A Prediction

I see from the a Times of Israel that IHH is planning Another Gaza Flotilla.

Oh goody - an aid and relief shipment for the poor impoverished people of Gaza. Once again it will involve the Mavi Marmara. Readers might be familiar that it was the Marmara which was the scene of an incident when the ship was boarded by Israeli commandos, because it would not follow instruction to divert to an alternative port suggest by the Israelis. One aspect of this was the ongoing security operation to prevent military equipment making it into Gaza for use against Israel.

What followed was criticism of Israel. One " UN" investigation called the operation and the naval blockade illegal, citing the San Remo manual of armed conflict at sea. Israel performed its own investigation that many, including UN commentators described as a whitewash.

Well at least that's what you were told.

I suspect with this new flotilla, we're going Israel find itself in a similar position where it will have criticism levelled at it and similar accusations thrown around and the sheep will willingly trot it all out.

There are however a couple of observations that I made following the last incident. In addition, the recent conflict in Gaza has helped underscore an inconvenient truth that shows the Gaza Flotilla as being nothing more that an effort at provocation as opposed to a relief convoy for the beleaguered residents of Gaza.

Firstly the naval blockade of Gaza is legal despite what the UN seemed to think last time. Their original report cited the San Remo manual as the basis for their verdict. Just one problem. The Israeli Turkel commission which produced the report  described as a whitewash consulted one Professor Dr Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg.  Who's he you might ask. Well you can get a summary of the man Here , but the key thing to take away in this context is that he was one of the authors of the very same manual. Israel sought the view,of an expert on the matter, one acknowledged by the international community.

Secondly this latest round of conflict has revealed something that undermines these flotillas as humanitarian in nature, especially with the Mavi Marmara. One of the things Hamas is reputedly pushing for is the proper development of a harbour in Gaza. Even the BBC mentioned it in one of their reports on the situation.

that's right folks. Gaza does not possess a proper harbour. It was a little fact tucked away last time. The Mavi Mamara is too big to dock in Gaza. It needs to dock elsewhere to offload its cargo.

The organisers will know this. They're. To bothered about helping the people of Gaza. If they were they'd head to a port that can accommodate the ship.

No. They want to provoke an incident once again.