To the Editor,
Re: Israel’s ‘relief’ efforts do nothing for Gaza, Letters, Oct. 30.
Contrary to Phil Marchant’s contentions, the so-called humanitarian activists on board the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla ship were not the disciples of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
Instead, hard-core Islamists from the IHH terrorist organization were aboard the ship armed with lethal guns, knives, metal rods, firebombs, Molotov cocktails, slingshots and other weapons that were used to attack Israeli forces as they tried to interdict the flotilla.
Israel’s well-documented position is that it was well within its rights in enforcing a legal maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip to prevent weapons from getting into the hands of Hamas terrorists.
As to the use of force by Israeli soldiers, the marines were deployed with paint-ball guns as they were expecting to deal with crowd control issues, they were not expecting premeditated violence employed by Jihadi forces bent on brutally killing the soldiers.
It was only after these soldiers were brutally lynched that lethal force was authorized by senior Israeli officers for self-defence purposes.
Of significance, it should also be acknowledged that Israel weekly transfers hundreds of truckloads with more than 15,000 tonnes of goods and gas to Gaza. This is done on a regular daily basis.
As to the peril of Gaza, the Strip boasts five star restaurants, boutique hotels, vibrant and well-stocked markets, first class shopping malls, theme parks, luxury restaurants, sports cars, scenic beaches and Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Furthermore, the International Red Cross and the United Nations have confirmed that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
These facts alone underscore the realities on the ground in the Gaza Strip showing that these ‘activists’ are more interested in promulgating propaganda than in aiding Palestinians.
Mike Fegelman
via e-mail