Zionists and the flotilla fiasco: let the masturbation begin

There are several aspects to Israel's assault on a Gaza-bound flotilla with humanitarian aid yesterday that left about 10 civilians dead. The least important one is whether the attack was technically legal or not. It is unimportant for the same reason that it is irrelevant whether the Chinese repression on Tiananmen square in 1989 was done within or beyond the boundaries of the law. What is most relevant is, in both cases, that the tragedy was a corollary to a history of major human rights violations. Curtailment of freedoms and harsh repression of political dissent in one case; the inhumane, pointless and grotesque siege of a defensless people by a nuclear power in the other.

Regardless, Zionist bloggers have been working overtime to revive obscure pieces of wartime legislation buried here and there, or to undig this or that article in the naval code of country X, to defend the indefensible, namely an attack on an unarmed ship in international waters.

Others, like Shmuel Rosner at the Jerusalem Post, have taken a different approach, bringing up the Jenin "massacre" reports to tarnish all and any critic of Israel, as though the fact that a lie was disseminated (possibly by the IDF in the first place) in 2002 could offset the satellite images showing an attack that took place outside the territorial waters of Israel. This is part of a troubling trend of Zios copycating Holocaust denial techniques (a single Holocaust lie, like that the Nazis made soap from Jews, proves that the Holocaust itself is a lie; a single bogus Holocaust survivor, like Binyamin Wilkomirski, proves that all survivors are impostors).

Still other Zionists indulge in unrestrained self-victimhood. "Israel is slammed for the attack because the world is biased against Israel" (as proven by the recent, unanimous approval of the country's entry into the OECD). A Yediot Ahronot (Israel's leading newspaper) article is titled A brutal ambush at sea! You know -- if you break into my house and I hit you with a bat I'm ambushing you. I don't recall meanings being twisted so amusingly since "present absentee." Come on, why stop at "ambush"? What those people on the boat did was a downright pogrom! Or, better still, a Holocaust! Don't dare deny it or you'll be a Holocaust denier.

But the most striking feature here is the masturbatory nature of these Zionist efforts. They know their endless posts quoting self-appointed military experts will make next to no impression on the general public because:

• Israel attacked the boats not the other way round.
• The attack was not done to protect Israel from imminent danger.
• No weapons were carried by the boats.
• The blockade of Gaza is irrational as it has arbitrarily included over the years items like pasta, dresses or cattle.

I.e., there are too many common-sense issues to be counterbalanced by a purely legalistic approach. All the same, they publish the posts. I agree that the internal front is important, and that convincing others involves in the first place convincing your own troop. But the whole thing is so pathetically overdone that it amounts to preaching to the convert. For the arguments to have any efficacy, they would have to be used by someone mainstream, which, in turn, would require for said arguments not to be ridiculous. But Zionists often confuse "I can make a case for Israel, albeit ludicrous" with "I can make a winning case for Israel."

Much to their chagrin, more gigs will be cancelled in Tel Aviv, more Israeli professors will be disinvited by foreign universities and more countries will become forbidden land for Israeli war criminals. They'll say they don't give a damn because so far BDS hurts very little. But with actions like the attack on the flotilla, that small amount of pain is set to increase rather than diminish.