Footnotes on the flotilla

When Israeli commandos intercepted the Turkish flotilla to Gaza, they were ambushed on board the Mavi Marmara. The ambush produced the desired publicity and international furor sought by the friends of Hamas among the flotilla’s organizers and passengers. The object of the flotilla was obviously to facilitate in one way or another Iran’s takeover of Gaza as a base to conduct its war against Israel. Mainstream media organizations like the AP dutifully played their accustomed role as useful idiots in playing along with the purported “humanitarian” nature of the flotilla’s mission.
To understand the game afoot in the flotilla’s effort to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, it helps to understand the political situation in Turkey. For help in understanding, I recommend columns by astute observers who know what they are talking about. Among these columns I would point to Robert Pollock’s “Erdogan and the decline of the Turks,” Claudia Rosett’s “Turkey’s two-faced aid for Gaza,” Ralph Peters’s “DC’s Turkish denial,” and Mark Steyn’s “Israel, Turkey and the end of stability.”
The Jerusalem Post continues to shed light on the nature of the flotilla. Among its recent reports are “PM: Mercenaries aboard Gaza ship” and “Pics of beaten commandos published.” The Jerusalem Post reports that the IDF has identified a group of about 50 men – of the 700 on board – who were well-trained and were stationed throughout the Mavi Marmara, mostly on the upper deck, where they laid an ambush for the IDF soldiers who rappelled onto the deck from helicopters.
As a footnote to this footnote on the flotilla, see “Saints in Sodom? Activists attempted to shield captured commandos on Mavi Marmara.”

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