Der sicherheitspolitische Korrespondent von Haaretz, Yossi Melman, macht einen interessanten Punkt, indem er die israelische Regieurng daran erinnert, dass es auch für Juden einmal wichtig war, eine Blockade zu durchbrechen:
Despite having its eyes wide open, Israel fell into a trap. Israel knew that the organizers of the flotilla wanted to present the Israel Defense Forces to the world as an army that does not hesitate to use force. The flotilla organizers wanted deaths, casualties, blood and billows of smoke. And this is exactly what Israel gave them.
Every child knows that the conflict here is one of consciousness,images, emotion and gut-feelings; not one of justice or logic. Therefore, Israel should have acted differently.
Israels decision-makers should have revived memories of Israels own history. It shows just how short a historical memory the prime minister, defense minister, chief of staff, and Navy commander all have. They dont remember the story of the Exodus ship in 1947.
The British Mandate authorities imposed a blockade on the shores ofthe land of Israel and Jewish leaders believed it was their right and their duty to break it. The Jewish immigrants on the Exodus decided to forcefully oppose every attempt to stop them. The Jewish leadership wanted to arouse the worlds conscience and gain a victory in the
battle for international sympathy.
In our day, Hamas leaders believe and act similarly. Without getting into the question of the justification or logic of the blockade imposed by Gaza and its residents, it was indeed clear that it was only natural that Hamas would try to break the blockade by force. They have been doing this by means of the smuggling tunnels and via the sea. It was clear that they saw it as their natural right to oppose attempts to stop the ships.
(
)Israel has played into Hamas hands. Its not the fault of the young soldiers who obeyed the orders of their commanders. The responsibility lies with the cabinet and the military planners.
No matter how one looks at the conduct of the Israeli government and the IDF, it is hard to understand how stupid and tragic it was. Time and again, Israel tries to prove that what cant be solved by force can be solved by more force. Over and over, the policies of force fail. The problem is that with each failure, the part of the world in which we would like to belong is losing patience with us.
- selbstkritik ist nie falsch, besonders wenns um menschenleben geht.
