Living in the Middle East I see a lot more news about Gaza than I did in France. Here it is a huge story. And of course there is only one ‘right’ side from here.
I am becoming increasingly pro-Palestinian. Obviously I do not condone terrorism or extremism in any form, but having heard about (and seen) the effects of the Gaza blockade, for example, or listened to my friend and former Telegraph man in Jerusalem Tim Butcher tell me the horrific stories of the Israeli bombardment in 2008, I feel very strongly that the people of Gaza need and deserve some good news.
It was heartbreaking to hear that aid destined to alleviate some of their suffering was cruelly snatched away last week with the yob-like attack of the humanitarian flotilla by the Israeli army.
Among those on the flotilla was the Swedish author Henning Mankell whom I have interviewed. He would never have been part of anything violent, however passionately he believes in the Gaza cause. The Israelis have got it badly wrong this time.
I hear the Irish are now sending a flotilla. I think every country across the globe should do the same. What will the Israeli army do when faced with thousands upon thousands of ships all bound for Gaza carrying food and peace activists.
I suppose they might go nuclear on them, but if there were some American ships among them they might think twice…..
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010
Oh, absolutely, Helena. Although it could be argued that they have a right to protect their country’s security, what the Israelis are doing by maintaining this siege on Gaza is nothing short of a crime against humanity. There have been some graphic reports in the European press of what conditions are currently like in Gaza and they make horrific reading, it’s Stalingrad in the sunshine. It will be interesting to see if the Irish ship gets through (I can’t spell her name but that woman from Belfast who won the Nobel Peace prize is on board) and wouldn’t it be interesting to see what would happen if an American ship joined the flotilla.
Hi all my mother’s comment keeps getting rejected so here it is…
snusmormor sa: BRAVISSIMA! We should all go!!!
Actually i popped in here to see if you had commented on the flotilla matter, just out of curiosity.
I don’t know if you know the meaning of jihad, the shift of the post-Ataturk Turks to Islam and therefore to an alliance with Iran (sworn to destroy Jews and Israel) and Syria. I dont’ know if you know the significance of the Jihadi cry of the Turkish IHH terrorists as they left Turket :Khaybar Khaybar O Jew, the army of Muhammad will return” – This is a war cry referring to the 7th century massacre of Jews by Muhammad and his troops.
I don’t know if you know that the IHH is a Muslim Brotherhood group like Hamas and Hizbollah that is devoted – like every MB-based group in the world – to a Grand Jihad to overthrow Western Society and replace it with Sharia law and that even Egypt outlawed it in the early 90s when it started bombing tourists there.
What I do know is that you have no effing idea about the Hamas control of Gaza, their forcible exertion of Sharia law in Gaza since december 2008 wherein they brought back sharia law, torture by crucifixion for those few Palestinians who dare to work for peace with Israelis.
Are you aware that Israel has LEFT Gaza, back in 2005?: That Hamas took over the greenhouses that were a source of income for Israeli and Palestinian workers alike and turned those money makers into training camps for terrorism and built smuggling tunnels underneath them and charge a “tunnel tax” on goods smuggled in from Egypt to the Gazans? Are you aware that Fatah and Hamas have killed and tortured each other for the last few years and created nmothing byut havoc for “their” people?
Are you aware of the 43 ambulancesd Hamas stole from gaza’s hospitals, painted them black and used them as capture vehicles to trap and torture Gaza’s inhabitants for whatever crimes they could think up?
Are you seriously that ignorant of all this, or are you simply the Guardian type of “journalist” that can barely use Google to work out what’s going on?
You live in Saudi Arabi for heaven’s sake, that still effectively has a slave population, that jails people for witchcraft and kissing in the street, not to mention has thobe-clad religious policemebn running around harassing women and you
can’t understand the basics of Islam that wants to turn the whole world into a dhimmi population?
how would you like to live under fire of thousands of rockets targeting you and your family, having to send your kids to school and make sure they’re within reach of a bomb shelter at all times because a bunch of Muslim Arabs can’t forget they invaded a country inhabited by Jews and Christians and want it back, like they want back Andalusia and every other land they once inhabited for five minutes.
