Jews to send Gaza blockade-buster ship

reply to post by loveguy


No problems mate. I'm just pissed that you got a star for flaming me and I'm on your side

we as Jews want to bring the Palestinians something other than bombs


that must be the phase of the week!!

Great!

This is one of the reasons I love Jewish people.

They have amongst their 'crew' some of the most seriously sharp and on-it people 'in the area'. I shouldn't need to mention that many also have an awesome sense of humour, along with a keen eye for Justice.

We (us humans) are supposed to be civilised. It is 2010 A.D. (not 3000 B.C.). You cannot build walls around people and expect there to be no repercussions.

S&F

Originally posted by Dr ExpiredNo we need a strong Israel, not a mocked one.

Who creates the policies of Israel that cause their government to be mocked?

As far as the rest of your post, no we don't need to support Israel 100%, and if we have tied ourselves so tightly at the hip to another country that if they look bad our own country is humiliated and shamed, then shame on us.

I think you're looking at it as a zone for us to have access to the Middle East, but at what cost are we buying that access?

Do people forget the reason they started the blockaid in the first place was the amount of military arms that were being smuggled on ships? The Palistinian terrorists must be running low on weapons, cuz they get all the food and medical supplies they could ever need via trucks.

If I was in charge of Israel... I'd just sink the next ship that tries it.

Oh, and FYI... if the ship wants to bring "relief" supplies to gaza, they are fully welcome to port at an Israel controled ship yard, where the cargo can be unloaded and seen, before going the short distance to Gaza.

The ONLY reason to "end the blockaid" is to smuggle in weapons.

reply to post by fbipeeper


Israel is only allowing certain items to enter Gaza. These items aren't nearly enough to sustain life. These ships that are bringing aid are bringing the aid that is paramount to human life that Israel is preventing the women and children of Palestine to have.

Boy, I bet you would singing different praises if that was you, your children & family or other loved ones who were being deprived the basic necessities of life.

--airspoon

Has anybody seen this yet?
I really have to hand it to the courageous Jewish folk working in the interests of real peace - the Jews fighting ZIONISM on the ground
thats chutzpa

Israeli document: Gaza blockade isn't about security
www.mcclatchydc.com...

JERUSALEM — As Israel ordered a slight easing of its blockade of the Gaza Strip Wednesday, McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document that describes the blockade not as a security measure but as "economic warfare" against the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory.

Israel imposed severe restrictions on Gaza in June 2007, after Hamas won elections and took control of the coastal enclave after winning elections there the previous year, and the government has long said that the aim of the blockade is to stem the flow of weapons to militants in Gaza.

Last week, after Israeli commandos killed nine volunteers on a Turkish-organized Gaza aid flotilla, Israel again said its aim was to stop the flow of terrorist arms into Gaza.

However, in response to a lawsuit by Gisha, an Israeli human rights group, the Israeli government explained the blockade as an exercise of the right of economic warfare.

"A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare,'" the government said.

McClatchy obtained the government's written statement from Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, which sued the government for information about the blockade. The Israeli high court upheld the suit, and the government delivered its statement earlier this year.

Sari Bashi, the director of Gisha, said the documents prove that Israel isn't imposing its blockade for its stated reasons, but rather as collective punishment for the Palestinian population of Gaza. Gisha focuses on Palestinian rights.

(A State Department spokesman, who wasn't authorized to speak for the record, said he hadn't seen the documents in question.)

The Israeli government took an additional step Wednesday and said the economic warfare is intended to achieve a political goal. A government spokesman, who couldn't be named as a matter of policy, told McClatchy that authorities will continue to ease the blockade but "could not lift the embargo altogether as long as Hamas remains in control" of Gaza.

President Barack Obama, after receiving Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, said the situation in Gaza is "unsustainable." He pledged an additional $400 million in aid for housing, school construction and roads to improve daily life for Palestinians — of which at least $30 million is earmarked for Gaza.

Israel's blockade of Gaza includes a complex and ever-changing list of goods that are allowed in. Items such as cement or metal are barred because they can be used for military purposes, Israeli officials say.

According to figures published by Gisha in coordination with the United Nations, Israel allows in 25 percent of the goods it had permitted into Gaza before the Hamas takeover. In the years prior to the closure, Israel allowed an average of 10,400 trucks to enter Gaza with goods each month. Israel now allows approximately 2,500 trucks a month.

The figures show that Israel also has limited the goods allowed to enter Gaza to 40 types of items, while before June 2007 approximately 4,000 types of goods were listed as entering Gaza.

Israel expanded its list slightly Wednesday to include soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies and candy, said Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh, who coordinates the flow of goods into Gaza with Israel.

"I think Israel wants to defuse international pressure," said Fattouh. "They want to show people that they are allowing things into Gaza."

It was the first tangible step taken by Israel in the wake of the unprecedented international criticism it's faced over the blockade following last week's Israeli raid on the high seas.

While there have been mounting calls for an investigation into the manner in which Israel intercepted the flotilla, world leaders have also called for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza.

At his meeting with Abbas, Obama said the Security Council had called for a "credible, transparent investigation that met international standards." He added: "And we meant what we said. That's what we expect."

He also called for an easing of Israel's blockade. "It seems to us that there should be ways of focusing narrowly on arms shipments, rather than focusing in a blanket way on stopping everything and then, in a piecemeal way, allowing things into Gaza," he told reporters.

Egypt, which controls much of Gaza's southern border, reopened the Rafah crossing this week in response to international pressure to lift the blockade.

Egypt has long been considered Israel's partner in enforcing the blockade, but Egyptian Foreign Minister Hossam Zaki said the Rafah crossing will remain open indefinitely for Gazans with special permits. In the past, the border has been opened sporadically.

Maxwell Gaylard, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories, said the international community is seeking an "urgent and fundamental change" in Israel's policy regarding Gaza rather than a piecemeal approach.

"A modest expansion of the restrictive list of goods allowed into Gaza falls well short of what is needed. We need a fundamental change and an opening of crossings for commercial goods," he said.

Hamas officials said that they were "disappointed" by Israel's announcement, and that the goods fell far short of what was actually needed.

"They will send the first course. We are waiting for the main course," Palestinian Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh said in Ramallah, specifying that construction materials were the item that Gazans need most. Many Palestinians have been unable to build their homes in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's punishing offensive in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.

Israel said the cement and other construction goods could be used to build bunkers and other military installations.

Some of those goods already come into Gaza via the smuggling tunnels that connect it to Egypt.







[edit on 12-6-2010 by Danbones]

reply to post by niteboy82


Agreed, you can never just give 100% blanket support to a Country.

Every issue should be judged on its merits,
and I'ts no good saying " we'll let them get away with that little indiscrecion"

reply to post by airspoon


This is great! Jews Rock.

I hope nothing bad happens to them. And I hope Germany backs them up like Ireland backed up the Irish ship.

The IDF do not like it when Jew do stuff like this. They get really nasty when Jews do things like this.

These are brave people, every one of these flotillas are brave people.

Braver then I'll ever be.