Freedom Flotilla II.
Freedom Flotilla II. From Athens on the way to Gaza.
Israel΄s attack on the Freedom Flotilla, one year on. The geopolitical chess game has changed, the trip continues...
In the evening of May 31st, 2010, Israeli commandos boarded the Freedom Flotilla ships, executing, almost point blank, nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, the turkish ship leading the flotilla.
The "pirate state" (this was the term assigned to Israel by a large part of the french press) then jailed hundreds of activists and tortured dozens of them. Later Israeli soldiers sold their victims΄ belongings in the black market. Watches, cell phones and credit cards that may have belonged to the dead activists changed hands, the looting only serving to confirm Israel΄s status as the pariah state of the mediterranean.
A few weeks later, as the angry international condemnation faded away, Greek PM Papandreou rushed to invite his Israeli counterpart to Greece, welcoming him not as someone who had held dozens of Greek citizens hostage but, rather as the new strategic partner of Greece.
Of course, the slavish submission of one side is usually not enough for a strategic partnership. You need two powerful parties. So just as the turkish prime minister Erdogan picked up the phone and forced Israel to release the turkish ships, Tel Aviv still refuses to return the Greek ships. Is this the outcome of a mutual agreement or is Israel blatantly mocking greek foreign policy? One does not preclude the other.
One year on, Israel hopes the mood has changed to its favour. US President Barack Obama has indeed made one of the most pro-israeli speeches of the past decades. U.N Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has done Israel΄s bidding by openly calling governments around the world to block humanitarian assistance to the struggling people of Gaza. This could well be the first time in the history of the UN that its Secretary General exhibits such outright support for the rights of the occupier, rather than the occupied.
But is this sufficient to help Israel feel safe in the new middle eastern geopolitical landscape? Obviously not. The fall of the Mubarak regime has not, for the time being, brought about the changes desired by the Egyptians, but it has lead to an unprecedented isolation of Israel. A further cause of Israeli concern are the revolts in other pro western states in the region- states whose leaders have more often than not been members of the Socialist International.
In the meanwhile, the Freedom Flotilla movement was not intimidated by the activist΄s cold blooded murders. It has instead become stronger, gaining different qualities. The new flotilla, now ready to sail, consists mainly of european ships. Pro-israeli journalists, academics and analysts will no longer be able to brand it as an islamic initiative.
More than ever, this year΄s flotilla will express the anger of the western world at this decade-old crime against humanity. A crime most recently committed with the blessings of both greek goverments, conservative and socialist.
Aris Chatzistefanou
In the evening of May 31st, 2010, Israeli commandos boarded the Freedom Flotilla ships, executing, almost point blank, nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, the turkish ship leading the flotilla.
The "pirate state" (this was the term assigned to Israel by a large part of the french press) then jailed hundreds of activists and tortured dozens of them. Later Israeli soldiers sold their victims΄ belongings in the black market. Watches, cell phones and credit cards that may have belonged to the dead activists changed hands, the looting only serving to confirm Israel΄s status as the pariah state of the mediterranean.
A few weeks later, as the angry international condemnation faded away, Greek PM Papandreou rushed to invite his Israeli counterpart to Greece, welcoming him not as someone who had held dozens of Greek citizens hostage but, rather as the new strategic partner of Greece.
Of course, the slavish submission of one side is usually not enough for a strategic partnership. You need two powerful parties. So just as the turkish prime minister Erdogan picked up the phone and forced Israel to release the turkish ships, Tel Aviv still refuses to return the Greek ships. Is this the outcome of a mutual agreement or is Israel blatantly mocking greek foreign policy? One does not preclude the other.
One year on, Israel hopes the mood has changed to its favour. US President Barack Obama has indeed made one of the most pro-israeli speeches of the past decades. U.N Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has done Israel΄s bidding by openly calling governments around the world to block humanitarian assistance to the struggling people of Gaza. This could well be the first time in the history of the UN that its Secretary General exhibits such outright support for the rights of the occupier, rather than the occupied.
But is this sufficient to help Israel feel safe in the new middle eastern geopolitical landscape? Obviously not. The fall of the Mubarak regime has not, for the time being, brought about the changes desired by the Egyptians, but it has lead to an unprecedented isolation of Israel. A further cause of Israeli concern are the revolts in other pro western states in the region- states whose leaders have more often than not been members of the Socialist International.
In the meanwhile, the Freedom Flotilla movement was not intimidated by the activist΄s cold blooded murders. It has instead become stronger, gaining different qualities. The new flotilla, now ready to sail, consists mainly of european ships. Pro-israeli journalists, academics and analysts will no longer be able to brand it as an islamic initiative.
More than ever, this year΄s flotilla will express the anger of the western world at this decade-old crime against humanity. A crime most recently committed with the blessings of both greek goverments, conservative and socialist.
Aris Chatzistefanou