The Gaza flotilla

“A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.”

- Baltasar Gracian

"Woe to the country that discounts the efficacy of force. Without it Israel would not be able to survive a single day. But we cannot allow ourselves to forget for even a moment that force is effective only as a preventative — to prevent the destruction and conquest of Israel, to protect our lives and freedom. Every attempt to use force not as a preventive measure, not in self-defense, but instead as a means of smashing problems and squashing ideas, will lead to more disasters..."

- Amoz Oz, New York Times Op-Ed.

"The government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River... The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel's existence, security and national needs."

- Likud Policy Statement

Among the people killed on the Gaza Flotilla:

"The results (alleged by autopsy in Turkey) revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, also a US citizen, was shot five times from less than 45 centimetres away, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot in the back of the head or in the back."

Don't care? Well I do. Sorry.

"Two years after World War II, a rustbucket American steamship renamed Exodus 1947 sailed from France with 4515 Jews on board. Most were Holocaust survivors, bound for a new life in the Promised Land, then the British Mandate of Palestine.

The British refused to accept them as immigrants and stopped the ship off the Palestine coast. Three people were killed when the Royal Navy boarded it by force and sailed it to the port of Haifa. The Exodus 1947 Jews were eventually sent back to occupied Germany, of all places.

This was a priceless propaganda coup in the fight for an independent Jewish homeland. There was a tremendous international outcry. The novel Exodus, by Leon Uris, a bestseller based on the story of the ship... cemented the idea of Israel in the Western political and cultural imperative."

- Mike Carlton, The Age Opinion

"On me, on us, the young men of Israel, rests the duty of keeping our country safe. This is a heavy responsibility, which matures us early... I do not regret what I have done and what I'm about to do. I'm convinced that what I am doing is right. I believe in myself, in my country and in my future"

- Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli commando killed in action, age 30, during the hostage-rescue mission Operation Entebbe in Uganda, 1976.
His younger brother is is the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

For the record I (magpie) am pro-Israel, within the bounds of justice, decency and humanity. My view of the flotilla incident is not simple.

People who prefer simple views... should consider religion.

Addition:
For the first time ever, someone has suggested that I am anti-Semitic. Of course I reject that utterly.
I have criticized any number of things that any number of countries have done, yet it's not usually suggested that I'm racist for that.