IN THE SUMMER OF 2010, anti-Israel extremists and Turkish jihadists organized a flotilla to violate Israel’s legal naval blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Israeli Navy redirected five of the boats to the Israeli port of Ashdod without incident. However, those on the sixth boat refused to cooperate. When Israeli officers boarded the ship, the Turkish jihadists brutally attacked them with knives, metal bars, and guns.
Nine jihadists were killed. This year, the same anti-Israel extremists are planning another international flotilla, purportedly to bring humanitarian goods to Gaza. International leaders, from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to EU spokespersons, have urged the organizers to cancel the flotilla and instead use legally approved channels to deliver any goods to Gaza.
1. The flotilla campaign is not a humanitarian effort. It is a crude political stunt by provocateurs who want to force Israel into a violent response.
2. The flotilla organizers blatantly violate international law by trying to breach Israel’s legal maritime blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. As long as Hamas remains committed to armed conflict with Israel, Israel has the right to impose a blockade to prevent the importation of weapons.
3. Flotilla organizers intend to aid and support Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to the murder of Jews and the “obliteration” of Israel. Hamas is a proxy of the brutal Iranian regime. Providing material support for Hamas violates U.S. criminal and civil law, according to the U.S. State Department.
4. Flotilla organizers are not “nonviolent human rights activists.” They belong to extremist organizations that oppose the existence of the Jewish state and support terrorist groups that are dedicated to the violent destruction of Israel, such as Hamas.
5. If flotilla organizers were sincere about wanting to help Palestinians, they could easily send aid through approved Israeli and Egyptian entry points, as U.S. State Department officials have repeatedly said.
6. Gazans do not face a humanitarian crisis. They have ample supplies of basic necessities and consumer goods, are currently experiencing an economic boom, and have a higher standard of living than people in most of Africa and parts of Asia.
7. Hamas brutally repressive regime, not Israel, has caused the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
8. If flotilla participants really were peace and human rights activists, they would go where they are urgently needed today to Libya and Syria, where peaceful demonstrators face ruthless repression, torture, and murder.
9. Flotilla organizers violate one of the most basic rights: A nation’s right and responsibility to protect its people from enemies intent on murder.
10. International leaders, from the UN secretary-general to the U.S. State Department, oppose the flotilla as unnecessary and as a dangerous provocation.
