Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East Israel media bias dishonest reporting

June 8, 1910 (Last update June 22)

KBRM horrified at bias on flotilla ‘attack’

Emotive and one sided reporting filled NZs media during the week beginning June 1 with known Israel bashers prominent. Evidence showing Israel acted with caution and decency in handling the ‘peace flotilla’ and the Mavi Marmara was ignored and Reuters has been found to have doctored photos in removing a knife and pool of blood.

Letters flooded newspapers in an effort to counter the unbalanced reporting and a number of internet sites sprang up giving a different view one of which has saturated our newspapers and TV... Talk Gaza Flotilla

Videos were posted on sites as in this one UN men are seen watching while bags of flour are unloaded but hidden under the flour are rockets packed in boxes. Humanitarian Boats - Here is the Truth

Following the letters to Newspapers letters were written by kbrm members after TV One's Sunday Programme (June 13) with Cameron Bennett & Janet McIntyre who interviewed Nicola Inchmarch followed by an interview Cameron Bennett with Mark Regev who answered the set questions with sound responses and a steady voice and gaze for which Cameron had no comment.

Submitted to TVNZ in response to The Sunday Programme (June 20) on June 21, 2010:

Dear Sunday Team,
I have just finished watching your Sunday documentary ‘Nicola Enchmarch: In the thick of it’ on-line at nicola-enchmarch-in-thick.

Like the earlier Sunday documentary featuring the Middle East conflict, this documentary provided a clear demonstration of the Sunday team's ideological bias against the Jewish state, and its willingness to collude with Israel's enemies in giving the international community an unbalanced and partial understanding of the Middle East conflict. The only redeeming feature of this documentary was the fact that this time an Israeli official was given the opportunity to present a counter argument, even though two thirds of the documentary was devoted to presenting an anti-Israel perspective and Cameron Bennett's style of interview was aggressive and his questions were loaded against Israel.

There are a number of questions that are raised in the Sunday documentary, and I would appreciate being given answers to even some of them.

Why are New Zealanders fed the line that the Mavi Marmara IHH activists were peace-loving, humanitarian aid workers, when there is clear video evidence to the contrary? For example, in this video clip, an IHH leader urges ‘humanitarian aid workers’ (?) to throw Israelis overboard 30 May 2010. UTube video. This readily accessible video reveals aspects of the recent flotilla against Israel that the western media, including TVNZ, has censored.
Why did Sunday cut the video clip of the IDF soldiers being lowered onto the top deck of the Mavi Mamara before the footage showed the soldiers being set upon with bars and clubs? Prime News showed the full clip. And why was the later IDF sourced footage distorted with black lines, when it was able to be shown clearly on Prime News?
What was the source and date of the footage that supposedly showed Gazan Palestinians?
Why is the flotilla consistently referred to as an ‘aid flotilla’ when the ‘aid’ carried was rejected by Hamas, and was less that the amount of aid Israel allows into Gaza every single week?
Why was nothing said of the Israelis who were almost lynched? There have been images released of severely beaten and bloodied IDF soldiers being held down and photographed by knife wielding ‘activists’. Why was this not discussed on the Sunday documentary?
Why is an obviously partisan ‘peace’ activist given a sympathetic, unquestioning hearing in Janet McIntyre's ‘soft’ interview, while the Jewish official was effectively interrogated and had the validity of his testimony repeatedly called into question? Is the testimony of an Israeli Jew worth less than that of a New Zealander?
Why was the fact that the New Zealander carried two passports not questioned - what possible legitimate purpose could Nikki Enchmarch have had for carrying an expired New Zealand passport with her? Given the assertions made against Israel with regard to use of international passports, I would have thought this would have been a relevant line of questioning.
Why was Nikki Enchmarch not questioned about why the Mavi Marmara had deliberately sought conflict rather than using Israeli or Egyptian ports to deliver the much touted humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza?
Why was there no background information given about Viva Palestina and its founder, the populist British MP George Galloway. Viva Palestina is a controversial organisation, having raised concerns with the Charities Commission in the UK over its use of funds and mis-information about the amount of funds it had raised. Mr Galloway was deported from Egypt in January this year and on an earlier occasion publicly endorsed and gave a significant amount of money to the Hamas leadership, along with a number of Viva Palestina vehicles. The Viva Palestina group is certainly not a typical ‘charity’.

Sunday would best serve its audience by being an objective, investigative current affairs programme, not a blinkered mouthpiece for anti-Zionist activists. I would appreciate you considering the link I have given you and answering my questions.

Submitted to TVNZ in response to The Sunday Programme (June 13) on June 14, 2010:

TO: CAMERON BENNETT or TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
I was disturbed by the interview with Ms Enchmarch regarding the Foltilla incident and the unbalanced reporting. The short snippets of apparent warfare in Gaza dotted throughout the story, only added to the falsity,suggesting that this is the daily situation there (in Gaza). The shots of Bombs falling in an Arab city (?Gaza) were doctored from Reuters and certainly not the situation today.

I am a Kiwi nurse from Tauranga, who has lived and worked in Gaza and speaks Arabic and have first hand experience over a number of years of the places you spoke about. The whole program showed the naivity and lack of preparation of New Zelaand TV to accept without question things Ms Enchmarch said, when there are well documented videos and individual photos from Turkish as well as Israeli sources, which bring into question much of what she said.

U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright, on a speaking tour of the United States on behalf of radical pacifist women's group Code Pink, bills herself as an eyewitness to the IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara and what she termed the ‘murder’ of ‘nine innocent civilians.’ However, in an interview with Aaron Lerner of IMRA, she admits she did not actually see the clash between the IDF soldiers and the armed passengers on board the Mavi Marmara.

I am sure that Ms Enchmarsh had a scary experience and she may not have been aware that there were some 600 armed mercenaries on board, who had been picked up in Turkish Cyprus after the Mavi Marama had sailed from Turkey.This has been well documented. None of the known terrorists taken by Israel to Ashkelon had ID, all had some $16,000 in their pockets and wore flack vests. When unpacked (well documented by UN) there was no humanitarian aid on that boat, but rather weapons and live ammunition packed between the packaging.
Hamas refused to accept the broken,second hand motorised tricyles and out dated medicines from the trucks when they arrived at the Checkpoint for transfer to Gaza.

I lived in Gaza, hosted by the PA and worked in a PA hospital. I am not Jewish and have numerous Arab friends, but even the PA stated in the Bethlehem Arab press several days ago that Gaza was not starving. It was all an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas exercise. I don't know why such a nice lady as Ms Enchmarsh got mixed up in this quagmire of tagiya and lies.

I have nursed 2009 children from Gaza in the Tel Aviv hospitals, coming for humanitarian heart surgery, one in particular was Abdullah, an 8 year old nephew of a Hamas leader. I have documentation and photos and happy memories of caring for these Arab children in the Jewish hospital.I have taught nursing at Bethlehem University and at St.John Eye Hopsital which serves mainly the Arab population and also in Hadassah Jewish hospital. I cared for Jewish and Palestinian children side by side in peace.

I write these comments to put the record straight for those who are willing to consider a balanced picture of what is really happening in Gaza.

Submitted to TVNZ in response to The Sunday Programme (June 13) on June 14, 2010:

Janet McIntyres interview of Nicola Enchmarch was favoured to the position of the Activist. The purpose of the Flotilla was to break the blockade, under the pretence of aid. Israel allows aid into Gaza 738000 tonnes in 2009 over 2000 tonnes a day by established land routes. The flotilla carried 10000 tonnes. Israel considers herself at war with Hamas, who rules Gaza, because of Hamas's persistent acts of aggression. Israel gave Gaza as and act of sincerety for peace to the Palestinians in 2005.

America and Egypt support the blockade of Gaza to prevent arms being smuggled. Egypt shares a land border with Gaza but does not allow people or goods to cross. Civilians that take up arms against soldiers forfeit their civilian protection status (i.e. they become combatants).

Cameron Bennett was biased, supported by his prepared script, (which indicates you as a media group are slanted to one view) also supported by the fact that not ONCE did he even attempt to ANSWER any question/response by Mark Regev. He was not interested and it stood out. Also supported by the statements he said, such as ‘Video supports that the Israelis started it.’ And ‘Looking for a fight putting on a show of force.’ Rueters has been exposed as cropping photo's this week and admitted it. The Flotilla was breaching the blockade according to the San Remo Manual On International Law Appliciable To Armed Conflicts at Sea 12 June 1994, article 67:98:100:103:104:

What Mark Regev said is so true ‘Israel is held to a standard by the International community that is not required by any other Nation’. Israel like New Zealand have the right to govern itself internally and without interference.

What I find very disappointing is what you did NOT REPORT, it is unbalanced no one has heard the side of the Israeli soldier and the efforts made by Israel"s Navy to prevent the Mavi Marmara flouting International Maritime law.

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Dominion Post

Submitted to the Dominion Post on June 6, 2010 Printed

Reading David Shearer's opinion piece (3 June), readers can easily conclude that Israel is guilty of every crime known to mankind, which of course is the end result of the tsunami of distorted coverage currently swamping the media.

Permit me to pose the following: Israel is in a state of war with Hamas which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and has fired thousands of missiles at Israeli towns and civilians. Does Mr. Shearer believe that the border should be open and that Israel should just ignore this terror? Is it in order for Egypt to seal its border with Gaza? The misery experienced by Gazans is a direct result of their Government's desire to murder Israelis rather than concentrate on improving living conditions and accepting the Jewish State as a historic reality. Many Gazans have received specialist medical help in Israel and the humanitarian situation is not dire. The UN's blatant bias & double standards are self evident. Where is the demand for an enquiry over the torpedoing by Nth.Korea of a Sth. Korean ship with the loss of a large number of lives? None, because neither Israel nor Jews were involved. Doesn't that reveal something?

Submitted to the Dominion Post (Printed)

Has it occurred to any of the media that the ambush of the Israeli commandos off Gaza was a direct result of Turkish betrayal and duplicity? The worst the Israelis are guilty of is hopeless naivete in not seeing the signs much earlier.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been moving closer to his militant Islamist backers ever since his party's recent election victory. He now believes that he has more to gain from pleasing them than from maintaining an honourable if somewhat strained detente with Israel. Perhaps he feels he no longer needs Israeli friends now that he has completed a series of major arms purchases from them.

It is also clear that any investigation of the ambush will reveal many details about the link between Erdogan, the flotilla organizers and the IHH, the Turkish Islamic NGO that has many close ties to terror groups such as Hamas even while masquerading as a charity. Since he knows he will be found out soon enough, he is making a virtue of necessity — and of base dishonesty.

Once again the world is taken in by the dramatised wailing and carrying on in their rush to condemn Israel for defending itself.

Submitted to the Dominion Post on June 4, 2010 (Printed)

My research points to a carefully planned exercise in deception designed to make the Israelis look like monsters and the Turkish IHH ‘humanitarian relief fund’ (aligned with Islamist terrorist organisations) look like innocent victims. The group of 40 of the most violent ‘humanitarians’ on the Mavi Marmara came dressed in bulletproof vests, night vision goggles and armed with light weapons. They had no identity papers and each carried exactly the same amount of money.

Israel is entitled to enforce a blockade regardless of ‘international waters’. The protest flotilla was repeatedly warned of this and offered berthage at the port of Ashdod . This offer was rejected. ‘This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel 's siege’ (Greta Berlin, AFP, 27/05/2010).
The video clips show commandos abseiling down, brandishing paint ball guns for crowd control. They were grabbed by mobs as they landed, dragged to the deck, and beaten brutally with metal pipes and clubs. An unconscious soldier is thrown over the side onto the deck far below. Another is shown stabbed in the back and in the front whilst another is bleeding from a bullet wound Permission was then given to use their sidearms in defence

Submitted to the Dominion Post on June 2, 2010 (Printed)

Once again we note the media falling over themselves to report the latest Islamist propaganda exercise which has no regard of mortal consequences. The Herald Sun's (Aust.) ‘Don't fall for Islamist hype about flotilla attack, says Andrew Bolt’ told it how it was.
Hamas are holding the people of Gaza in a prison, not Israel. Egypt also has a blockade against Gaza because of Hamas, which only has to recognise Israel's right to exist and stop firing rockets into Israel for Israel to remove its blockade.

Letter to The Dominion Post June 1, 2010

Gaza Flotilla v Israel's side of the story. Is Israel allowed to have one? Some facts that should be shared with the NZ public. Are you prepared to print it?
I am one of many well informed gentile Kiwis who recognise the overwhelming Anti Israel bias in most of the NZ media and its UK news sources. I support the right of Israel to exist and I am opposed to those that state their intention of ‘wiping Israel off the map’. I do not regard Jews as a threat. The real danger to The West is militant Islam and its holy jihad against all non-believers and Infidels (who the Koran-and-hadiths offer the generous choice of conversion or death). This, by definition, includes both my progressive Christian, atheist and agnostic friends. And, more to the point, ME. Religious crazies — all of em — screaming Muslims, fundamentalist Chistians, murderous Sri Lankan Buddhists, class conscious Hindus and orthodox fussy-food Judaists should be packed off to Mars in the first available space ship. (Meanwhile to any remote one metre high Pacific coral atoll...). Western Europe is awash with the ancient legacy of antisemitism energised with the need to appease increasingly vocal, fast growing Muslim populations and predicated with its grovelling deference to the Arabs and their oil — a heady cocktail which is being regularly stirred. And shaken.

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NZ Herald

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 9, 2010:

Robert Fisk makes the extraordinary claim that Israel is successfully manipulating the Western media in the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla. An incomplete count of articles in the Herald and Herald on Sunday yields no fewer than 25 items to date. Of the 17 news items, 13 were fair and four were unbalanced or inaccurate to Israel's prejudice. Of eight opinion pieces, six were hostile to Israel, one neutral and one positive. Most of the Herald's overseas news and comment comes from international sources, so almost certainly the entire English-language media is negative overall on Israel's involvement in the flotilla affair.

But this isn't enough for Mr Fisk. His slogan seems to be: never mind the truth, the important thing is to bash Israel. He quotes with approval the Israeli anti-Government paper Ha'Aretz, which far from being an impartial source, will say almost anything to embarrass the Netanyahu administration. Sounds right up Mr Fisk's street. But New Zealand readers deserve better than this.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 6, 2010:

The NZ Herald's recent reporting on the Gaza flotilla provides an example of what Antony Loewenstein's describes as ‘the profound disconnect between rhetoric and reality in the Middle East conflict’ (2 June 2010). The irony is that neither Loewenstein nor the NZ Herald recognise this ‘disconnect’.

While declaring himself not to be an anti-Semite, Loewenstein makes the sweeping claim that ‘The Jewish community is used to getting its way in the halls of power through the canny mix of financial backing, arm-twisting and brutal realpolitik.’ Since Loewenstein frequently parades his own Jewishness, this is hardly a flattering self-portrait. This classic piece of anti-Semitism could have been lifted from the Nazi ‘Der Sturmer’ newspaper, and reveals the hypocritical mindset of a writer who overlooks human rights violations perpetrated by Israel's enemies, while condemning Israel for defending itself.

The Herald's overt bias against Israel has been clearly seen in recent days, and the editorial decision to publish this article, which descends from tired anti-Israel slogans into blatant anti-Semitism, demonstrates how far the NZ Herald has lapsed in its editorial judgement. It would make a refreshing change to read some objective reporting on the Middle East conflict for once — something connected to reality.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 5, 2010:

Refers to ‘West Complicit in Israeli terror and oppression by Antony Loewenstein’
What a dreadfully biased and one sided view. I am reminded of the quotation (don't confuse me with the facts my mind is already made up) which indicates apalling bigorty. What a venomous tirade against a people (Israel) who are surrounded by their enemies and have repeatly gone out of their way to meet Hamas's requests. Gaza being one. The Hamas regime ruling Gaza has been officially listed as a terrorist organization by many Nations. The blockade in place in Gaza is to prevent arms being smuggled in and is supported by Egypt and the United States. Israel is not as you printed ‘flouting international law and decency’ she has the same right as every other country to protect her citizens. Under international maritime law, when a blockade is in effect, no vessels can enter the blockaded area. I am so sickened by your article in my opinion the entire content breds hatred, bigorty and prejudice and is deflamatory.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 5, 2010:

The media's distortion of the ‘Gaza Flotilla’ incident has been truly shocking. Despite ample, unambiguous and freely available video evidence proving that the MM was not on a peaceful humanitarian mission but rather intent on breaking a legal, justifiable blockade imposed by Israel AND Egypt, Israel is still made the villain.

The lie still persists that Gazan's lives have been devastated despite the fact that Israel sends in 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid weekly. The six ships in the flotilla were attempting to bring in only 10 tons. I agree with Fran Sullivan that the blockade has not stopped Hamas, but it has successfully reduced the number of attacks on Israeli civilians. Surely the role of responsible governments is to protect the lives of their citizens.

Most disturbing of all is the suggestion that the flotilla incident can be compared to the British attempts to prevent Jewish refugees entering Palestine in the Second World War. Has common decency disappeared altogether? What an insult to the victims of Nazi atrocity. What an outrage to compare the deliberate, provocative actions of Islam-inspired fanatics to a hunted, persecuted people, struggling for survival. Misinformation, biased reporting, propaganda, truth twisting; it.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 4, 2010:

Video footage available in recent days and initial expert investigations show that the Israeli commandos in the Gaza flotilla were heavily armed - with paintball guns, suitable for crowd dispersal. The usual practice in similar situations by other western navies is to brandish machine guns and shotguns. Indeed the IDF soldiers carried handguns for their own personal defense. It soon became obvious as each soldier boarded the Mari Mamara that their lives were in danger. Knives and metal bars may be unsophisticated, but are potentially lethal at close range in the dark, especially when wielded by people who glorify martydom.

In her desire to not be accused again of ‘overkill’ Israel fell into the carefully planned publicity trap of the Turkish Islamic group ICC, a group who funds terrorist activities. Evidence shows that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that Israel weekly sends in thousands of tons of aid. The embargo imposed by Israel AND Egypt in 2007 has led to a reduction in the thousands of rocket attacks Israeli civilians endured following Israel's unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Israel regularly intercepts Hamas and auxiliaries attempting to smuggle bomb-making equipment into Gaza.

When the greater context is considered It seems the world demands of Israel what is expected of no other nation.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 3, 2010:

Before more condemnation is expressed of Israel's blockage of the flotilla, New Zealanders should recall that in October last year the New Zealand Herald reported that the Palestinians had declared a jihad, holy war, against Israel . Assuming that report was correct we must consider that Israel may well have received intelligence that this shipment was at least partially an arms consignment, destined to supply the promised jihad. It sounds highly possible.
Gaza's citizens have not been impoverished except by their own actions of initially destroying the vast glasshouses and equipment left behind at Israel's withdrawal. Fifty thousand tonnes of food, medical supplies and necessities enter from Israel each week so why did the ships go directly there rather than accept Israel's offer of UN inspection at Ashdod before permitting delivery to Gaza? Why were the activists armed with iron bars and knives? Who wouldn't shoot someone who was beating and stabbing a comrade? Every one of us would probably do the same.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 2, 2010:

So Israeli commandos armed with paintball guns is ‘overkill’ and activists attacking soldiers with iron clubs ‘poses no real threat’. When we do get to hear the other side of the story?

Why do we not hear that of the six aid ships in the flotilla the one in which the violent incident occurred is owned and supported by the I.H.H., an organisation tied to Islamist terrorists and a long-time supporter of Hamas? The activists on this ship prepared for their trip by chanting intifada phrases and praising martyrdom in the frenzied manner typical of preparation for jihad. The Israelis commandos who boarded the ship were obviously unprepared for the attack that awaited them. Apart from their paintball guns they had handguns for their personal defense, which they needed to use after being attacked with knives and metal rods.

Israel does not ‘occupy’ Gaza but withdrew in 2005 only to be met with an onslaught of nearly 10,000 rockets targeted at Israeli citizens. A blockade was imposed by Israel and Egypt in order to control the in-flow of weapons and bomb-making materials and has been effective in reducing the number of attacks on Israel. A blockade under these circumstances is considered perfectly legal. Israel vigilantly maintains the blockade because she values the lives of her citizens and knows that Islamist terrorists have a fanatical, irrational desire to annihilate them. If Hamas cared about its citizens it would take the necessary steps to have the blockade removed: recognise Israel's right to exist and stop firing rockets into Israel.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 2, 2010:

Let me get this straight.
Turkish organisation IHH, which even the Muslim-friendly Danes say is a terrorist front, sends ‘humanitarian aid’ to Gaza. Its spokesperson spoils the good impression by saying ‘this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege.‘ Activists aboard the flotilla depart chanting slogans commemorating massacres of Jews. Its leaders refuse Israel's offer to let it land the supplies under UN supervision, which (as you point out) was a reasonable compromise. When warned to stop by the Israeli navy, one ship refuses, and when boarded by Israeli forces armed with paintball guns, its crew attack with knives and metal bars, causing serious injury. In this life-threatening situation, Israeli commandos seek and get permission to use live fire. They fire at their attackers' legs. Very regrettably, a few activists are killed.

You describe the Israeli actions (only) as ‘overkill’. Many people would describe your spin on the story as hypocrisy.

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 2, 2010 Printed

Israel facilitates the supply of foodstuffs and other goods to Gaza as required, either paid for by Gazan earnings or donated by other countries. If the organisers of the flotilla had really been concerned for the welfare of Gazans, they would have delivered the goods through the established channels, which are subject to the oversight of the UN. But organiser Greta Berlin had another agenda. She is quoted as being ‘disgusted’ with Israel's actions, but her statement that ‘this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege’, was not mentioned.

Much play is made of Israel carrying out the interception at night. This happened only because the flotilla chose to travel by night; the organisers knew their actions were illegitimate. And why were they armed with clubs and knives of they were really on a humanitarian mission?

Submitted to the NZ Herald on June 1, 2010

Your report of the Gaza flotiila omitted some important facts.
Israel does not ‘bar’ building materials from Gaza; they are admitted if certified to be used for peaceful purposes. UN agencies in Gaza provide this certification. The only goods barred outright are weapons and munitions.
Israel facilitates the supply of foodstuffs and other goods to Gaza as required, either paid for by Gazan earnings or donated by other countries. If the organisers of the flotilla had really been concerned for the welfare of Gazans, they would have delivered the goods through the established channels, which are subject to the oversight of the UN. But organiser Greta Berlin had another agenda. She is quoted as being ‘disgusted’ with Israel's actions, but her statement that ‘this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege’, was not mentioned.
Much play is made of Israel carrying out the interception at night. This happened only because the flotilla chose to travel by night; the organisers knew their actions were illegitimate. And why were they armed with clubs and knives of they were really on a humanitarian mission?

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Herald On Sunday

Submitted to the Herald On Sunday on June 9, 2010:

Matt McCarten is living in fantasy-land if he believes that the leaders of Hamas can or will restrain their extremists. They themselves are the extremists. All the citizens of Gaza want is an end to the conflict, but Hamas' interest in their needs is shown by its frequent rocket attacks on the border freight terminals, which regularly disrupt the flow of humanitarian aid.

