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I think I surprised someone the other night when, in a casual conversation, I said in 1948 we should have given the Zionists Montana instead of a state in the Middle East. The person quite correctly replied Montana is not the land of their fathers. I continued with my impertinence. Where I live once belonged to Native-Americans. Would she propose I give my property back to the tribe that was here long before my father?
My comments were silly and represented nothing more than the frustration many of us feel about the failure to bring peace to the Middle East. I have been a staunch supporter of Israel in this column, but the latest incident where Israelis boarded a Turkish flagged vessel, the Mavi Marmara, and killed nine civilians has me at my wits end.
I am not naive. I am well aware that back in 2000 then-President Bill Clinton brokered a deal that would have brought peace to this troubled part of the world, but Yasser Arafat — the president of the Palestinian National Authority who passed away in ’04 — turned his back on it. I am also aware after the Israelis left Gaza, the Hamas response was to fire rockets into Israel. It also is true that the world holds Israel to a higher standard. North Korea sank a South Korean ship killing 39 people and the world yawned. And yes, it seems to me that the intention of the activists on board the Mavi Marmara was to provoke Israel into a violent response. If I understand all of this, how then can I criticize Israel, you might well ask.
Israel’s actions in enforcing the blockade of Gaza were no different than President John F. Kennedy’s blockade of Cuba. But even though the blockade is in my opinion, a legitimate act of self-defense, Israel cannot afford to be stupid. The so-called peace activists set a trap and Israel was blind enough to step into it. The Israelis should have known it was a trap, yet they were caught totally unprepared. Instead of opening fire to thwart the pole-wielding protesters, the Israelis should have been able to use Tasers and tear gas or been able to disable the ship’s propellers and gain control of the situation.
Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel acts as if it doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks. It acts as if it doesn’t matter. Israel acts as a Lone Ranger because it believes it is alone and without friends, so whatever it does, world opinion will be against it anyway. But Israel cannot afford the luxury of disillusionment.
It cannot survive isolated in a hostile world. Israel does have friends in the West, including the United States, but it is making it increasingly difficult for those friends to defend it. Israel’s actions last week undercut its own national security, not strengthened it. By ticking off Turkey, it loses its best chance for leverage against Iran getting a nuclear bomb.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza has gone on for three years without achieving its purpose. The blockade has not removed the influence of Hamas. If anything, it has distracted the inhabitants of Gaza from fully realizing the incompetence of their government as they rally around Hamas.
The blockade has not freed the Israeli soldier who was taken hostage three years ago. It has not even completely stopped the rockets being shot into the country. What it has accomplished instead is to focus on the plight of the inhabitants of Gaza who bear the everyday hardships imposed by the Israeli action.
Netanyahu misses the point when he falls back on arcane legalities. The world’s patience is not infinite. The world is weary of intransigence in the Middle East and even Israel’s staunchest friends are wary of Netanyahu’s sincerity.
It is no longer listening when Israel points out the Arabs were offered their own Palestinian state in 1948, but the Arabs refused, still deluded by the notion they could defeat Israel in war. All of that is past history. It is no more relevant than my fantasy that we could go back to ’48 and make Montana a refuge for the Jewish people.
It is not enough that the blockade of Gaza is legal. It is no longer smart. It is not enough that in my reading of the facts, Israel had every right to board the Turkish vessel and search for weapons. The way Israel went about it was not smart. History shows that protesters often try to provoke the other side into violence to gain public sympathy. It is what happened in ’68 at the Democratic Convention in Chicago’s Lincoln Park when the police allowed themselves to be drawn into a riot while the whole world was watching.
It is not a matter of legality that has further isolated Israel; it is the stupidity of its current leadership. There is an old saying when deciding whether a response is proportionate — you don’t bring a gun to a knife fight. Israel brought guns to the fight on the Mavi Marmara last week. Now it is paying a dangerous price.
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