Summer has finally arrived and the thoughts of bored progressives and rabid jihadists turn to one thing, trying to destroy Israel. Yes, it’s that time of year again when hundreds of busybody do-gooders team up with hundreds of blood thirsty thugs to attempt to run the blockade set up by Israel against the terrorist territory of Gaza. They’re not alone, this time they’re bringing their most potent weapon with them.
Camera crews from CNN and CBS will be aboard the ships, as will a team from the New York Times. Do not be fooled. The press has, for many decades now, been the sharpest arrow in the quiver of those wishing to destroy Israel. Sometimes they have been duped and, often times, they have been willing accomplices in a planned campaign to vilify Israel in the eyes of the world. They have repeatedly stepped out of their supposed role as impartial chroniclers of events to build a “narrative” where one didn’t exist. From the Fauxtography of the 2nd Lebanon war to the Blood Libel of the al-Dura case, it has been the media who has been willing not only to accept every statement of those intent on destroying Israel at face value but, at times, to help create a story where none existed.
The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics posits that, at a certain level, the act of observing affects the object being observed. This has become an axiom of today’s media culture. One only has to watch a news cast to see passersby stop to mug for the camera. This becomes magnified when those people aren’t there only for a brief ego trip but to achieve, through their actions, a very concrete goal.
Briefly, it needs be said that there is no real humanitarian basis for the flotilla. Gaza is not the poor deprived prison camp that the media portrays it to be. There is an abundance of food, the malls are teaming with people, and the water park is filled with frolicking youth. There is a steady flow of non-military goods into the area from Israel and Egypt. The stated purpose of those organizing the flotilla is to create a provocation, a situation in which Israel is seen as the aggressor as an excuse to pillory the Jewish state in the world press.
To this, those members of the media are willing accomplices. Besides their acting as water carriers for the destructive agenda of the terrorists and thugs running the show, their very presence will most likely have two effects. The first will be to incite the participants to do what they can to draw Israel into a violent confrontation. The second would be to tie the hands of those soldiers attempting to prevent the illegal breaking of Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza. Israel, unlike its neighbors, takes every possible caution to avoid any and all collateral damage during its military operations. The IDF knows what sort of vicious blowback would result if one of those reporters were harmed in any way. Israel will, of course, be accused of targeting them.
This brings us to the legal implications of their joining the flotilla, even as observers. The Neutrality Act of 1794 states:
“If any person shall within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States begin or set on foot or provide or prepare the means for any military expedition or enterprise…against the territory or dominions of any foreign prince or state of whom the United States was at peace that person would be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
The act of providing aid of any sort for the waging of war on an ally of the United States is illegal. The organizations whose employees are participating in this are certainly opening themselves up not only to criminal prosecution but civil suits by soldiers injured as a result of those actions, since they were involved in an illegal action at the time.
Israel will not allow the flotilla to pass. That is a given. It remains to be seen how the world will uphold its normal double standards to vilify Israel and attempt to isolate her more. It also remains to be seen how the liberal press will, once more, do its part to attempt to destroy the only country in the Middle East with a free press.
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