I know from watching the news this week that there are many people out there in Canada who believe that Israel did an abhorrent thing by raiding so called ships of “mercy” that were bound for the Gaza Strip. However if the facts of the matter are examined it would quickly be concluded that Israel was acting justifiably in its own self defence.
Here are some of the facts that are in support of Israel which are beyond dispute:
First I would like to point out that Israel’s fear that these ships were being used by Iran to ship military supplies to its Hamas allies is not without warrant. Iran has played a prominent role in the support of various Arab militant organizations, such as Hamas, that have been dedicated to not only the overthrow of Israel but have also undermined the governments of Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The existence of the Gaza blockade is well publicized and the Israelis have not ever given any indication that they were going to allow anyone to “run” the blockade for any reason at all, no matter how “humanitarian” the cause.
As such, the Israelis are under no moral obligation to make sure that people who attempt to run the blockade are not killed when Israel attempts to enforce the blockade.
After all, the blockade runners know perfectly well that it is the military that is responsible for enforcing the blockade and the killing of people in self defence of the country is a military’s sole job and reason for existence.
If anyone out there is concerned about the blockade that Israel has on the Gaza Strip their concern is misplaced. The real blockade is actually the one that Hamas has imposed on its own people. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip through intimidation, theft, denial of due process, murder and torture.
It should also be noted that Egypt, which borders the Gaza Strip, has also been enforcing its own blockade of Gaza, because it too fears Hamas and the deleterious influence that contact with Hamas would have on its own government.
Next I would like to quote the words of one of the so called “humanitarians” as appears in a Reuters article titled Israelis “humiliated ship activist: eyewitness,” written by Lamine Chikhi: “Mr. Ahmed Brahimi, who is an Algerian who was on board the ship, Mavi Marmara, states the following, ‘. . . we do not recognize Israel.’ ”
I therefore believe that Canada must stand by Israel because Israel, unlike the Muslim countries that are Israel’s neighbours, is the only democracy in the Middle East and is therefore a country that is like us. We are also indebted to Israel for a religious heritage that gave us the basis for the Western civilization upon which this nation and its laws were formed and therefore makes it a country that is like us.
Julian Ross Hudson
Ponoka