Those Jews, again.

"The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.” ~Elbert Hubbard~

I said, in my post yesterday, that I would wait for all the facts about this [so called] humanitarian flotilla before I took a position on the justification of the Israeli actions.

Sadly, I still don't have all of the facts, but I am getting close.

First, I see that the UN Security Council issued a statement today about the boarding of the flotilla ships by the IDF, but they did not blame either side. Although, I must say, that they had very harsh words for the IDF's actions. Hmmm, seems that his O ness is taking a wait and see attitude as well. (What did you expect, his right hand man is Jewish.) And I must say that this puts our girl Hillary and his O ness in a sticky situation. Turkey is pissed at Israel and it ain't going to get an easier. What's a super power who views both countries as allies in a volatile region to do?

So how did we get here? Well, I won't go this far, but I am not going to jump on the blame the Jew bandwagon, either. Besides, I have issues with these IHH folks. Serious issues. In fact, I have so many issues with them, that I found myself reading Melanie Phillips:

"As the international community rushes to condemn Israel for the violence on board one of the ships in the Gaza flotilla, which left a reported 10 people dead and dozens injured, it is now obvious that the real purpose of this ‘armada of hate’ was not merely the further delegitimisation of Israel but something far worse.

Gaza’s markets are full of produce, thousands of tons of supplies are travelling into Gaza every week through the Israeli-controlled border crossings, and there is no starvation or humanitarian crisis. It was always obvious that the flotilla was not the humanitarian exercise it was said to be. Here is footage of the IDF offering to dock the Marmara -- the main flotilla ship -- at Ashdod and transfer its supplies and being told ‘Negative, negative, our destination is Gaza’.

And now we can see that the real purpose of this invasion -- backed by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a radical Islamic organization outlawed by Israel in 2008 for allegedly serving as a major component in Hamas’s global fund-raising machine -- was to incite a violent uprising in the Middle East and across the Islamic world. As I write, reports are coming in of Arab rioting in Jerusalem."

The notion – uncritically swallowed by the lazy, ignorant and bigoted BBC and other western media – that the flotilla organisers are ‘peace activists’ is simply ludicrous. This research by the Danish Institute for International Studies details the part played by the IHH in Islamist terror in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. According to the French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere testifying at the Seattle trial of would-be al Qaeda Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressamin, the IHH had played ‘[a]n important role’ in the al Qaeda Millenium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles airport. It was also involved in weapons trafficking, and played in addition a key role in galvanizing anti-Western sentiment among Turkish Muslims in the lead-up to the 2003 war in Iraq. ‘Peace activists’ these people most certainly are not.

And this flotilla was but the latest jihadi attack, deploying the Islamists’ signature strategy of violence and media manipulation. Here from MEMRI (via Just Journalism) is a clip showing the hysteria against Israel being whipped up on board before the ships set sail, with the chanting of intifada songs about ‘Khaybar’ – the iconic slaughter of Jews by Muslims..." [Article]

Oh yes, "Khaybar"! Is that what they were yelling on that video tape? Let me watch that again....yep, that's what they seem to be saying. Nice word that "Khaybar", you folks might want to look it up.

And speaking of video, since I am still getting all the facts; I wonder if one of my resident gun experts could look at that video of the IDF soldier again and tell me if he seems to be carrying a real gun on his back, or if it's a paint gun as the Israeli government suggests?[ Shady Grady, could you help a brotha out, please?] Yes, that's important as well.

Oh well, I sure hope that this isn't true, or this. I do know what that the Israeli army is investigating their tactics (as they should) and that they have agreed to change their policy somewhat when it comes to supplies to Gaza. We will see. And just so folks don't accuse me of being[un] fair and [un]balanced; it's important to know the other side as well.

Hey, I want as much to come out as possible, because I want to make sure that I get my facts straight. Unlike some people who have already made up their minds.

Raid on a flotilla.

As some of you might or might not know, I am a big defender of the Jewish people. Usually my biggest fights with my ideological soul-mates are over issues having to do with the Jewish Palestinian conflict, and Israel's right to exist in the Middle East. No need rehashing that fight tonight. My position on the matter is pretty clear.

Still, tonight we have to revisit that subject, because Israel is once again in the news. Chalk it up to a raid on an alleged humanitarian boat taking supplies to Gaza. Quite a few activist were killed, (I am hearing anywhere from 7-16) and since most of them were Turkish, the Turkish government, along with the rest if the International community, is pissed. The Turkish Ambassador is calling it a very sad day and as is usually the case when Israel is involved with these types of incidents, the usual suspects are all coming to the fore.

They are burning Israeli flags in Istanbul and Athens, the UN has called for an investigation, and the Israeli PM canceled a trip to meet his O ness because of the crisis. They are calling the people who lost their lives pro-Palestinian peace activist and they allege that Israeli commandos stormed their boat and slaughtered them.

"So field, are you going to come out and condemn your beloved Israel now?" Come on field, it's clearly an act of aggression on their part which caused these poor people to lose their lives. The Turkish aid group involved released a video, field, why don't you look at it?"

Yes, I am sorry for the people who lost their lives. But unlike the folks who have been e-mailing me and commenting on this subject, I don't know all of the facts. I do know that the Israeli government has denied that this is how things went down, and they have pointed to the very same video in the link above as proof of their position.

And, for the record, if we are going to keep it real with each other; let's talk about Turkey for a minute: What's with all the outrage when they have a Kurdish population in their own damn country who have been at the shitty end of some serious human rights abuses? "People in glass houses." I mean if we are going to keep it real.

Look, I am no fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. As far as I am concerned he represents within Israel what right wingers represent in this country, and I think that there is a dangerous escalation taking place in the Middle East right now. (Poor Obama) With Netanyahu in charge there is no telling where that region is heading. So I have some concerns.

But I will end this post where I started: I don't know all the facts, so I will take a wait and see attitude before I jump all in. Unlike some folks who I just know can't wait too tell me about the evil Israelis.