If Hamas were to renounce violence and recognise Israel, the blockade could be lifted and living conditions in Gaza improved in short order. Land-for-peace talks under UN resolution 242 could proceed, unencumbered by thorny issues such as West Bank settlements and the status of Jerusalem. Hamas' efforts could move from trying to acquire weapons of war to repairing and using the economic infrastructure left behind in Gaza by the departing Israelis in 2005. In time, Gaza might become economically self-sufficient.

But Hamas remains wedded to its vision of the violent destruction of Israel. The blockade is not an act of aggression, but Israel's attempt to keep lethal weapons out of the hands of its declared enemies.

Submitted to the Herald On Sunday on June 8, 2010:

I'm not surprised that Matt McCarten is ‘inclined to believe the passengers’ of the Mavi Marmara, rather than the Israeli Defence Force video footage of soldiers being attacked with knives and metal bars by ‘peace activists’. McCarten is so entrenched in his extreme bias against Israel that he would have believed the passengers if they had claimed to have been abducted by aliens in IDF uniforms.

Matt McCarten cannot even recognise Hamas' role in creating whatever humanitarian crisis exists in Gaza. Despite Israel allowing 10,000-15,000 tonnes of food, medical supplies, clothing and fuel into the Strip every week throughout the past year, Hamas does not allow the people of Gaza free access to this aid. Hard core supporters of Hamas and the paramilitary wing of the organisation gain most from the international aid and fuel, while supporters of Fatah, Hamas' main political rival, see almost nothing of the aid provided by Israel to Gaza.

Until Hamas chooses to put the Gazan people's peace and security ahead of their desire to exterminate Jews, ending the Israeli blockade against Hamas will not improve the lives of Gaza's civilians. It will only lead to more bloodshed and heartache for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Submitted to the Herald On Sunday on June 7, 2010:

Matt McCarten has taken on the role of judge, jury and executioner in his virulent attack on Israel's actions in the Gaza flotilla incidents. His article reeks of the all too common attitude ‘my mind's already made up, don't confuse me with the facts’.
You ignore the fact that Israel is forced into the position of imposing an embargo because Hamas refuses to recognise her right to exist, or that Israel weekly sends 10-15,000 tons of aid into Gaza.
Most disturbing of all is your suggestion that the flotilla incident can be compared to the British attempts to prevent Jewish refugees entering Palestine in 1947. Has common decency disappeared altogether? What an insult to the victims of Nazi atrocity. What an outrage to compare the deliberate, provocative actions of Islam-inspired fanatics to a hunted, persecuted people, struggling for survival.
Put simply, if Hamas would lay down its arms and recognize Israel's right to exist there would be peace. If Israel is denied the right to defend herself, she will be annihilated. If there is one thing the Jewish people have learned from their troubled history, it is that when someone says they want to destroy you, believe them.

Submitted to the Herald On Sunday on June 7, 2010:

Matt McCarten's column (Herald on Sunday, 6 June) on the incident off Gaza relies more on prejudice than fact. Take his comment about Hamas being the legitimate elected government of Gaza. He ignores the bloody coup in June 2007 by which Hamas ousted from Gaza the unity government that followed the 2006 Palestinian elections.
Again, he advises the Hamas leadership to use their influence to tell the extremists to shun violence. The Hamas leaders are the extremists. Anyone reading the Hamas 1988 Charter will see that it calls for the replacement of Israel and the Palestinian Territories with an Islamic Palestinian state. If that isn't extremist, what is?
The so-called analogy with Jews on ships seeking to break through the British blockade of pre-independence Palestine is a typical perversion by the anti-Israel brigade. How can McCarten sensibly compare hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors seeking to enter the only place designated as their homeland, with a few hundred ‘peace activists’ who in fact included many violent Islamists and would-be martyrs?
Matt McCarten doesn't know what he is talking about.

Submitted to the Herald On Sunday on June 6, 2010: (Response to Kerry Woodham)

High Price?
It is revealing that despite the conflicting accounts from the opposing sides in the Gaza Flotilla incident the international community immediately jumped on the Israel-bashing bandwagon, even before any official investigations had begun. In response to your three N's:

Israel underestimated the level of force that would be required. Western navies in similar situations are usually armed with machine guns and shotguns, not paintball guns and sidearms.
Israel followed proper procedures and had every right to stop a ship trying to break a blockade that is legal in the state-of-war conditions that exist between Israel and Hamas. This was no bluff.
It is because Israel does care about her image that, to her own existential harm, she does not take much stronger measures that are well within her capability.

I agree the activists wanted publicity for their mission. Some of the activists wanted more than publicity however. For some, the goal was to reach Gaza or become a martyr. The brother-in-law of one of the victims has said ‘he was truly worthy of shahada (martrydom). Allah granted him the death that he wished for’.

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The Press

Submitted to The Press on June 22, 2010:

The scathing correspondence throughout the press of Israeli troops boarding of the so-called aid ship leads me to wonder why there have been no protests against Palestinians throughout the eight-year period that Gaza was bombarding Israel with seven thousand rockets, nor when Hamas suicide bombers killed Israelis in nightclubs and streets of Jerusalem.
Egypt has blockaded Gaza for years. Where are the protests against that? Blockade is not illegal, particularly in the latest example where the ship was warned it would be stopped but continued on regardless. By its own actions the crew is entirely responsible for the deaths that occurred. Of course they got shot when they attacked with knives and iron bars.
Why did crew members gather arms when they saw the IDF coming? Why didn't they accept the search if they had nothing to hide? Why avoid UN scrutiny at the regular checkpoint?? Perhaps the whole thing was designed to trigger the jihad that Palestinians declared against Israel in October last year. This is what we should be looking at.

Submitted to The Press on June 9, 2010:

Paul McGeough's story of ‘three young Australians’ )The Press 8 June 2010) is less a story about idealistic Australian peace activists, than a story about the radicalisation of young Muslims.

McGeough claims 20-year-old Ahmed Talib's family entered Australia in 1995 from Sri Lanka, stayed 5 years then left for the conservative Islamic Arab state of Kuwait in 2000. Seven years later Talib returned to Australia and married an Australian convert to Islam. Twelve of Talib's twenty years were spent away from Australia, and his most formative years, from 10 to 17 years, were spent in Kuwait. Talib's 18-year-old sister Miryam still resides in ‘the family home in Kuwait’.

For Ahmed Talib to be shot onboard the Mavi Marmara, as he claims to have been, he must have been on the ship's top deck, among the mob of violent anti-Israel activists who used knives and metal bars to attack Israeli soldiers armed with paintball guns and side arms.

Were the young Talibs peaceful Australian victims of Israeli aggression, as McGeough asserts, or something else; and did Ahmed receive his ‘tutelage by experienced activists’ in Australia or in a Kuwaiti Madrasah Islamiyyah?>

Submitted to The Press on June 7, 2010:

Cartoonist Evans (June 7th) should be aware that many of those Jews on his 1948 refugee ship who survived Hitler's death camps were subsequently murdered by Palestinian Arabs. The same Arabs and their neighbours have spent the last 62 years trying to destroy the sovereign state of Israel without success. Gaza is nothing more than a terrorist enclave where Hamas deliberately immiserate their own people and use them as political pawns, where they raise their children on a steady diet of racial hatred, and a cult of death and martyrdom, where their women are sidelined with no rights and no moderating influence.
In 1945 in the battle for Iwo Jima the Japanese death toll was three times that of the Americans, yet nobody questions the justice of that conflict. The Israelis are up against the same mentality of suicide and martyrdom that we saw in 9/11 and read about every other day in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. The blockade is necessary to prevent lethal missiles reaching those who place no value on human life.

Those who incite hatred against Israel are sowing the seeds for a second Holocaust.

