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Someone should have whispered in the ears of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his belligerent ministers that it is advisable for a country that has been fighting for two years on seven fronts to choose wisely when opening a new one. In this case, it would have been even more prudent when that country’s international reputation — after the killing and destruction it has inflicted on Gaza — is in tatters and it is more isolated than ever on the world stage.
In this case, then, what on earth possessed this government to send its navy to prevent a flotilla of 44 small vessels carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza from breaking Israel’s maritime blockade of more than 16 years, and then to arrest those on board and allegedly mistreat them?
In the power balance between a modern navy armed to the teeth and a flotilla of civilian boats carrying about 500 peace and human rights activists, the outcome of the clash between the two was never in doubt, but for what purpose?
More than anything else, the activists’ aim was to draw international attention to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza: the starvation, lack of medical supplies and, above all, the nonstop killing being inflicted by the Israeli military’s operations there. By overreacting, Tel Aviv has helped them succeed beyond their wildest dreams.
By overreacting, Tel Aviv has helped the activists taking part succeed beyond their wildest dreams
Yossi Mekelberg
A few dozen boats and several hundred activists bringing humanitarian aid to a place in desperate need of it might irritate Israel. It might even be a nuisance to its military in the midst of a war. And it might even think that Greta Thunberg, one of the better-known activists taking part in this flotilla, would be better off sticking to her day job of leading the global youth with her campaign against global warming. But this does not change the fact that these activists posed no danger to Israel’s security or that protesting is a legal activity.
As a democracy — admittedly, under Netanyahu and his bunch of autocrats, very much a struggling one — Israel is expected to respect civil society and political activism, however inconvenient this may be. And, when there are differences of opinion, to realize that it is better to engage with its opponents than attack them.
The activists on the boat were not naive enough to believe they could alleviate the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, let alone resolve it. They were making a political-humanitarian statement aimed at highlighting the urgent need to allow aid in adequate quantities to enter Gaza. Their protest was a creative and courageous act when faced with more than 2 million people enduring daily threats to their lives and being unsure where their next meal might come from.
A wiser government than the current Israeli one would have permitted the boats to reach Gaza, even helping them to offload the aid and allowing them a photo opportunity. Then, for the protesters’ own protection, to send them away from a dangerous military zone while expressing gratitude for their help.
But wisdom and nuance are not the characteristics of the Netanyahu government, while the use of military force, even when not required, unfortunately is. And to use it against the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail from Spain last month and was in international waters, was an illegal and unwise move.
Early last month, Netanyahu reportedly directly approved military operations against two of the vessels, which involved launching drones from a submarine and dropping incendiary devices on the boats while they were moored close to the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, causing fires to break out. This is despite the fact it is prohibited under international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict, in all circumstances, to use incendiary weapons against a civilian population or civilian objects.
Moreover, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea clearly stipulates that a nation’s territory does not extend beyond 12 nautical miles (19 km) from its shores, while the interceptions by Israeli security forces began some 70 nautical miles from the shores of Gaza. Furthermore, Gaza is not part of Israel and freedom of navigation is sacrosanct to the law of the sea.
There is much about this Israeli government’s policies that sticks in the craw. But beyond its extremely damaging policies, it also lacks basic good judgment and common sense — and it has become expert in shooting itself, and the country along with it, in the foot.
Beyond its extremely damaging policies, this Israeli government also lacks basic good judgment and common sense
Yossi Mekelberg
In the case of the latest flotilla, it was assembled after a previous one was intercepted by the Israelis and those on board were brought to Israel and then deported. The resulting adverse publicity for Tel Aviv encouraged some of those who were on the original flotilla to double their efforts with the current one. At one point, Italy and Spain deployed naval vessels to assist the boats because of the brazen approach Israel took against civilians. And tens of thousands of people took to the streets in major European cities to protest the interception of the flotilla and the blockade of Gaza. It is as if Israel’s mindless decisions are being made deliberately to cause maximum damage to the country’s reputation and to unite people the world over against it.
There is a prevalent argument that Israel has a very powerful public relations machine. But no spin doctor could make what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip look even partially defensible, and neither should it. Moreover, its obsessive-compulsive behavior of portraying everyone who dares criticize its policies as anti-Israeli or antisemitic, and then reacting disproportionately, is extremely damaging.
This was, for instance, the case when, earlier this year, two British lawmakers were refused entry to Israel on their arrival. The nation’s Population and Immigration Authority accused them, with no supporting evidence, of planning to “spread hate speech.” No speech that either of them could have delivered would have caused as much harm as the senseless decision to refuse entry to parliamentarians of a friendly country.
Israeli officials like to claim that all the world simply hates their country. Some probably do, but most are genuinely concerned with the horrors and the extreme suffering of innocent people, young and old, in Gaza. Israel might be cynically exaggerating, often inventing, the threat posed by its critics as a control mechanism and a tool to prop up national chauvinism, which is this government’s main tool for staying in power.
- Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg