U.S. condemns Israel's blockade of Gaza as ANOTHER Flotilla heads to Gaza!

[Maimonides]

Video of Hillary Clinton making clear she opposes Israel defending itself!



http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/06/01/sot.hillary.flotilla.attack.cnn.html

Sec. Hillary Clinton discusses the government's position on Israel's raid of a flotilla carrying aid supplies to Gaza.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-01/gaza-situation-unsustainable-clinton-says-as-ship-approaches.html

Pro-Palestinian activists are sending another ship to try to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, setting up another possible confrontation with the Israeli navy, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the situation in Gaza “unsustainable and unacceptable.”

Clinton called for a resumption of peace talks leading to a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians after nine activists were killed in the May 31 confrontation between the Israeli Navy and a flotilla of Gaza-bound ships.

“This incident underscores the need for working toward this goal,” Clinton said in Washington yesterday.

Clinton also called on Israel to allow countries access to their dead and wounded from the clash in international waters off Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The Israeli government last night said it would immediately begin deportation hearings for the more than 600 activists taken from the ships, and expects to complete the process within 48 hours.

President Barack Obama yesterday called Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “express his deep condolences for the loss of life and injuries,” according to a White House statement. Obama also told Erdogan that the U.S. “is working in close consultation with Israel to help achieve the release of the passengers,” the statement said.

International Criticism

Israel has faced international criticism over the violence, which has also spurred calls for the country to lift restrictions on the flow of goods into Gaza. Israel says it needs to control Gaza’s borders or else the Hamas Islamic movement that seized full charge of the Palestinian coastal enclave in 2007 will smuggle in material to make rockets and attack its territory.

Palestinians, backed by the United Nations and human-rights groups, say the restrictions on food imports and construction materials have created a humanitarian crisis.

In Gaza yesterday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians who tried to infiltrate into Israel and another three who attempted to fire a rocket.

Israel took 634 people in custody from the ships, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said. Forty-five others signed statements waiving their right to a court hearing and were deported immediately. The detainees were taken to a prison in the southern city of Beersheba to await deportation hearings, Most are from Turkey while others are from countries including the U.K., U.S., Greece, Sweden, Norway, Morocco, Kuwait and Lebanon.

‘More Determined’

“This disaster with the Israeli commandos has just made us more determined to reach Gaza,” said Audrey Bomse, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement, one of the flotilla’s organizers. The MV Rachel Corrie, named after an American pro- Palestinian activist killed in 2003 by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, should get to the waters near Gaza by the end of this week, she said.

Israel’s benchmark TA-25 Index fell for a fourth day, declining 0.9 percent at the close in Tel Aviv after a 1.6 percent drop yesterday.

Russia and the European Union called for the “immediate opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and people to and from Gaza,” according to a joint statement. The UN Security Council condemned “acts which resulted” in the deaths, while Erdogan said the Israeli raid was an act of “despicable recklessness.”

Israel’s Argument

Israel argues that its seizure of the flotilla in international waters is justified because it is in a virtual state of war with Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

Attacks against Israel by Hamas are “based mainly on the infiltration of war materiel” into the territory “by any means possible and by any channel at the organization’s disposal,” Israeli State Attorney Moshe Lador wrote in response to petitions to free detainees from the flotilla filed by local human rights groups to the country’s High Court of Justice, according to an e-mailed statement from the Justice Ministry.

“If you are indeed in a state of war and you have blockaded your coast, you’re allowed to stop ships from entering your territorial waters -- also if these ships are still in international waters,” Said Mahmoudi, a professor of international law at Stockholm University, said in an interview. “But no other state, including the U.S., and no international organization is sharing Israel’s view that there is actually a state of war.”

Knives, Clubs

Israel said its soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs after boarding a vessel and seven soldiers were wounded, including by gunfire after activists aboard the ship managed to grab Israeli firearms. The clash was in international waters.

The six ships in the flotilla came aimed at breaking Israel’s blockade that organizers pledged would be nonviolent. Israel had warned it wouldn’t let the ships reach Gaza and called the aid delivery a propaganda trick.

Norman Paech, a 72-year-old former German lawmaker who returned to Berlin yesterday, said he heard shooting while he was below deck on one of the ships. He said he saw three activists carrying sticks.

“I tried to hold them back, but they went on deck with them,” Paech said. “There really wasn’t anything more than that. We never saw any knives.”

Israel fought a three-week war in Gaza starting in December 2008 that it said was meant to stop Hamas and other militant groups from firing rockets into its territory. About 330 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel since the end of the operation, killing one foreign worker last March, the army said.

Israeli bombing and ground operations during the war destroyed thousands of houses across Gaza, and Israel’s restrictions on construction materials have prevented Palestinians from being able to rebuild. The army says Hamas has used materials such as cement and iron pipes to build rockets and bunkers.

[muman613]

Hmmm,

Voice of America is portraying this as America is not-Condemning Israel:


http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/White-House-Supports-UN-Stance-on-Gaza-Convoy-Raid-95347184.html
White House Supports UN Stance on Gaza Flotilla Raid

The Obama administration is refusing to condemn Israel or any other party after Israel's deadly raid on a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip.

Questioned Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs referred to language in a U.N. Security Council statement condemning acts which resulted in the loss of life.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later appealed for restraint by all involved and said the U.S. will work with Israel and Turkey to deal with the aftermath. 

She also voiced support for an Israeli probe into the incident at sea but said it must be prompt, impartial, credible and transparent as outlined by the U.N. Security Council.

Turkey has led the international outcry against Israel, after four Turks were among the nine activists killed when Israeli commandos boarded the aid ships.   

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the Israeli action a  "bloody massacre."   Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for an independent investigation - not a probe conducted by Israel.

Israel says its troops opened fire in self-defense.   

Russia and the European Union also issued a joint call Tuesday for an impartial probe, and separately condemned Israel's use of deadly force.

On Monday, tens of thousands of people rallied in cities around the world to denounce the Israeli operation.  The largest demonstrations were in the Middle East and Europe, particularly in Turkey and Sweden, whose citizens were aboard the ships boarded by Israeli troops. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been scheduled to visit President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday, but canceled the trip and returned to Israel from Canada. 

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is expected to meet Mr. Obama at the White House June 9 as scheduled.

[IsraeliGovtAreKapos]

[cjd]

That's some picture you have posted there. Normally I would be taken back by a post like that but since you have the shvartza President front and center I tend to see your point. The set of animals in this administration show they are more like Hitler with each passing day. For the vast majority of the American people this incident is not even an issue.... You might as well ask them about moon rocks you might get a more informed answer about them then about the situation over in Israel. I still tend to believe if more Americans actually understood the situation and not what has been spoon fed to them by the liberal media support for Israel would be far stronger.

[Ari Ben-Canaan]

Hillary KKKlinton is one of the worst human beings on the planet.  Only someone filled with evil could blame Israel for these "activists" beating IDF with metal rods in a giant mob instead of the "activists" doing the beating. - By her logic if I get pulled over in my car by a cop I can smash his head in with a metal pipe [which every normal "peaceloving" person would carry, in her mind] because a cop carries a gun on his hip, and I don't like being pulled over for traffic violations and feel I don't have to obey the law.  What an Amelek!!

[syyuge]

Some old stocks of torpedo may be tested against this flotilla.