Turkey Should Be Placed on Trial, Not Israel –
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (Times of Israel)
It is the Turkish government which needs to be tried for the deaths of the Islamic terrorists on the Mavi Marmara and not IDF officials.
The Turkish leader Erdogan was the one who allowed these extremists from al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood to launch a naval expedition against Israel, a country that Turkey was not at war with.
The UN has investigated the Israeli coastal blockade of Gaza and has determined that it was in full compliance with international law.
Erdogan must be tried for his liability over the deaths of the terrorists and the serious injuries to Israeli servicemen.
The writer is founder and director of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center.
See also Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla – Steven G. Merley (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
See also The Legal Basis of Israel’s Naval Blockade of Gaza – Ruth Lapidoth (Jerusalem Center)
See also The Myth of the Siege of Gaza – Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi (ICA-Jerusalem Center)Turkey Should Be Placed on Trial, Not Israel – Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (Times of Israel)
It is the Turkish government which needs to be tried for the deaths of the Islamic terrorists on the Mavi Marmara and not IDF officials.
The Turkish leader Erdogan was the one who allowed these extremists from al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood to launch a naval expedition against Israel, a country that Turkey was not at war with.
The UN has investigated the Israeli coastal blockade of Gaza and has determined that it was in full compliance with international law.
Erdogan must be tried for his liability over the deaths of the terrorists and the serious injuries to Israeli servicemen.
The writer is founder and director of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center.
See also Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla – Steven G. Merley (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
See also The Legal Basis of Israel’s Naval Blockade of Gaza – Ruth Lapidoth (Jerusalem Center)
See also The Myth of the Siege of Gaza – Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi (ICA-Jerusalem Center)
Islamic and Turkish arrogance. But IL is waiting patiently. But as long as Erdo is in control there is little hope.
“Why is it Turkey’s responsibility to stop a boat that is legally visiting its port. When is it Turkey’s responsibilty to enforce an Israeli blockage?”
Did you even read the JCPA report cited above? The Turkish government was involved with the flotilla planning and Turkey was host to all manner of related events.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Rough, yes.
But only because the Israeli soldiers were attacked.
In self defense, you are allowed to play rough.
CuriousAmerican Said:
All the activists had to do was NOT attack the IDF.
CuriousAmerican Said:
That is so because their daughters, their mothers, their spouses, their friends are in a constant threat from getting killed by terrorists.
Kind of safe for me to talk from Greece and for you from the USA, isn’t it?
CuriousAmerican Said:
“Dupe” instead of “benighted” sounds better.
CuriousAmerican Said:
At this point in your comment, if you still wished to pretend that you are a neutral observer, you could have added that the world’s number one victim in having been portrayed with one “broad stroke” is Israel – the international Media crying “occupation”, “apartheid”, “Gaza humanitarian crisis”, “Gaza open prison”, “Gaza militants (and not terrorists)” in every conceivable opportunity.
So if Israel is guilty of what you said (she is not), it must be just because she follows international precedent – you must have an inkling that the world hates the Jews, don’t you?
CuriousAmerican Said:
“Terrorist facilitator” is a term that meets your objections.
And such a facilitator is morally culpable too, like the terrorists.
My view is that Israel was right to stop the boat; but her methods were overly rough.
Israel could have waterlogged the boat. Used watercannon – even laced with detergent, to make the decks slippery.
They could have dropped a net over the boat. Shot water into the engine exhaust to conk out the engine and leave the boat dead in the water.
All Israel had to do was stop the boat … NOT board it.
I know some here prefer blood, guts, and HOO RAH gore. Some would have preferred the boat be torpedoed as a show of force. No talking with some types.
That was Israel’s mistake. The method, not the goal.
That is a fairly broad brush. Typical overkill. Most of the people were Christians on the boat.
Most of them were just benighted activists.
Yes, Israel’s blockade was legal. Oddly, in cases like this, equally legal are those who run the blockade. Israel is allowed to enforce a blockade, but International Law does NOT require the world to obey it. It is NOT illegal to run a blockade.
For ex: Exodus 1947. It was legal for the British to stop the boat, but it was NOT illegal for the boat to try and run the blockade.
Furkan Do?an was a 19 year old shot while filming the incident. Hardly a terrorist.
I know, I know, some here will say that anyone who does not fully support Israel in everything that the right wing of YESHA wants is, by definition, a terroristic, anti-semitic, carpet munching, high cholestoral mutant, and sexual deviant.
But that is not true.
To deflect criticism, Israel paints many with a broad stroke.
Some on board the Mavi Mamera were terrorists. The vast majority were not; Israel painted them all with a broad stroke.
I do not understand Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.
Why is it Turkey’s responsibility to stop a boat that is legally visiting its port. When is it Turkey’s responsibilty to enforce an Israeli blockage?
Is Canada – and this if or you, Ted – obliged to enforce our American economic quaratine of Cuba? Should all those wonderful Cohiba cigars be seized?
I want you all to consider this.
Dorothy Thompson was a famous American writer. She was German-American. She hated the Nazis and went out of her way to criticize Hitler. She tried to help Herschel Grznspyn, the Jewish boy who shot a German diplomat. She fought anti-Semitism. She won awards for her heroism on this during the 1930s.
After WW2, though Dorothy Thompson loved Jews, she thought the Zionist claim to Palestine was weak. Her point was: German-Americans are Americans … Jewish-Americans are Americans. Israel is not America’s concern.
Overnight, she went from being a darling to a villain. Her attitudes had not changed, though. Only the spin placed upon her had changed. She was upset. Her career was wrecked. People wrote into papers and slandered her as anti-Semitic, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD SPENT A GOOD PORTION OF HER CAREER RESISTING THE NAZIS WHEN OTHER REPORTERS WERE SILENT!
In 1950, Menachem Begin wanted to visit the USA. Dorothy Thompson reminded the American people that the British considered Menachem Begin a terrorist for blowing up the King David Hotel. Was it worth angering the British to let in Begin?
You cannot call everyone a terrorist just because you do not agree with them.
If you call people like Furkan Do?an a terrorist, then what do you do with Menachem Begin and Ytzhak Shamir?
1) Israel had a right to stop the boat.
2) Equally, the boat had a right to run the blockade.
(International Law sets the rules of conflict/protest/war; but does not necessarily declare who is right)
3) Israel’s methods were unnecessarily rough, over the top – I know some here would have preferred a torpedo sinking.
BTW: If you are interested, this is a 1950 Documentary about the Palestinians – by DOROTHY THOMPSON – called SANDS OF SORROW.
Her career was destroyed by that documentary, and in the end, she was bitter about it.