Israel's raid on a flotilla of Gaza-bound blockade runners is a disaster on every level. Its enemies could not have scripted a more bungled operation: Commandos air-drop onto a ship and kill at least nine pro-Palestinian civilians, setting off recriminations, policy breaches and deepening isolation for Israel.
It couldn't have gone much worse. Through its mishandled actions, Israel stands more cut off than ever diplomatically. The peace process, already in the cryogenic stage, is at full stop. President Obama, on the outs with Israel's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave the deadly run-in the "deep regret" treatment, indicating that the White House wanted nothing to do with the mess. Meanwhile, did anyone notice a U.N. report that Iran has enough nuclear material for two bombs?
The episode reruns old stories. Palestinian sympathizers wanted a confrontation over Israel's blockade of Hamas-run Gaza. So they loaded up some half dozen vessels with 600 supporters and 10,000 tons of building supplies and medical equipment and ignored offers to dock in Israeli ports and ship the aid by land.
The purpose was clearly to call attention to the blockade, viewed as essential by Israel to cap terrorism, and regarded as harsh and unsuccessful by critics. But the Israeli military badly overreacted by rappelling down from helicopters and battling with the blockade runners on the decks of a borrowed ferry. Each side has videos and interviews to bolster its cause.
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