Israel Flaunts Int’l Law, Attacks Civilian Aid Flotilla
Ghadeer Malek - BASICS Issue #20 (July/Aug 2010)

The Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla that sailed to break the illegal siege on Gaza was not discrete nor was it intended to be. Israel, with the help of its complicit supporters of which Canada tops the list, has been trying to massage the media to make itself appear like the victim. However, the violence enacted aboard the ships of the flotilla was a clear attack on international activists and civil society actors in Israel’s attempt to deter any future attempts at solidarity with Gaza. And to that end, they stopped at nothing.

Fully armed IDF soldiers boarded the flotilla ships at 4:00am on May 30. They killed 19 humanitarian activists, injured 50 and held another hostage 600+ unarmed civilians on international waters. It was clear that Israel not only behaved with complete disregard to international laws, but it is also asserting itself as an exception to any human rights code of conduct. Israel’s meting out of collective punishment that night extended far out into international waters with the threat clearly not being Hamas but anyone willing to speak out on Israel’s violence.

While the Canadian media kept silent and only reported skewed figures of those killed and injured, the international media coverage allowed everyone across the world to witness first hand Israel’s terrorism on the Freedom Flotilla. To say the least civil society and a few state representatives around the world expressed their outrage. Yet Canada and other governments with close ties to Israel remain complicit with their silence and continued support through their public statements and political cushioning.

Since 1948, Israel has been building a Jewish-only state by bargaining away all international law and UN conventions holding them accountable for Palestinian human rights. This, the “international community” accepts and has become largely desensitized to this as Israel continues to use its massive propaganda machine to give itself the image of a normal state “just like everyone else”. The violence on the flotilla is far beyond race, ethnicity or religion: it is a threat to anyone and everyone who threatens Israel. The international community is now no longer speaking in defense of the Palestinian struggle, it is in response to an attack on the international community itself. If anything positive came out of the flotilla events, then it is the unmasking of 62 years of Zionist racist and colonial agenda.

So, what is to be done now? The flotilla events highlighted the importance of boycotting and divesting from Israel, as well as putting pressure on governments especially Canada and the United States to place sanctions on Israel. Canada was the first country in the world to cut its assistance to the Palestinian Authority as well as support Israel in its collective punishment on Gaza. The United Nations has also played its part in turning a blind eye to Israel and failing to sanction and protect human rights. Therefore, the exposure that Freedom Flotilla brought to Israel’s impunity makes it more important than ever to now push Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns all over the world.