Tracking The Miriam-Heading For The Gaza Strip

08/23/2010

The propaganda war continues as Ehud Barak is seeking an intervention from American and French authorities to lean on Greece and Lebanon to prevent the "flotilla" to Gaza being launched from any port in either country. "Flotilla" in this context would mean a "small fleet or collection of small craft" according to an online dictionary I just referenced. The United States Navy defines it differently, and the tonnage of the ships is also a distinguishing factor in the appropriate usage, but flotilla is always used to refer to a plurality of water craft. The single ship Miriam is not a flotilla. Distortions such as this are most likely used for propaganda purposes, or it could be that Ehud Barak is still haunted by his mishandling of the last group of ships to try to bring aid to Gaza, the so called "Freedom Flotilla", which resulted in at least nine dead.

The Miriam is bringing it's own flourishes to this adventure. The all women crew consists of one extremely pregnant woman, supposedly. The ship is being prevented from leaving Lebanon, since israel is at war with Lebanon, and whether the war was justified or not, it is totally justifiable to prevent ships emanating from an enemy port to run a blockade, whether the blockade is even legal or not.

The wildcard in this mix is the extremely pregnant woman.This is where the true public relations nightmare begins. This ship is named for the mother of Jesus, has only women on board, and is delivering humanitarian aid. As always, Israel will do whatever they feel like doing, and I do mean feel. Thought does not seem to be involved here. Whatever they do, they will most likely get away with it this time. The American Press is in the tank for Israel, and American politicians are mainly on board as well. The current system brooks no rebellion against this order of things. Chuck Schumer has infamously stated that Israel needs to put the Gaza Strip on a diet. People write books about the so called Israeli Lobby's influence on America, but less explored is the detrimental effect of the American Lobby on Israeli policies.

 To become a truly proficient chess player, at some point you have to stop relying on talent and start memorizing games. Although Israel will survive the onslaught of The Miriam, how it handles this will point to how well it learns the lessons of history, or if it even cares to make an attempt to do so. It's like smoking, one cigarette or even 100 packs won't kill you, it is the habitual use of tobacco over a long period of time that debilitates.

08/22/2010

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack is taking a hard line on the all women crew and passengers of the Bolivian ship "Miriam", which is headed for the Gaza Strip this weekend in an effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, stating that the purpose of the ship is to "kill Israeli civilians. While this statement is in fact risible considering the source, a man who threatened the Palestinian people with a "Shoah", or Holocaust at one point, in fairness, the Israeli perspective should be given some serious consideration.

This is not to say that the "Israeli perspective" is this homogeneous blob-it isn't. Plenty of Israelis object to the Gaza Blockade, but since Ehud Barack is calling the shots, his perspective must be endorsed by the majority of Israeli voters. Plenty of Americans objected to slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and presently object to abortion, as many Germans would have objected to the Nazi-Era Gas chambers, if they had been aware of them. Many Palestinians promote peace, but every nation must suffer collective guilt for it's actions.

So, back to the Israeli perspective. If I understand it correctly, The Miriam, named for The Virgin Mary, must be stopped because by the old "slippery slope" theory, the next ship will be the one that contains weapons of some sort. The Israelis know this ship carries only humanitarian aid, as they knew the last ship they intercepted carried no weapons. On that occasion, they killed eight Turkish Nationals and one American citizen, allegedly shooting the American in the head four times in international waters (the above linked article is in error, saying nine Turks were killed). This act of terrorism has not detered the women of the Miriam.

Peaceful protest, if done correctly, makes for extremely effective propoganda, and a country like Israel, which relies heavily on donations, should probably consider what attacking a ship named after The Virgin Mary full of women delivering humanitarian aid to the dispossessed Palestinians is going to do to it's international image. Americans are experiencing a propoganda war from both sides of the Israeli-Arab conflict, and this small ship could be a catalyst in in eliminating support for Israel's desire for America to attack Iran, or at least bear the brunt of any Iranian counterattack caused by an Israeli bombing run.

if this is the case, then while I loathe the idea of the women of the Miriam's martyrdom, an Israeli overreaction could be exactly what is required to block the War Party's momentum on Iran, and hence, the enemy after that, whoever that might be.

So blaze away Israel. The whole world is watching. Let's see some more swashbuckling footage of IDF soldiers swinging onto the ship by ropes etc., attacking a ship full of women. That's what pirates do, right?

A sane nation would insist on it's own inspectors from the point of departure, and a few IDF observers being allowed to ride along with the aid ships to prevent weapons from being snuck aboard somehow. The egocentric nation of Israel refuses to believe that any conflict can be viewed without the Israeli perspective as the primary frame of reference. In a world with a population heading for 8 billion, good luck with that attitude in a country the size of Puerto Rico. The trouble is, Israel has been too successful in teaching the world about the Holocaust, and now the world feels queasy watching the Israelis threaten another one against Palestine. 

*After a bit more reading, I have switched to "Miriam". There is another derivative of the name, "Maryam", but Miriam seems more correct, although it is