be-bygones tete-a-tete today at the White House. Is this another miscalculation too? Or a deliberate kick-dust-in-the-face -of-negotiated settlement sabotage along the same lines as the Biden snub.

There is also an interesting dichotomy here that the argument could be made that the whole situation was equally a gaffe and/or completely premeditated.

Amazing.

Strictly speaking lynch is defined as: "put to death by mob action without legal sanction." Since Israelis were killed, by a legally unsanctioned "mob," it is not technically incorrect in to use the word "lynch" in connection with those deaths. This is a clever use of semantics for propaganda purposes, because Israelis rarely lynch (they only assassinate ("target militants"), massacre children ("unavoidable collateral damage" of "human shields") etc. ). The only real surprise would be if the teams of dedicated propagandists and professional deceit fabricators had NOT come up with some usable rhetoric sleight of hand by now.

To MJ's point about the (probably also deliberate) mis-association of the flotilla incident with America's dark past of racial lynchings, I would only note ironically that the Youtube video (also linked to above) of the Israelis outside the Turkish embassy, draped in great masses of mostly white flags and bathed in bright lights, DOES remind one of the torches, sheets, and hoods of KKK rallies and lynch mobs.

Another great article! As @letthesunshinein mentions a post above mine, the list of items that are actually allowed vs what the Economist published are immense. A wonderful blog by @jdledell here at TPM told of his frustrations at trying to donate and get wheelchairs through the blockade. If anyone has not read it - they really need to.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/j/d/jdledell/2010/05/israel---youve-gone-too-far-th.php

It is imperative that more people are made aware of the forced "Diet" in Gaza.

Look forward to your next article.

From NY Times on the 1947 boarding of the Jewish refugee boat Exodus heading towards Palestine:
------------------------------------------------
The refugees had no legal authority to enter Palestine, and the British were determined to block the ship. In the battle that ensued, three Jews aboard the Exodus were killed. The ship’s passengers — more than 4,500 men, women and children — were ultimately deported to Germany.

The attack and its aftermath, which focused attention on the plight of many European Jews after the war, made headlines worldwide and helped marshal support for an Israeli state. [...]

Captain Ahronovitch was 23 when he took the helm of the Exodus. On July 11, 1947, he picked up the refugees at Sète, in southern France. On July 18, as the ship neared the coast of Palestine, the British Navy intercepted it. Captain Ahronovitch tried to break through, but two British destroyers rammed the ship.

Several hours of fighting followed, with the ship’s passengers spraying fuel oil and throwing smoke bombs, life rafts and whatever else came to hand, down on the British sailors trying to board, The Times reported at the time. Soon the British opened fire. Two immigrants and a crewman on the Exodus were killed; scores more were wounded, many seriously. The ship was towed to Haifa, and from there its passengers were deported, first to France and eventually to Germany, where they were placed in camps near Lübeck.

If the official IDF version is close to truth, then the tactics were peculiar, to put it gentlycommandoes were armed with a combination of purely psychological paintball guns and lethal machine weapons (or something like that), rather than a combination of riot gear and lethal weapons. That means that they had no non-lethal options in a case of active unarmed resistance.

Just to compare, South Korea is well known of violent demonstrations, and authorities apply a combination or riot gear and martial arts.

Another aspect is that they landed at the time and spot of their choosing, on a very crowded ship, and, surprise! they were outnumbered. But IDF chose how many commandoes to send, and how quickly they should proceed. After securing the highest deck, they could patiently drop, say, 100 commandoes who could then proceed slowly, with their backs covered, perhaps with some warning shots, and protected by riot gear. And of course they could proceed in a truly normal fashion, namely, approach the ship, officially demand a change of course, and if unheeded, disable the propeller. Basically, since the target was unarmed, the operation was a big version of stopping a vehicle.

And we are talking about slowly moving vehicle which is easy to disable from outside and that most assuredly cannot shoot back. And with no element of surprise.

However, I would not be overly hasty in postulating "more incompetence than malevolence". It was not "Keystone cops" kind of incompetence. The underlying assumption of the tactics was "if they resists then we will shoot them down". Remember, the official version of Israel, one that they actually believe, is that the flotilla was violent and terrorist. And a good terrorist is a dead terrorist, so an opportunity to spray the deck with bullets is a bonus rather than a flaw.

The very next day an American girl lost an eye because she was hit by tear gas cannister near Jerusalem. It was documented on videos that Israelis use tear gas lancher as a way to target bodies of the protesters. Many cases or direct hits in the head were reported. By the way of contrast, I never heard about that happening elsewhere. Basically, ordinarily police makes no attempt to shoot tear gas directly at people.

Perhaps the media is biased, and, say, Iran, also uses tear gas in that fashion. But I doubt it.

Last point. Security forces in Israel deal with two kinds of riots: Palestinian/pro-Palestinian and "ultra-religious Jews" or settlers. And the means applied could not be more different. Neither set of tactics betrays a lot of competence, but one set is definitely malicious.

RE: ...Israeli spokespersons are obviously under orders to use the term "lynching" - M.J.
MY COMMENT: Dershowitz!

What's the distinction. Lynch. attack. Peace protestors. What the hell does it matterwhat language is used?

Is there a distinction between lynch and attempted lynch?

Watch the video. Israelis are attacked, stabbed, kicked, beaten, then thrown off the ship. The Israelis shot and killed about 10 of the activists. Am I missing something here. Does an attempted lynch or a lynch depend on race, creed, eye color?

There was a famous lynching of a Jewish white man in Georgia that was made into a movie. Several years back, two Israeli soldiers were murdered and had their hearts removed and there bodies thrown out of a window in Ramalah. Were they lynched?

The first I heard who called it a lynching was an injured IDF soldier. Yes, he was not lynched. His point, I believe, is he was about to be lynched, or an attempted lynch.

Sort of the difference between "a shooting" or "a killing." Seems to me Jews, Muslims, and Christians, white and blacks have all been lynched at one point or another, unless my eyes need to be checked.

I thought hanging was the traditional punishment for pirates.

This was piracy by an Israeli vessel. Didn't it occur in International waters? Was it legal to rapple down onto the ship? is it any different, legally, from someone entering your house without permission? Aren't you at liberty to defend yourself when you are invaded by a helicopter and soldiers dropping onto your ship?

Prosecute the Israeli murderers.

And the United States needs to curtail sending aid to this aggressive rogue nation of Israel. It is a public relations nightmare for our nation of America. Cut Israel loose, Obama. I'll support you, and so will my family of hardworking Americans who love their country and its values.

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