Submitted to The Press on June 4, 2010:

What is most striking in Paul McGeough's emotional account of the Israeli assault on the Gaza activists' flotilla is the darkness (4 June 2010). ‘In the blackness ... all that could be seen of the Israelis around us were pinpoints of light.)
Although it was dark and Mr McGeough was aboard a small boat 150 metres away from the Mavi Marmara, he writes with the authority of an eye witness about events that took place on the chaotic top deck of the ‘big Turkish passenger ferry’.
IDF night vision footage revealed what Mr McGeough could not see through the darkness and clouds of tear gas: Israeli soldiers being ambushed, stabbed, savagely beaten with clubs and metal bars and fired upon by an angry mob, before acting in self defence.
Until the accounts from Israeli soldiers are heard and given as much credence in the international media as those of the flotilla activists and their tame journalists, news editors, commentators and readers are all, like Mr McGeough, adrift at sea in the dark, seeing, only what their own political agendas and prejudices want to see. They should refrain from condemning Israel until all the facts are brought to light.

Submitted to The Press on June 4, 2010 (Printed)

Fridays' front page headline ‘Israelis hunted flotilla ships ‘like hyenas’, wow what a read! Discovery channels’ got nothing on this, your Fairfax correspondents writing skills are wasted - such talent for descriptive writing should be channeled toward Hollywood. ‘Then, the tightening noose. Sneaking up and around every boat, there were bullet-shaped hulks.....’, lots of sneaking, hunting, pushing and lunging - great stuff. Unfortunately Mr McGeough then turned to the facts as he saw them (even if he was reporting as an observer, at sea, - in the dark), not so entertaining but much more informative. While his piece is a riveting read one is left wondering, is there any other way to board an illegal vessel at sea, that has refused to cease its course or head any warning of impending consequences? I shall be viewing all Coastguards in a more anthropomorphic way from now on. I am surprised also that Fairfax media would want one of its correspondents part a venture so closely linked to Turkeys' IHH, an entity with documented links to Al Qaeda.

Submitted to The Press on June 2, 2010:

With regard to the debate over Gaza and aid, it might be useful to know what the standard of living is like in Gaza: I see that life expectancy in Gaza is over 73 years. This is higher than Russia, India, Ukraine, Estonia, Jamaica, Malaysia, Bulgaria and Glasgow East. The Infant mortality rate is 17.7 per 1000. This is lower than Mexico, Angola, Iran, India, Egypt and Brazil. Literacy stands at 92 percent, higher than India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Over 20% of households have a computer, this is more than Portugal. 70% of Gazans have a TV. 81% of households have access to a cell phone. Hmmmm...

Letter to The Press June 1, 2010 (Printed)

Filling a vessel with politicians, camera crews and ‘aid’ and then sailing it into a war zone in contravention of a military naval blockade, is nothing more than a cynical action that needlessly risked human life just to manipulate world opinion.

Under international maritime conventions, a military power can board any ship in international waters, if it has grounds to believe that they intend to breach a blockade. The Royal Navy did it in both world wars.

Before the ship left Turkey the captain said that if the Israelis boarded they would not violently resist arrest. Taking this seriously the commandos were only armed with paintball guns and conventional sidearms. Within seconds of being boarded the first Israeli commando is stabbed and thrown overboard.

No risk to life was necessary: The Israelis had already offered to include it with other international aid passing through alternative channels that were observing the usual protocols.

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The Otago Daily Times

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times (Printed), Timaru Herald (Printed) & Taranaki Daily News (Printed) on June 8, 2010:

What an achievement by my relative Chris Trotter -in one short, vicious article he managed to exemplify much of what is bad in nearly two millennia of the ‘Christian’ West's interaction with Israel's people and Israel's scriptures. Marcionsim, supersessionism, historic revisionism, and even a 21st century version of the blood libel, are all accounted for in his article entitled ‘Israeli Violence Is Proof Nation Has Lost Its Soul’.

Any charlatan TV evangelist could be proud of the way Chris wrenches scripture from its context, affirming a literal meaning when it suits his anti Israel agenda and yet, paragraphs later, denying that Israel and Jerusalem are any more than a ‘practicersquo; or ‘aspiration’. Amos, the very same Hebrew prophet that Chris so woefully misquotes, climaxes his prophecy thus: ‘I will bring back my people Israel... ...I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted’.

The UN voted to establish both a Jewish and an Arab state in November 1947. The Jews accepted the plan but it was rejected by the Arabs who immediately attacked Jewish communities throughout the land. Israel continues to struggle for survival against forces commited to its destruction. While Chris may describe as ‘evil’ Israel's 1948 national rebirth, the Hebrew prophets whom he is so willing to denigrate on one hand and exploitively misquote on the other, predicted Israel's regathering along with great controversy and conflict. The story is not over.

Again attempting to hijack a biblical motif Chris suggests ‘Let my people go!’ is a cry now more fitting of the Palestinians. In a sense, I can agree. Ask Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of one of Hamas' founders, who renounced Islam, became a follower of Jesus and served Israeli intelligence for years. Ask him what it is that oppresses his Palestinian people. It is not Israel but Hamas and its brand of genocidal Islamic fanaticism that is the oppressor. Ask Elias Issa, founder of the Palestinian Zionist Organization, or ask Syrian born psychiatrist Sultan Wafa, outspoken critic of Islam who describes the struggle as ‘a battle between modernity and barbarism’.

Israel, the Middle East's only true democracy and a nation in which Arab citizens enjoy freedoms available in no Islamic nation, provides thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza every week. Repeatedly Israel affirmed its willingness to deliver the minimal aid the Mavi Marmara was carrying. Humanitarian aid, however, was not the ship's ultimate goal. The aim was to break the legitimate and necessary naval blockade that has been imposed by Egypt and Israel upon the terrorist Hamas regime - a regime dedicated to Israel's destruction. Any fair minded enquirer can view the readily available video evidence and see that the IDF soldiers were viciously attacked with knives, bars and live fire by Islamic terrorists, some of whom, by their own earlier statements, were seeking martyrdom.

In a truly perverse attempt to create moral equivalence, Chris compares the 1946 Jewish refugee ships to the Mavi Marmara. Ships laden with the Jewish survivors of Europe's genocide bear no relation whatsoever to a well staged Islamic terrorist ploy.

As a student of ‘Christian’ antisemitism and the holocaust I am privileged to know elderly Jews who survived Europe's attempt to annihilate the Jewish people. They witnessed firsthand the gradual isolation and demonization of Jews in the 1930s. For some, articles like Chris Trotter's have an all too familiar ring.

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times on June 7, 2010 (Printed)

Gaza blockade Flotilla.
The skirmish against Israel by the flotilla sailors turned out exactly as they planned!
The cycle is always the same;
Israel is accused of a monstrous crime. The international media, govts. etc whip themselves into a lather with denunciations and recrimination. Israel quickly finds itself in the eye of a media and diplomatic storm. For a day or two Israel looks guilty as sin and people become convinced they have committed a great crime. Then slowly doubt is cast on the prevailing narrative, evidence comes to light, it becomes apparent the charges are false or trumped up. But it doesn't count as the wave of media and political furore has passed. The Israel-haters who rushed to judgement never retract their initial condemnations. Guilt makes the front pages, exoneration is ignored. In the minds of the people everywhere the charges have stuck. Israel knows one thing for sure in the media they are going to lose the war.
Israel is surrounded by Islamic nations baying for blood and it's extermination. The world needs to wake up, it is the intent of world domination by Islam that we are all up against, Israel the front line.
Iran is stirring the pot, and war is imminent.

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times on June 7, 2010:

Gaza Bound Aid
New Zealanders lying in the streets protesting against Israel's handling of aid flotillas, carrying placards crying out for democracy and equal rights for Palestinians. I'm confused why Liberals and Students would protest against the stopping of Gaza bound convoys sponsored by known terrorist. Convoys which were not sponsored by know terrorists arrived safely with no loss of life.
Hard to understand people who obviously having taken a stand for what is right and good would support an authority that stands for the oppression of almost all human rights. Imagine a day when we see peace activists lying in the streets of Gaza , sponsored by the US and Israel. Demonstrating against the use of children as human bombs, discrimination against women, Christians, Gay rights, and the firing of rockets into Israel!