This blockade running wa sa na ct of war by Turkey. Erdogan paid for and organised that MaviMarmara boat in conjunction with the IHH, every single one of whose Turkish jiahdis was atrained street fighter who wanted to die for jihad. You can see the clips on Turkish TV and look at the glee on their murderous facs ans they intone their delight at the propect of dying for Allah.
Transcripts of their speeches and philosophies are available on memri.org.
Forn your information, the complete deadshits on the flotilla boats are activists with the ISM ,another Hamas supporting group that pretends it’s for peace instead of death. However, I will say that the ‘civilians” on the nonTurkish boat did at least act like “peace” activists inso far as they did not attack the israeli soldiers who legitimately boarded them in the sea and took them to land.
I’m too angry to write further, but I will say this – i have read and enjoyed a couple of your books and had the impression that though the books were lighthearted, that you cared about exploring matters outside of your ken and took the trouble to delve a little deeper than normal. I’m partly angry becaseu i did enjoy them – now I’m just glad I didn’t pay for them. i was going to buy them after my initial reading, now i”ll just send the money to an israeli charity group – most of whom, by the way, cater to Palestinians as well as Israelis.
Gaza has full shops, tons of aid – 15000 tons of humanitarian aid goes in EVERY week from Israel alone. They are the RICHEST receivers of aid in the world, with jobs and study everywhere in the world. Their jihad, like the jihad of all Islamists, is financed by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria.Clearly you do not care about facts, even though it is ALL on the web.
Regarding Cate’s comment – i wouldn’t worry so much about an American ship joining the flotilla, since Americans are at the back of the Free Gaza movement. Fabulous, eh Cate?
Yessir,Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrm , patrons of the POTUS Obama are the ones who set up Free Gaza, in furtherance of their pro terrorist sentiments and as a continuation of their youthful terrorist activities as members of the Weather Underground.
So colourful, aren’t they Cate?
I also love how you say “it COULD be argued that they have a right to protect their security…” as if it’s all abstract.
It is the first duty of any country of any country to protect its citizens – full stop. that’s what Israel is doing.
if Hamas cared about its citizens a millionth a s amuch as it cared about its Islamic Jihad, no women in Gaza would have acid thrown in their faces for not wearing veils which happens all the time), the Christians would not have been run out fo Bethlehem (which has happened) and there would be much more prosperity in the place because Hamas would not be stealing water pipes, amojng other things, to make pipe bombs.
I’d love to see what either of you would do if rockets were bursting in your town, and your kids went to school with the prospect of death from jihadis killing them. I’m sure you’d be screaming at your government to protect YOU!
Jill, I pity you for being so full of hate. To blame the other guy does not create a peaceful world. To justify one bad action because of another bad action does not solve the problem, it only makes two bad actions. We are not solving anything with this attitude. You seem to me to be a victim of rather a lot of propaganda.
snusmormor,
You can’t even follow a train of thought, can you? A patronising attitude will not help you understand the geopolitics of the Middle East, or for the huge political changes going on in the world right now.
This is one of the few political posts on Helena’s blog and I have responded appropriately.
I do not approve of those paid for their journalistic skills to inform the public taking refuge in snobby comments as a substitute for information and explanations. It’s a yobbish thing to do!
What gets me is that we live in such an information-rich age, with the internet and its research goodies at our fingertips and i still have to read claptrap by people who prefer to sermonise instead of doing their job.
Well, that’s Helena’s privilege – this is her blog after all, and if she wants to come across as yet another turgid know- nothing, who am I to say her nay?
You’re not doing yourself much good either in the image department, Snusmormor. You come across as incredibly thoughtless. You really think your pomposity impresses me? Your attitude stinks.
There are plenty of names in my post – IHH, Erdogan, Hamas, Muslims brotherhood, Free Gaza, ISM Bill Ayres etc. I’ll bet you did not Google even a single one.
You’re not interested in this topic, clearly. Save the pity for yourself.