Israel has had thousands of its citizens killed by Hamas. It is surrounded by countries that deny the Holocaust, and claim they want Israel wiped off the map. Naturally, Israel is a little cautious, and when they come across a large ship carrying "aid" to Palestine, they would be inclined to examine the cargo before allowing it to be distributed. It could, after all be carrying weapons and other unsavory items. When they attempted to examine the cargo by first boarding the ship, they were attacked with knives and axes. Would you not defend yourself in that situation?
These were not peace activists, these were thugs. Israel was right to act the way they did. It is a shame that lives had to be lost, yes, but it is a shame that is underscored by the violent action of the "activists" that provoked the self defense. Israel did not set out looking for a fight, they were protecting their people from harm, much like our Border Patrol and Coast Guard do every day.
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2 comments:
FWIW, here is an interesting bit lifted from another website:
A word on the legal position, which is very plain. To attack a foreign flagged vessel in international waters is illegal. It is not piracy, as the Israeli vessels carried a military commission. It is rather an act of illegal warfare.
Because the incident took place on the high seas does not mean however that international law is the only applicable law. The Law of the Sea is quite plain that, when an incident takes place on a ship on the high seas (outside anybody's territorial waters) the applicable law is that of the flag state of the ship on which the incident occurred. In legal terms, the Turkish ship was Turkish territory.
There are therefore two clear legal possibilities.
Possibility one is that the Israeli commandos were acting on behalf of the government of Israel in killing the activists on the ships. In that case Israel is in a position of war with Turkey, and the act falls under international jurisdiction as a war crime.
Possibility two is that, if the killings were not authorised Israeli military action, they were acts of murder under Turkish jurisdiction. If Israel does not consider itself in a position of war with Turkey, then it must hand over the commandos involved for trial in Turkey under Turkish law.
In brief, if Israel and Turkey are not at war, then it is Turkish law which is applicable to what happened on the ship. It is for Turkey, not Israel, to carry out any inquiry or investigation into events and to initiate any prosecutions. Israel is obliged to hand over indicted personnel for prosecution.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/05/the_legal_posit.html
Interesting perspective. I disagree in part however, in that the soldiers acted in self defense. What is Turkish law in regards to self defense? These "activists" came after them with knives, axes and flash bombs. They did not attack for the sake of attacking, they boarded the ship to seize the cargo for inspection, and the activists initiated conflict.
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