Moral Quandaries and the Flotilla

Never have 10 boats garnered as much scrutiny as the Gaza flotilla – and most of them haven't even left port.

The Gaza flotilla has been reduced to a single blockade-bound French yacht, as the nine other vessels remain stuck in Greek ports despite their protests. Thomas Walkom of the Toronto Star figures that the very existence of the flotilla, whether it makes it to Palestine or not, should help the occupied territory's plight. “This year’s flotilla may not end up delivering an ounce of medicine to Gaza,” writes Walkom. “But by drawing attention to the territory and through it to the Palestinian cause, it seems set to score an interesting victory.” We suppose that's true, as the hardship suffered by Gazans is certainly worthy of our attention. But that's also a remarkably flimsy silver lining to be wrought from a geopolitical mess set up by foolhardy activists and a disproportionate Israeli reaction.

Christopher Hitchens offers little remorse in the National Post to the activists aboard the flotilla given their cordial relations with Hamas, the Islamist paramilitary group that rules Gaza. Hamas, propagators of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and launchers of rockets into Israeli territory, play the role of international instigators without parallel. Asks Hitchens: “As the wavelets lap in the Greek harbours, and the sunshine beats down, doesn’t any journalist want to know whether the 'activists' have discussed this element in their partners’ world outlook?” We raised a similar point earlier this week, and it still stands – the flotilla movement would be far better served if it denounced its ties to an organization hellbent on the destruction of Israel.

That point is rebutted somewhat in the Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner, “a Zionist who hates the occupation,” who argues deftly that anyone who wants to see a two-state solution ought to support the flotilla. “If laying down with Islamo-fascists puts the flotilla activists beyond the pale, the same goes for Israelis who lay down with Judeo-fascists,” writes Derfner. “But I don’t judge Israelis as harshly as that, so I won’t do it with the flotilla folks, either.” More importantly, though, Derfner notes that flotilla is “the only non-violent force that’s pushing back against the greatest threat Israel faces, which is the occupation." That they can at the same time be considered pro-Palestinian and Zionist (so long as you perform some mental gymnastics), while more or less keeping the peace? Now that's a silver lining.