Israel Lost at Sea (Haaretz)

[ChangoLoa]

A Special Place in Hell / The Second Gaza War: Israel lost at sea

We are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege, which is itself becoming Israel's Vietnam.

By Bradley Burston
A war tells a people terrible truths about itself. That is why it is so difficult to listen.

We were determined to avoid an honest look at the first Gaza war. Now, in international waters and having opened fire on an international group of humanitarian aid workers and activists, we are fighting and losing the second. For Israel, in the end, this Second Gaza War could be far more costly and painful than the first.

In going to war in Gaza in late 2008, Israeli military and political leaders hoped to teach Hamas a lesson. They succeeded. Hamas learned that the best way to fight Israel is to let Israel do what it has begun to do naturally: bluster, blunder, stonewall, and fume.

Hamas, and no less, Iran and Hezbollah, learned early on that Israel's own embargo against Hamas-ruled Gaza was the most sophisticated and powerful weapon they could have deployed against the Jewish state.

Here in Israel, we have still yet to learn the lesson: We are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel's Vietnam.

For more:
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/a-special-place-in-hell-the-second-gaza-war-israel-lost-at-sea-1.293246

[leveymg]

1. The Israeli right-wing and military do more harm to the Israeli people than Hamas ever could

This is suicide by massacre. Just about the stupidest thing the Israeli military could have done, short of bombing Iran.

There are no words for such criminally insane stupidity.

[SoDesuKa]

2. Dump Israel

We're not doing the Israelis any favors by enabling their drunken leadership. It will take more than a reprimand from Hillary Clinton this time.

Dump Israel. It's no longer a civilized country.

[kayecy]

3. History repeats itself but this time it is Israel stopping the ships!.....

Extract from the New York Times, Dec 23rd 2009:

"The President Warfield, the Exodus 1947, as it was formally renamed, was acquired by the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organization, in 1946. The group planned to use it to transport refugees, most of them Holocaust survivors, to Palestine, then under British control.

The refugees had no legal authority to enter Palestine, and the British were determined to block the ship. In the battle that ensued, three Jews aboard the Exodus were killed."

[BlueMTexpat]

4. Interestingly, that was one of my own first thoughts. nt

[ChangoLoa]

7. The irony of all this situation is screaming. nt

[BlueMTexpat]

5. Deleted as dupe

[backscatter712]

6. Ooops, wrong thread. Delete.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Israel's Occupation is the most effective recruiting tool for Al Qaeda

and it is our troops, AMERICAN TROOPS, that are put at increasing risk every time Israel does something bad with the imprimatur of her whores in US Congress.