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times on June 2, 2010 Printed

Your editorial ‘Lost at Sea’ (2 June) could more aptly be entitled ALL at sea.

May I be permitted to point out a few salient points which the media and others conveniently overlook. Israel is in a state of war with Hamas, which since it violently took power in Gaza has fired thousands of missiles at Israeli communities and has its aim the destruction of the Jewish State. It has kidnapped an Israeli soldier and held him for several years without any access to the International Red Cross. The so called humanitarian aid flotilla was anything but that and its sole intention was to cause mayhem and martyrs. Turkey, one of the main instigators, a country which illegally occupies half of Cyprus and has never acknowledged its culpability for the Holocaust of Armenians, acts as though it is a beacon of righteousness and virtue. Other countries, many of whom have appalling human rights records, have hopped on the bandwagon of Israel bashing. Egypt, which also blockades Gaza somehow escapes attention. There is a blockade because both Egypt and Israel know that Hamas is smuggling weapons and missiles. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

These and other facts, too numerous to mention, are usually ignored. Knee jerk condemnations of Israel's lone fight against terrorists and terror organisations seem to be preferred. It makes one wonder why.

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times on June 2, 2010:

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The Bay of Plenty Times

Submitted to the Bay of Plenty Times on June 8, 2010: Printed

Mary Brook's letter 8.6.10 expresses her bias and is full of inaccurate information about the ‘beleaguered’ Gazans and ‘Nazi’ Israelis.
I am a NZ nurse who has lived and worked in Gaza and fully literate in Arabic. I have many friends in Gaza and can confirm that most are not in such a dire state. Even today the Fatah Palestinians reported that ‘there are no starving people in Gaza’ (INN) provided they are supporters of Hamas. In Gaza there's no democracy!
Israel opens Gaza's borders on numerous occasions. I have nursed children from Gaza in Israeli hospitals where they received life giving heart surgery. One child was a close relative of a Hamas leader. Israel shows great mercy to all who sincerely need help. Hamas, by contrast, recently executed 3 Gazan men in front of their wives and children. Hamas is very cruel to their people.

The Flotilla's stated goal was to defy the blockade and armed mercenaries on board said they wanted Islamic martyrdom (shaheeds). Israel did request the Flotilla to change course and go to Ashdod for examination of cargo but they refused.
Any parallels Mary makes to Nazis in Germany shows her bias against the Israeli people who live daily in danger from terror attacks by Hamas Iran and even Turkey who have stated aims to destroy the Jewish state.

Printed in the Bay of Plenty Times on June 5, 2010:

Hamas Hypocrisy
Tonnes of aid removed from the Turkish Flotilla and collected in the Israeli port of Ashdod were trucked to the entrance to Gazato be transferred to the Gaza inhabitants this week.
According to international humanitarian agencies they are considered so needy. However the Hamas Government refused to take the aid.
The hypocrisy in this exercise glares at those willing to see it.
Truth will prevail. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

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The Nelson Mail

Printed in the Nelson Mail on June 4, 2010:

Sir, I belive Victoria Davis, wrote ‘Israel must be stopped’ (mailbox, June 2) didn't consider all the facts before writing her letter. The flotilla to Gaze wasn't for humanitarian supply, it was orgenized by Islamic organizations that support terror activities and done on purpose to breach the Israeli law.
No country would allow any activity that will treath her population.
The ‘supply’ wasn't food or medication, it was supply to make bombs and missiles that will be used to attack Israeli cities borderd with Gaza.
The number of innocent Israeli victims killed by those missiles or bombs from Gaze are higher than those in this case.
Calling Israel a rogue state is just a weird way to call the only democrcy in the Middle East, will be interesting to hear the name she will call Iran or Syria.
Israel doesn't hold the Palestinians in jail, they get 20,000 tons supply every week, electricity and water and every other supply that was delivered by land transport.

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The Marlborough Express

Submitted to the Marlborough Express on June 20, 2010:

My research poins to a carefully planned exercise in deception designed to make the Israelis look like monsters and the Turkish IHH ‘humanitarian relief fund’ (aligned with Islamist terrorist organisations) look like innocent victims. The group of 40 of the most violent ‘humanitarians’ on the Mavi Marmara came dressed in bulletproof vests, night vision goggles and armed with light weapons. They had no identity papers and each carried exactly the same amount of money.
Israel is entitled to enforce a blockade regardless of ‘international waters’. The protest flotilla was repeatedly warned of this and offered berthage at the port of Ashdod . This offer was rejected. ‘This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege’ (Greta Berlin, AFP, 27/05/2010).

The video clips show commandos abseiling down, brandishing paint ball guns for crowd control. They were grabbed by mobs as they landed, dragged down to the deck, and brutally beaten with metal pipes and clubs. An unconscious soldier is thrown over the side onto the deck far below. Another is shown stabbed in the back and chest whilst another is bleeding from a bullet wound. Only then was authorisation given to use their sidearms in self-defence.

Submitted to the Marlborough Express on June 18, 2010 (Printed)

Because of misinformation the Public have been led to believe that conditions in Gaza are very desperate. There are five crossing points along the Gaza strip. The northern Erez Crossing into Israel, the southern Rafah Crossing into Egypt, which has largely been closed since June 2007, when the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the coastal strip from rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abba's Fatah movement. Egypt has announced 1st June 2010 the reopening of the Rafah Crossing. The other three crossings are mainly for cargo. In 2009 738,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid was delivered via Israel. There are approx 100 tunnels where goods and terrorists pass daily. Once more Israel has been pressured by those who do not have to live, eat and breathe this on a daily basis. Since 2005 Israel has had thousands of rockets and missles fired into the southern cities of Israel. The photo you have in the paper without the balance of both sides leds to a misconception. It has been exposed since the Flotilla incident that Reuters was caught cropping photos (removal of knives, and other weapons held in the hands of the IHH, also the removal of blood on the IDF soldiers). Please may we have both sides.

Submitted to the Marlborough Express on June 2, 2010 Printed

Regarding your article ‘Dubious defence’ and the comments made concerning Israel has no defence in the killing of nine activists, how do you know they were activists and not terriorists??? There are consequences to actions as one New Zealander is finding out at the moment in Japan. Israel was not trying to prevent aid reaching the Palestinians as you reported, Israel has always put forth a hand of friendship to Hamas and Hizbullah. Israel gave away the Gaza as and act of sincerity and committment to peace with her enemies. What did Israel receive in return? Certainly not peace. Israel affords all her citzens every constituional right without discrimination no matter what ethnic group. How can the commandos’ reaction be out of proportion when Israel knows from experience the tactics there enemies employ with infiltration of suppossedly innocent activities.

I would like to make a point that goes back further to the six day war. The Arab Nations warned their citzens who lived within the borders of the newly created state of Israel to get out and they could return later when Israel had been defeated the problem is Israel won the war and not one of those Arab Nations took responsibility for their citzens and tried to absorb them in their own countries, hence the displacement. But Israel allowed them to live peaceably amongst them. So Israel has not for many years as your article says been abusing the rights of Palestinian people.

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Taranaki Daily News

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times (Printed), Timaru Herald (Printed) & Taranaki Daily News (Printed) on June 8, 2010:

Submitted to Taranaki Daily News on June 5, 2010

If you want unmitigated horror (‘Israel's violence is proof nation has lost its soul’ by Chris Trotter, June 4th), look at the massive slaughter of Jews perpetrated by the Crusaders, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian Pogroms, the slaughter and forced evacuation by pretty much all the Arab countries of the Middle East and then of course there was the Holocaust.

