Israeli gunboats are headed out to sea. Avigdor Lieberman calls the flotilla a pure provocation. And what is a siege of 1.5 million people, but a challenge to mankind...
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By “any cost” he means any cost to be borne by the Palestinians and their supporters.
Sounds like another big hit for Israel on you tube. Nothing generates support for Israel more than the IDF attacking civilians.
Watch this Al-Jazeera report on Israel’s PR campaign against the flotilla. Excellent. Why isn’t Al-Jazeera allowed on US cable TV? Goddamit.
link to pulsemedia.org
“Why isn’t Al-Jazeera allowed on US cable TV? ”
Because the reporters, producers, and owners of Al-Jazeera are not interested in rubbing shoulders with Americn rulers.
Although it may be the only place in the US where it is available, Aljazeera is available on cable in Fairfax County, VA.
Olive, the ADL and AIPAC got banned Al-Jazeera on cable generally. Cox. Comcast, Time-Warner.
link to variety.com
link to washingtonpost.com
“got banned Al-Jazeera?”
got Al-jazeera banned.
There was a similar effort by the Jewish/Israel lobby in Canada to ban Al-Jazeera. They didn’t succeed in it however, and it is aired on cable from what I have heard.
It’s a shame that America didn’t get it, but its obvious why the Zionist lobby didn’t want it: it breaks the Hasbara hegemony over the Western perception of the conflict.
LOL unbelievable, Israel using years old footage to justify atrocities in Gaza, again! Al Jazeera rocks.
You can see Al-Jazeera. Not on cable TV, but on the internet. Install livestation
link to livestation.com
and you can watch Al-Jazeera (and other stuff) using your broadband connection.
I have a very simple, sincere question: If conditions in Gaza are as the Israeli government is saying, then why not let the news media in to see for themselves?
NN – thanks for that link, great! They also have software clients for mobile devices, well one anyway :-) Live Al Jazeera on the go, not.
You forget that the US media is the non-public Israel Lobby including print and broadcast media ranging from NPR, and the New York Times, to commercial and cable TV. The FCC works for the Lobby, not against it just as the Interior Department works for BP and not against it. Politicians kowtow to the media out of fear, a never ending media blitz which is vastly more expensive and effective weapon than the public Israel Lobbby, including AIPAC, can ever hope to match. We need a Walsh and Mearsheimer to provide the working details of how this truly sinister secret US Israel Lobby works to poison the minds of not just Americans but of people around the world.
Lieberman was never a smart person, and never will be one.
Instead of issuing such dramatic statements, Israel could have easily bombed the flotilla and then claimed that it had mistaken it for a Somali pirate ship. It worked with the USS Liberty (albeit with different parties involved). Why shouldn’t it work now?
I had already posted this on the flotilla thread earlier today but it’s better suited for this one as it describes what’s on Lieberman’s mind:
Some of you may be familiar (Haaretz Talkback) with the name of Dr Ben Alofs from Wales that did a lot of work in caring for the Palestinians. In August 2008 with the planned (I think) first ship to break the siege, Dr Alofs had some sound advice to the activitists based on his own Cyprus experience when he tried to make such an attempt 20 years earlier; he posted the following on Haaretz Talkback which considering Israel’s history of dirty tricks could still apply to the current activists on Cyprus:
“… Title: Advice to the organizers: guard your ship around the
clock!!!
Name: ben alofs
City: Bangor State: North Wales, UK
In February 1988 Palestinian refugees from 1948 along with international journalists and sympathizers, of whom I was one, were due to board a ship, called al-Awda, the Return, in Limassol, Cyprus. The unarmed merchant vessel had been hired by the PLO.
The aim was to sail to Haifa, drop anchor and face Israel with the choice: letting the Palestinian refugees land ashore and exercise their Right of Return, starve them aboard or sink the ship.
Israel was in so much fear of this potentially great embarassment, that it sent a squad of Mossad agents to Cyprus. After killing 3 guards they then proceeded to blow up the hull of the ship in Limassol harbour, making it impossible for the ship to go to sea.
There is a serious risk that this may happen again. I would urge the organizers and participants to be very vigilant around the clock. Israel will go to any length to prevent this ship from leaving port!!!
Wow, never heard about this before. Thanx Walid. “al-awda” googles the organisation, and more good readings too.
eGuard, here’s a bit more on it picked up from Wiki; Lieberman must be thinking back to 1988 ad how Israel would have handled the coming embarrassment; when a madman starts saying that Israel must stop the flotilla at any cost, you have to worry what other mad men in the Israeli navy are likely to do:
“… As Time reported, “Israel officially denied complicity in the car bombing but hardly bothered to conceal its role in disabling the ferry”[3] and suspicions of Israeli involvement were further reinforced when Israeli Transport Minister Chaim Corfu threatened that, if a further attempt was made by the PLO, “its fate will be the same”.[5] Fuad al-Bitar, Athens representative of the PLO told an Athens news conference that “it is clear that the only one interested” in the sabotage was Israel.[4]. In July 2008, Haaretz referred to this attack, without admitting Israeli responsibility, in the context of the threatened[8] but ultimately successful “Free Gaza” breaking of Israel’s siege of Gaza.[9]
Really. I know Wiki, but I did not even think about a Wiki-search on “al-awda”. You know, I know, on Wiki “Nakba” is redirected to “1948 Palestinian exodus“. That says it all.
As does googling “ben alofs”, a doctor who worked in Sabra and Shatila then in September 1982.
Reminds me of the French sinking the Rainbow Warrior (the Greenpeace ship) in New Zealand in the mid 80s. It was a PR disaster for France – any actions on this fleet would be the same. How many more activists would suddenly get involved in the Palestinian struggle if Israel were to strike one of these ships?
