Flotilla Flap

The recent Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of private ships approaching the Gaza Strip may be an even more dangerous threat to stability in the region than anything Iran has done recently. Some of the ships were bearing Turkish flags (the flotilla represented seven hundred people from fifty countries) and were reportedly bringing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, and Israel's ham-fisted reaction to the possibility of arms being shipped to the territory has caused a serious rift between Israel and Turkey, despite the friendly and cordial relationship between the two countries. Israel defends its naval blockade of the Gaza Strips as vital to its national security, but isn't there a better way to do this than impugn the rights of private vessels on the high seas? If there are any arms on ships heading for Gaza, Israel has the right to intercept them. It does not have the right to raid these ships in international waters. If there were an weapons on these ships, maybe the Israelis should come out and provide evidence of that.

An Irish ship - undoubtedly bearing a crew of sailors who now a thing or too about colonial oppression - has vowed to run the blockade. This is getting interesting, but in an unsettling way.