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As of this morning, reports indicate that somewhere between 10 and 19 people were killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish-owned ship of an aid flotilla that was approaching Gaza. The flotilla was organised by activists who wished to draw attention to the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas militants took control of the Gaza strip in 2007. According to the Israelis, upon boarding the ship they were attacked by activists who had armed themselves with “switchblade, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats”, and one of the activists even seized a soldier’s weapon and opened fire. Nevertheless, the boarding took place in international waters and has been roundly condemned by the international community. Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador for the second time in only a few months and it looks as if the once-cordial Israeli-Turkey relations have finally come to an end. Turkey’s strategy from here will likely be to attempt to ramp up international pressure on Israel in order to get them to drop the blockade against Gaza. There is talk that they may also try and take the incident to the International Court.
What you probably won’t read elsewhere is the domestic Turkish political angle of the whole thing. As I have some Turkish heritage, I tend to keep an eye on its internal politics. For anyone not in the know, Turkey has a strictly secular constitution, designed to keep religion away from the political sphere. The military is the constitution’s traditional guardian and has exercised that power on numerous occasions over the last century. Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan is therefore a rare breed in Turkish politics – an Islamist who’s managed to avoid a military coup. That said, he hasn’t managed to modify the constitution thus far (although he’s trying yet again), with his attempt to remove the headscarf ban in public buildings having been overturned by the Constitutional court. He has managed to win two elections so far, and there’s another one coming up next year. The main opposition party, the CHP, has been suffering under the rather lacklustre leadership of a man named Baykal for the last 19 years. However, after a recent sex tape scandal, that all changed. The new leader, Kiliçdaroglu, has inspired the left and scared the ruling AKP party. Recent polls have shown Erdogan taking a big hit, even before the elevation of Kiliçdaroglu to the CHP leadership.
Erdogan’s foreign policy approach has been markedly different to that of prior Turkish governments. He’s heavily favoured engagement with Arab nations over the West, recently pushing for a nuclear deal with Iran, disregarding Israeli concerns in the process. He has also taken it upon himself to champion the Palestinian cause, which plays very well to his core voter-base domestically. The specific ship that was boarded by the Israelis was organised by a Turkish Islamist humanitarian aid organisation called IHH. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has described them as a violent organization “operating under cover of humanitarian activity.” They were given tacit approval by the Turkish government, and it is believed they were also given a level of logistical support.
In my view, this incident is exactly what Erdogan wanted. The death of 10 or more Turkish nationals will inflame nationalistic sentiment against Israel, and provide him with the opportunity to look powerful. It just so happens that he’s also trying to pass constitutional reforms that would let him directly appoint judges to the constitutional court. What better way to gain support for yourself and your reforms that through national security concerns. This is how they do the Pacific Solution in the Middle East.
Let me just add that I in no way support the Israeli blockade of Gaza, I simply seek to illustrate that true altruism in foreign policy is very rare indeed. This is a world of realists, the Middle East especially so.
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Israel taking a note out of Jimbo’s book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE5pGeCUM-Y
“They’re coming straight for us!!!”
“That orphanage attacked me! You all saw it!”
There’s just one thing that I don’t get. If the people on the boat were armed and represented a clear and present danger to the state of Israel and the IDF, how is it that twenty of those aid volunteers died and no IDF personnel?
They must have been pretty incompetent “terrorists” to just stand there and get shot without even one member of the IDF suffering much more than cuts and bruises.
I’m just asking, or does asking at all make me an anti-semite.
(I swear if I see that vile apologist Regev making excuses for the excesses of the IDF once more I’ll join Hamas myself. I might be risking a preemptive white phosphorus attack but I have to say he makes me ashamed to be Australian.)
Mirriyuula: I think it’s clear that Israel used excessive force in their mission to take control of the ship. They likely did not expect the level of resistance they received from the activists, which – by some accounts – was reasonably strong. It’s unclear what actually happened, but if they were indeed set upon by activists wielding metal bars and axes, it is not so surprising that they fired on them.
Imagine the ADF had intercepted an Indonesian vessel, and upon boarding were attacked by people with axes and batons. Would we blame our troops if they opened fire?
This does not address the legality of Israel boarding the ship in international waters, however. Nor does it address the fact that 9 people died, versus 0 IDF soldiers. On balance I would again say the IDF’s response was excessive, but the activists probably exacerbated the situation. I believe this was the intention from the start – a sort of martyrdom for the Palestinian cause. However, I believe that Turkish involvement at the governmental level is much more about domestic political concerns than any care for the Palestinian people.
To further clarify my position – I have little time for Israeli aggression. I in no way support Netanyahu, or the hawkish Israeli approach to the Palestinian issue. I just think that there is a little more going on in regards to this specific incident than what most media coverage will care to discuss.
You’re far to rational and balanced JJ.
My response was more along the lines of a therapeutic spit. I think another interesting aspect of this event will be the public response in Israel, which looks at this time to be one of righteous horror that this has been done in their name.
Excepting of course the usual rough head settlers who will accept any excess so long as they can continue their naked land grab from the Palestinians.
JJ, I love you.
This is one of the most interesting, independent-thinking pieces of opinion I’ve heard about the raid.The internal Turkish aspect of it is something that really hasn’t been discussed at all during the many hours and kilobytes worth of coverage I’ve read, heard and seen.
The truth is that Israel used excessive force because that is, sadly, their regular MO. The truth is, also, that the soldiers on the ship were in danger. The Israeli military and civilian leadership are to blame for placing the soldiers in a situation of defending a horrible policy with bad intelligence and a disregard for consequences.
Miriyuula: I’m an Israel-Australian, by chance on a holiday to Israel at the moment, and I have to say that the dozens of “Tell the truth about the Gaza flotilla of hate” videos in my Facebook newsfeed (from Israeli friends) give me a very very extremely entirely different impression than you have about the Israeli public opinion on this matter. The general idea is that the world media is biased and “simply doesn’t understand the situation we’re in”…and that’s what scares me.
Thanks Ofir. Much appreciated – I was waiting to see what your response would be to this. I don’t often find myself defending Israel, but in this case everyone has been far too quick to judge and the media has failed to examine what’s going on behind the scenes.
Probably worth having a look here to get the Turkish angle: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/c.php?c=opinion
(That’s a left-leaning English news source from Turkey, though some of the commentators tilt right)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/08/2920930.htm
Apparently you are no longer allowed to hold any dissenting view and indeed the holding of a dissenting view, no matter the quality of it’s analysis and conclusions, will be punished swiftly and with prejudice.
Seriously who among us believes in the right of Israel to support the “settlers”, blockade Gaza, used white phosphorus on children.
Any moral authority the state of Israel may have been able to cling to after the past twenty years has been completely blown away in this shambolic act of paranoia and open hatred. The Zionist “Israel First by Right or Might” mindset rears its ugly head again. Just another sad sack of fundamentalist shits with a gruesome agenda of death and disinformation.
This is not the lesson of the camps, it’s just ugly warmongering on your neighbours.