Then look at the ships carrying Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany and how every country turned them away, forcing them back to the concentration camps where they perished. Look at the ships carrying refugees to Palestine and the way the British turned many of them back so they too died in the camps.

Israel has had to fight every inch of the way to survive as a country that can offer Jews a homeland where they are guaranteed rights and freedoms of full citizens. In Israel as a Jewish state every Jew knows he or she will never be persecuted or murdered because he or she is a Jew - and that is the first time- ever- since the Jews were forced to flee their homeland two thousand years ago.

It's time for the world to wake up to the real horror that is threatening the free world - that of Islamic Jihadism which is out to destroy Israel,using every trick in the murder book and the propaganda book to do it and is out to establish a caliphate stretching across the Middle East and Europe.

Submitted to Taranaki Daily News on June 5, 2010 as an Opinion Piece

If Israel truly had wanted to ‘massacre’ the Hamas sympathizers and fellow travellers aboard a six-ship Gaza-bound flotilla, the operation would not have been complicated. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would have used the trusty North Korean solution: Torpedo the ships and watch them sink to the bottom of the sea. Even Israel arguably would have been within its rights to seize and destroy a ship being sent toward Gazan waters in defiance of an embargo, especially after giving abundant warnings to the leaders of the largely Turkish-based Free Gaza Movement, which had sent the flotilla, that they would not be permitted to sail to Hamas-controlled territory. An embargo is accepted in international law,
The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 12 June 1994
Article 67: ‘Merchant vessels flying the flag of neutral States may not be attacked unless they: (a) are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture.’ (remember the Hamas government refuses to recognise Israel in any form).

But that's not how Israel operates. Instead, it sent commandos to seize control of the ships and bring them safely to Israeli waters. Israeli officials had even prepared air-conditioned accommodations for the activists, and had made arrangements to deliver the legitimate aid supplies to Gaza. According to the IDF, not all of the activists on board the ships were the pacifists they claimed to be. Though the Free Gaza leaders said they would not resist Israeli enforcement of the embargo, some of them fought the Israeli boarding parties with iron clubs as confirmed by video that has been made available to the media. More seriously, it is claimed that at least one of the activists took two handguns from the Israelis and fired at the soldiers. In the melee, at least 10 activists were believed to have been killed, and several Israeli commandos wounded. ‘They beat us up with metal sticks and knives,’ one Israeli commando told the Los Angeles Times. ‘There was live fire at some point against us. ... They were shooting at us from below deck.’ Based on the same source, the Times also reported that ‘activists tossed some of the soldiers from the top deck to the lower deck and the soldiers jumped in the water to save themselves. Activists grabbed some soldiers and tried to hold them hostage, stripping them of their helmets and equipment.’ If this narrative stands up, then every drop of blood spilled on that Monday morning rests on the hands of those activists who initiated the deadly exchange. When you attack Israeli soldiers ‘or at any soldiers’ with lethal force, they will respond in kind. As for the events that unfolded after the deadly exchange commenced, we don't know how much of the ensuing bloodshed was avoidable. Like all civilized nations, Israel likes to conduct its anti-terrorist operations in a measured, deliberate fashion. But that's difficult in the close confines of a crowded ship, where combat takes place at the range of a few metres ‘especially, in the case of the Free Gaza flotilla, which was populated by a diverse mob spanning the gamut from naive Jewish grandmothers to full-fledged Islamist radicals. For most of the world, of course, these facts won't matter: Like the bogus Jenin massacre, this episode will be used as just another stick to beat the Jewish State’ even by those same pundits and activists who can't be roused to say a single word when genuine ‘massacres’ unfold in other parts of the world, such as the slaughter of more than 90 members of the Ahmadi sect in Pakistan. On sea, as on land, this is the double-standard that Israel always must battle when it acts to defend itself against terrorists and their media-savvy enablers.

Submitted to Taranaki Daily News on June 4, 2010:

I live up here in Whangarei and occasionally go by the library to have a squizzy at the regional papers. Very rarely do I ever write to any of them. However the letter by Chris Trotter demands a reaction.
His letter is pure incitement against a people. The letter is based on blatant anti-Semitic lies as perpetuated by the Nazis.
I am equally disgusted by you, the editor of a respected paper (up until now) for publishing such a letter here in New Zealand, which amounts to racial incitement and gives voice to someone's personal anti-Semitic feelings against the Jews. As a ‘responsible’ editor this letter should never have been published.

Submitted to Taranaki Daily News on June 4, 2010 Printed

Freedom of the Press is a fundamental right in any democracy but it carries with it a heavy responsibility to ensure that stereotyping, defaming and distorting facts are not disseminated in the name of ‘opinions’. It is therefore with horror that I read a column by Chris Trotter (4 June) which was guilty of all these very things. As a Kiwi now residing in Israel, whose parents arrived in New Zealand as refugees from Nazi Germany and whose extended family was murdered in the concentration camps of ‘enlightened’ Europe, I never thought I would see the day when a reputable NZ newspaper would open its columns to something straight out of Der Sturmer and other such Jew hating publications. Chris Trotter's diatribe is so venomous and dripping with hatred that it does not even deserve a reply. Your readers should be made aware that his obvious hatred for the Jewish People and its ancient homeland is a disgusting abuse of freedom of expression. His poisonous accusations are part of a concerted campaign to rewrite history and deligitimise the Jewish State. It is more than regrettable that his hate filled words should be propagated by your newspaper. The same sort of articles in the 1930s prepared the ground for the demonisation of the Jews of Europe and we all know what resulted.

The least you can do is allow me to write a column in rebuttal which will at least give your readers a balanced and fair understanding of the actual situation in the Holy Land.

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The Timaru Herald

Submitted to the Otago Daily Times (Printed), Timaru Herald (Printed) & Taranaki Daily News (Printed) on June 8, 2010:

Submitted to the Timaru Herald on June 8, 2010: Printed

Israel needs Gaza sea blockade
Your editorial )‘High seas disaster’ 2 June( seriously contradicts itself. To start with, the editorial agreed that Israel ‘struggles to survive in an area surrounded by hostile neighbours.’ But later the editorial said: ‘The Israeli insistence that the supply convoy posed a security threat is a nonsense.’
How do you know? If Israel is indeed struggling to survive against existential threats, as it is, can't you accept the Israeli claim that any breach of the sea blockade of Gaza (which is allowed by international maritime law) raises the possibility of armament smuggling?

You seem to have forgotten the 2002 Israeli interception of the Tongan-flagged Karine A carrying 50 tonnes of arms from Iran; and the November 2009 interception of the Antigua-flagged cargo ship Francop carrying over 300 tonnes of arms from Iran, including 2000 Katyusha rockets.
Given the Hamas regime's state of armed conflict against Israel (as set out in the 1988 Hamas Charter), no flotilla trying to enter Gaza can be deemed innocent.
If it really was a humanitarian aid convoy, as claimed, they would have been happy to have their supplies sent on to Gaza by Israel , after checking for arms, instead of resisting with violence.

Submitted to the Timaru Herald on June 7, 2010 Printed

Like so much of the commentary that has swamped the media in the past week, Gwynne Dyer's latest anti-Israeli offering relies on presumption rather than firm evidence.

He states, ‘Just one Israeli soldier was seriously injured, though nine others apparently suffered scraped knuckles and bloody noses.’ Perhaps if he watched the footage of Israeli soldiers being overwhelmed by knife and club wielding activists, being thrown off decks, stabbed, knocked down and viciously beaten, he might revise his definition of ‘seriously injured’.

Mr Dyer may consider that the Israeli's paintball guns and side arms constituted being ‘heavily armed’, but I imagine he would prefer something rather more substantial were he to be sent into the midst of a lynch mob.