This is what a proud-to-kill Palestinians site says on that sinking in 1988:
“Israeli government representatives neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of Israeli involvement.”
Coming from Israel that’s a rock solid admission of guilt.
It’s what happens when you make a common goon
the foreign minister of your nation. I’m surprised he
didn’t call the Flotilla the ‘SS Hitler’ yet. Then his
chorus-line of parrots in the US could have something
to tweet.
In Ha’aretz Lieberman is quoted as calling the flotilla “violent.” Now the Israeli Navy can meet this “violence” with lethal force, if necessary.
The meme that the unarmed humanitaran aid flotilla started at hasbara central of course, Israels MFA:
link to mfa.gov.il
The MFA spokesmen: “Ships forcing their way violently into Gaza…”
Watch the video, just the first 10 seconds. Read the transcript below:
“Ships forcing their way into Gaza… ”
Seems they can’t up their mind, it’s violent / or is it.
Sharp point Sumud. The transcript omits his spoken word “violence”. What a load of housework we have to do each time Israel govt says something or anything.
reminds me of the saying ‘a pickpocket only sees your pockets.’
a violent person/country can only see violence…
In the ynet article, Lieberman says that “the flotilla is an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel” (link to ynetnews.com
“Violent propaganda”? Sounds like Israel is preparing to respond with “peaceful military force.” Ah, I see Elliot is already on this.
it is provocative to draw attention to the plight of the palestinians and gaza… indeed if you’re wanting to enforce silence on this issue, anyone raising it will be considered ‘provocative’ by these demented zionists, not to mention the ones who don’t think they’re racist…
I thought it was maximalist.
Paul Woodward – link to warincontext.org
has video of an Al Jazeera programme on Gaza. Part of it, towards the end, shows an Israeli propaganda film about the famous gourmet restaurant in Gaza, showing fine food and distinguished diners sitting down, ready to tuck in. One of the diners is clearly Mohammed Abbas, who hasn’t set foot in Gaza since at least 2006. His escort into the restaurant appears to be Dr Haidar Abdel Shafi, who died in Sept 2007.
link to youtube.com
did you see Lord Lucan in the back?
RE: “Avigdor Lieberman calls the flotilla a pure provocation.” – Weiss
MY COMMENT: So much pro-Palestinian incitement, so few Israeli gunboats!
It’s 7:00am local time, (GMT +8hrs) so that is 001:00, Saturday morning, East Mediterranean time (GMT +2hrs). By my reckoning, that’s 6:00 pm, Friday evening, in New York. (Eastern Time GMT -5hrs)
Paul Woodward’s live videos link to livestream.com
from the large Turkish ferry are filling in with unrehearsed and unedited Turkish and Arabic interviews, and are obviously having technical difficulties. The flotilla is having mechanical problems, too, and have so far lost 3 ships. Sabotage is suspected.
I suspect the IDF will want to do its dirty work at their usual time for night raids (3am local Israeli time, 8pm the previous day in New York) so perhaps expect something at that time.
But the ships are only trying to assemble off Cyprus (it’s difficult to tell from the live streams whether they are moving or not).
If the IDF have any sense (which I suspect they haven’t) they’ll wait until the Flotilla is moving, and attack in broad daylight when most US TV channels are dead, giving plenty of time for the morning US news shows to massage the incoming video.
Here you go Richard:
link to witnessgaza.com
Has a feed of the Free Gaza twitter feed to keep updated. They linked to an article at Ynet a few hours ago, it stated departure is delayed til Saturday AM, specifically to avoid entering Israeli [sic] waters at night:
link to ynetnews.com
It’s a real shame the MV Rachel Corrie is out, I guess she can participate in the next (10th) flotilla.
Live video feeds have gone dead. I suspect Israeli nerd hackers who have plenty of experience in setting up computer viruses, etc.
If anyone knows what ‘Sinyal Yok’ (displayed over a blank screen) means, please advise. I have a gut feeling that it means ‘Signal Fucked’
According to Google it means “No Signal” in Turkish.
Yok is Turkish for none. Sinyal yok is ‘no signal’
A famous Arabic song uses it for rhyming purposes. “Winta khabar yok” (and no news from you)
“Sinyal Yok” is Turkish for “No Signal,” but that is just the computer message. The cause of the lost signal could be anywhere. I think it’s near certain that some combination of the Israeli government and pro-Israel hackers-bigots are trying to shut down any communication. With several ships and many people with cameras, it will require some effort by Israeli terror forces to bar any visuals or audio getting out.
It’s back on RP.
Gaza Sealift — How will Ethan Bronner, Isabel Kershner and The New York Times newspeak the Gaza Sealift to make it appear that Israel is acting out of “legitimate self-defense concerns” in blocking humanitarian aid?
It won’t be hard – they’ll just repeat what the IDF press office tells them.
Yup — they might even write it for the IDF press.
Israel jammed all communication between ships during the last two attempts to reach Gaza, so it is not surprising that world would loose the contact with Flotilla for a while.
acting like a true democracy, lol…
Watching earlier recorded live streams, I’ve just realised that the silly buggers who organised this flotilla have hired a day ferry, not a night one. There is not a single bunk bed in sight, but a huge array of seating and coffee tables. People are sleeping on the deck-viewing benches.
I expect many people reading this blog have waited at airports, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This boat is like a huge, very badly designed 1960s-designed airport
These activists are going to have to spend at least 12 hours of darkness aboard this floating airport terminal, and by the time they’ve finished, they’ll be perfect victims for the IDF. They’ll be washed out, stressed, and not capable of very much.
RE – Lieberman: Israel must stop flotilla ‘at any cost’
MY COMMENT: “Flotilla” like a butterfly, sting like a Bibi!