The news over the holiday weekend in Israel was disturbing, tragic, and confusing. As a community we mourn the loss of life and pray for the healing of the wounded. The videos of Israeli soldiers being lowered into the Turkish lead ship and then being beaten, stabbed, and thrown overboard, was horrifying to witness. The Israeli Army had announced that they would be boarding the ships in order to escort them to the Israeli port city Ashdod, where the contents of the ship would go through a security check for illegal weapons and other contraband and then all food and medical supplies would be shipped over land by Israelis into the Gaza Strip. With this in mind, Israeli soldiers boarded all ships peacefully, except for the lead ship, from which a band of terrorist and criminals beat them. The Israelis did not have weapons drawn. They first attempted paint pellets to subdue the crowd, then pistols at the feet of the crowd, and then as they feared for their lives, the situation escalated. There is clearly much to be learned in the following days about the details of the planning and execution of this mission.
Please do not lose sight of the reasons for the blockade in Gaza. The Gaza Strip is led politically by Hamas, which was democratically elected by the Gazans. Hamas is a terrorist organization with links to Al-Qaeda, who has vowed the complete unequivocal destruction of Israel. Prior to the complete withdraw of Israeli civilians and military in Gaza, the Israeli border towns were under siege for years by rockets, which still periodically fall in cities like Sederot. For more information on the toll of an entire generation of Sederot, run a search on youtube, using that as a keyword.
I repeat my customary caution, that if you rely on American based media, you are likely not to hear the whole story. I find it to be of the highest obligation of a Jew in the free country of America to stay informed and therefore not to become apologetic and defensive based on sound bites. Below is a link from writer and thought-leader, Daniel Gordis, whose blog I always find insightful. In addition, there is a link to a website which will show you Israeli media, in English and Hebrew, both on the politically left to the politically right spectrums.
http://danielgordis.org/2010/05/31/facebook-meets-the-flotilla/
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/05/31/idf.nightvision.cnn?hpt=T2