Max Ajl on Israel and the The Freedom Flotilla
I think that if the Israeli government were interested in perpetuating its apartheid for a little longer, it would let the boats in. The WHO—as mainstream as organizations get—has recently called on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza. John Ging has called for a sea-lift to bring supplies in, effectively putting UNRWA’s stamp-of-approval on the boats. The Israeli government, when it attacks the boats (and please asshole Zionist readers let me be wrong about this one!), will make an exceptionally bad scene for itself. Not quite at the level of the winter massacre. But it will look foolish. It will be making an unusually stark decision, choosing to ally itself with precisely no one, against nearly every government in the world, against mainstream civil society organizations that are far to the right of the Palestine solidarity movement. Israel could make itself look good by letting the boats in, with the help of stenographers like Ethan Bronner, but there is no way it will do so.
Furthermore, these ships have been searched again and again, and will be searched again and again, and carry wheelchairs, water purification devices. According to Israel Gaza is not occupied. It has no good reason not to let the boats in except to perpetuate a siege that is only working to weaken civil society and turn Gaza into a permanent, managed crisis. It has no good reason to not let the boats in except to enshrine the principle that it has the right to abuse an entire people willy-nilly. But Israel doesn’t need a good reason to be dumb about managing apartheid. It’s helmed by leadership so blind and stupid that they practically beggar belief. What could they have hoped to accomplish by barring Chomsky from entering the West Bank? Do they think that the counter flotilla, armed with banners reading, “Hamas Sucks,” and “The Armenian Genocide Happened!” make Israeli civil society look like anything but fools? If they had any interest in the symbolism of their actions they’d commandeer the counter-flotilla and ask them why they’re behaving so inanely. Publicizing their naval exercises in which half the Israeli navy is participating? Utilizing half of their war fleet to stop boats carrying diapers and dialysis machines? Come on now.
