ISRAELI ATTACK OF AID SHIP
At least nine people died, and another 30 were wounded when Israeli troops boarded a flotilla of ships carrying aid for Gaza. In spite of warnings from Israel not to proceed towards the coast of Gaza, but to go to a designated port controlled by Israel to unload cargo for arms inspection, the flotilla of ships carrying NGO's and peace activists headed towards an Israeli blockade.
Last week's opinion piece in the West-Island Suburban begged the question: "What would the readers have done?"

In response, I would posit the following: In spite of clutching at legal straws to justify the incident, there never should have been such an attempt to board an unarmed passenger ship in international waters before arrival at the blockade.
Israeli authorities claim that they did not expect any resistance from a ship laden with peace activists. And yet the ten commandos, young navy conscripts, descended upon the ship at 4 a.m. in full battle gear, faces covered, resembling Darth Vader's troopers. If I truly believed that I would not encounter resistance, I would have had these ten men dropped from the helicopter during daylight hours after announcing my intentions, and my soldiers would have been wearing standard uniforms and armed with sidearms, not battle gear.
The occupants of the ship were just as much entitled to defend themselves in international waters from an obviously aggressive incursion upon the boat, and Israel has no right to claim it was simply defending itself when they were the instigators of an armed commando-style incursion. This was not the act of a policing operation.
Furthermore, after the incident, the commander responsible for the assault would have been ordered to make a public apology for an act that bordered on stupidity.

Now allow me now to put on another hat, that of a Gentile who, for over forty years, has believed in the right of Israel to exist. I enjoy the luxury of living outside of the Jewish bubble, which unfortunately does not seem to allow its occupants, who, through a collective angst, judge incidents not according to their merit, but through an emotional maelstrom, as if any criticism of Israel is an attack upon the whole. Secondly, there is a lack of judgment in the overuse of the words 'anti-semetic', to such a degree that those outside of the bubble are wont to disregard such calumny.
If leaders in the Jewish community could but once in a while disagree with Israeli policy, allowing others to see the same good judgment that we witness and enjoy to our benefit from the Jewish men and women in our communities, from the scientist, and the doctor, to the people in our daily life, it would greatly benefit Israel's cause.
History has proven time and time again that hatred cannot be weakened by the 'eye for an eye' mentality that is Israeli policy. It is not through the barrel of a gun that Palestinians will become brethren. It is when they have jobs, hospitals and schools. Israel must lead by the same examples that Jews set in Canada every day, through charitible institutions and volunteerism. Yes, there will be casualties in the beginning, but the final solution will be prosperity for all in the Middle East.
Otherwise, to continue the present trend of overt aggression will do nothing but swing the tide of world opinion, until Israel is marginalized.