I’m really not sure what Israel or her loud-mouthed supporters here in the United States think they achieved by mounting an assault on a Turkish relief vessel in international waters, but the you know what is now officially hitting the fan. Some links:
1.) Turkey vows to send more aid to Gaza, this time guarded with Turkish Naval vessels.
2.) Ian Welsh notes that Turkey can invoke article V in the NATO alliance, because Turkey is a NATO member, and lo and behold, the Turkish have asked and been granted an emergency NATO meeting.
3.) Israel’s behavior was so stupid and self-defeating (as well as unconscionable) that the normally straight-laced Dan Drezner is dropping multiple f-bombs.
4.) Glenn Greenwald asks us to imagine the coverage at Commentary and the Weekly Standard if Iran had boarded a humanitarian ship in international waters and killed a dozen or so civilians.
5.) Meanwhile, the IDF spin machine is in full effect claiming repeatedly (and loudly regurgitated by all the usual wingnut American blogs) that the soldiers were “lynched” and “ambushed.” How this is an ambush when Israel had to fly miles to sea, and then drop soldiers onto the ship from helicopter, is beyond Orwellian.
Once again, Israel’s worst enemies are themselves and their boorish supporters, and they are bringing us down with them. I have no idea what they think they are accomplishing, and I can only assume they are simply not thinking.