Israel Navy = State Trooper
Imagine a state trooper spotting a car driving erratically on a highway. The trooper turns on his sirens and strobes to pull the car over suspecting that the driver is drunk. But the car does not pull over and instead continues on it’s way. The trooper calls for backup and after a brief chase he and a couple of other cars manage to force the car to the side of the road.
Not knowing what exactly to suspect the trooper and his fellow officers brandish their guns while approaching the vehicle. As the trooper nears the car the driver pops out of the car and hits him over the head with a tire iron. The other officers, with weapons brandished, get more aggressive in apprehending the driver and passengers of the car. Bad things ensue.
In this scenario it would seem that most people would side with the state troopers. They followed protocol and only got aggressive when they were physically threatened. So why is the world looking any differently at Israel in the wake of the disaster that occurred on the flotilla.
The Israeli military had ordered the flotilla to divert to a specific port so it could be searched to confirm that there was no contraband aboard including weapons that could be used against Israeli civilians. The ships refused to comply. The Israeli Navy was sent to intercept the ship as it’s refusal to comply with the diversion order made it suspicious. When naval troops boarded the boat they were clubbed and, according to some reports, fired upon by people on the boat. The troops then got more aggressive and the situation took a tragic turn.
It’s a shame that people died in this incident. I’m not a military person and can’t analyze the situation and come up with a better plan but I’d like to think there could have been a better way to handle the situation so there would be no loss of life.
But put yourself in Israel’s shoes and you’ll see they fit a lot like that of the state troopers in the example above. They asked the boat to comply with the law, sent backup when the request was refused and took more aggressive action when threatened violently. Whether the people on the boat were smuggling weapons or not it was their own actions that incited this incident.
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