He writes with an authoritative tone about Israeli agents infiltrating flotilla organisers, about international law, and the rate of aid being sent into Gaza, but provides not one shred of evidence to support his assertions. His entire article is built on assumption, hearsay and personal prejudice.

Gwynne Dyer's column is not news; it is merely another contribution to the international media hate-fest against Israel. Perhaps the terms ‘objectivity’ and ‘proof’ have been dropped from the modern journalist's vocabulary?

Submitted to the Timaru Herald on June 6, 2010 Printed

The tsunami of poison & distortions against Israel swamping the media at present is drowning out the real facts. A classic example is the use of photos which either bear no relationship to the news item or convey an entirely misleading slant. Take for example the photo you published on 2 June of a group of Jews demonstrating against Israel. Your readers would be totally unaware that this religious sect are less than miniscule and have been disowned by every branch of Judaism. The publicity they garner for their stunts is indicative of the way the media manipulates facts. Instead of reporting the real situation and the reactions of the vast majority of Israeli Jews, readers are only exposed to the most vicious unbalanced bias and photos which convey a deceiving picture of reality. This steady diet of hate and disinformation can be guaranteed to sow the seeds of anti Jewish prejudice and we should all know exactly where that can lead. As a Kiwi living in Israel I am ashamed that the NZ media has not learned the lessons of recent history.

Submitted to the Timaru Herald on June 6, 2010 Printed

There is a shockingly disproportionate coverage against Israel over the Gaza Flotilla. Editors were used to turn the tide of public opinion against Jews in the 1930s and I fear a frenzy of unreasonable anti-semitic hate building again. The people of Gaza are not prisoners of Israel but of Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism. Google Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist who now speaks out for Israel. He wrote on his blog ‘Hypocrisy and Insanity from all sides - It is shameful to watch Turkey lead the chants and propaganda of the world against Israel with concern to the ‘peace activist’ Gaza flotilla."’

Israel rightly defends its population and fears that removal of the blockade (legal according to articles 93-104 of the 1994 San Remo treaty on maritime warfare) will allow Hamas to receive weapons from Iran. Those of double standards condemn Israel no matter how hard Israel tries, full stop. Their minds are closed against Jews and Israel. Hamas's thugs destroyed the productive glasshouses Israel left behind for the Palestinian people when they withdrew from Gaza in 2007. Hamas's violence and killings of Palestinians who support Fatah or the thousands of rockets Hamas fires into Israel civilian areas are not headlines. Why?

Submitted to the Timaru Herald on June 3, 2010 Printed

In response to your editorial 'High seas disaster' (June 2), Israel did try peaceful means. The commander was in radio contact and asked that all 6 ships carrying supplies dock at an Israeli or Egyptian port. Five obeyed; one the Mavi Marmara owned by the Turkist IHH did not.

The Mavi Marmara masqueraded as on a peaceful humanitarian aid mission but it carried mujahideen of IHH (a supporter of Hamas and Sharia law) which has sent jihadists to Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan, where Australian soldiers serve. They were equipped with knives, metal pipes and clubs. Video footage on TV and UTube show they lynched and viciously beat up the soldiers as they dropped on board. This ship came with the intention of causing a propaganda stunt and the Israelis and the world fell right into the trap set up by a variety of Islam which far from peaceful, threatens democracy and freedom to practice religion. As a woman I value my freedom.

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The Waikato Times

Submitted to the Waikato Times on June 6, 2010 Printed

Like so much of the commentary that has swamped the media in the past week, Gwynne Dyer's latest anti-Israeli offering relies on presumption rather than firm evidence.

He states, ‘Just one Israeli soldier was seriously injured, though nine others apparently suffered scraped knuckles and bloody noses.’ Perhaps if he bothered to watch the footage of the Israelis being overwhelmed by knife and club wielding activists, being thrown off decks, stabbed, knocked down and viciously beaten he would revise his definition of ‘seriously injured’.

Mr Dyer might consider Israeli commandos' paintball guns and side arms constitute being ‘heavily armed’, but I imagine he would prefer something rather more substantial were he to be sent into the midst of a lynch mob.

He writes with an authoritative tone about Mossad agents infiltrating the flotilla organisers, international law, and the rate of aid being sent into Gaza, but provides not one shred of evidence to support his assertions. His entire article is built on assumption, hearsay and personal prejudice.

Gwynne Dyer's column is not news; it is simply one more contribution to the international media hate-fest against Israel. Perhaps the terms ‘objectivity’ and ‘proof’ have been dropped from the modern journalist's lexicon?

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The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Submitted to Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin on June 12, 2010:

While visiting my brother, Roger D. Brooks, I saw the letter by Rodney Jewett (June 11). Thank goodness there is another Rodney pointing out the hypocrisy in our criticism of Israel. How can we blame Israel for trying to stop munitions from being shipped to their enemy in Gaza$ Did we not blockade Cuba when threatened by Russian missiles$ Perhaps Israel should provide escorts to make sure the munitions arrive safely, and then provide coordinates of target areas in Israel. And why do we blame Israeli soldiers for fighting back$ Do we expect them to surrender if accosted or beaten$
The only error in Mr. Jewett's letter is that Israel has, in fact, left Gaza. It did that about five years ago, only to be rewarded by 8,000 missiles fired at it.

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Radio NZ

Submitted to Radio NZ's Morning Report on June 18, 2010:

Dear Morning Report,
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, in an act of good faith, hopeful to exchange land for peace. Hamas squandered this opportunity and led the people of Gaza into a drawn out war with Israel. Hamas has never withdrawn it's charter goal of annihilating the Jewish state altogether, and has used ordinary materials to manufacture rockets for attacking Israeli civilians and to build bunkers for themselves. Israel has been allowing thousands of tons of civilian supplies into Gaza every week for many months, but no one mentions the role of Hamas in the inequitable distribution of fuel and goods among the Gazan population. Equally, little is said of the total blockade of Gaza by Egypt, which has only recently been lifted.

Now so-called ‘aid’ flotillas are set to descend upon Gaza, from Hezbollah controlled Lebanon and from Hamas' major financial backer, Iran. The West, in its ignorance, will probably identify the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on board the Iranian ships as ‘peace activists’. Israel is trying to defend itself against powerful and wealthy nations who promote a militant ideology that says it should not exist. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people are merely pawns in a much larger plan to exterminate the Jews in the Middle East.

Letter sent to Radio NZ's Afternoons programme on June 1, 2010

This supposedly ‘peaceful humanitarian aid’ flotilla included well prepared, armed men who ambushed the Israeli commandos with knives and metal bars as they boarded a ship, and then fired upon the Israelis with live ammunition. The Israeli commandos held their fire until they were themselves in a life-threatening position — being beaten, stabbed and thrown overboard by a lynch mob.
The flotilla's self-proclaimed ‘humanitarians’, some of whom were simply anarchists and militants masquerading as peaceful protesters, deliberately put themselves in harm's way, and by their own provocative actions escalated this incident into an international hate-fest against Israel and the Jewish people. In doing so, they got what they wanted.
Such false ‘humanitarians’ ignore the total Egyptian blockade of Gaza and the constant flow of humanitarian, medical and food supplies from Israel to Gaza. They seem to be more interested in spreading hate and misinformation against Israel than ending the hardships inflicted upon the ordinary people of Gaza by their Hamas leadership. They even sailed from Turkish occupied Cyprus, but failed to note the irony of their own banners, which read, ‘End the Occupation!’
Anti-Israel protesters, such as those on the flotilla, actively promote the isolation, demonisation and, ultimately, the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people in Israel by nations and organisations devoted to destroying the Jewish state — completing the task that Hitler and his Middle Eastern ally, Amin al-Husseini, grand Mufti of Jerusalem, left unfinished. And yet they have the nerve to call Israelis ‘Nazis’?
Israel will defend its people from its enemies, whether those enemies comply with international rules of engagement or disguise themselves as baton and knife wielding ‘Militant Humanitarians’.

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