LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJune 02/2010

Bible Of the Day
The Good News According to John 15/9-16:
15:9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. 15:11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full. 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 15:14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. 15:16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 01/10
Israel planning massive attack on Gaza: Ahmadinejad/AFP
Security Council Debates Criticism of Israeli Raid/New York Times
UN Security Council Holds Emergency Session on Israeli Raid/Voice of America
Israeli commandos acted in self defense, says Netanyahu/Canadian Press
Thousands protest across Lebanon against flotilla killings/Daily Star
Lebanon expresses outrage over Gaza flotilla deaths/Daily Star
Hariri, Assad jointly condemn Israel's 'heinous crime'/AFP & Daily Star
Netanyahu tells Assad: No intention to attack Lebanon/Daily Star
IAEA report: Syria continues to stonewall agency's attempts to investigate/TODAYonline
Several Israeli Arab protesters arrested in mass rallies over Gaza flotilla deaths/Ha'aretz
Syria conducted nuclear experiments: IAEA document/AFP
IAEA report reduces chances of Iran fuel swap deal/The Associated Press
Iran producing higher-enriched uranium, IAEA report reveals/AFP
At least nine dead as Israel storms aid ship, sparks outcry/Daily Star
Al-Qaeda chief behind Iraq embassy attacks arrested/AFP
US-Saudi security cooperation 'very strong,' says Napolitano/AFP
LADE condemns fiery rhetoric ahead of last Sunday's polls/Daily Star
Libano-Francaise reports net profits of $17.6 in Q1/Daily Star
Merrill Lynch upgrades Lebanon's external debt/Daily Star
Solidere records net profit of $182.2 million in 2009/Daily Star

Flotilla: boisterous & violent condemnations
By: Elias Bejjani *
June 01/2010
Monday’s Israeli commando raid on the "Freedom Fleet" (the flotilla of six ships) that was led by the Turkish vessel, Mavi Marmara, in international waters off of Israel while on its way to the besieged Palestinian Gaza strip has generated a worldwide series of condemnations, protests, angry releases, threats, and violence, as well very active diplomatic contacts and consultations on very high levels.
There is no doubt that the outcome of the Israeli raid was sad, unfortunate and bloody. Denouncement of the whole confrontation and of all the associated predisposing and precipitating factors that led to the clash is a must.. Meanwhile, such an incident should have not occurred and accordingly for the future, all required and needed measures that ensure similar accidents do not happen again should be taken. In reality, what happened has happened and nothing could reverse it.
Reason, logic, civilization, law, order and experience teach us that dealing with such a sad incident that has left nine dead and many others injured on both sides is not through impulsive and instinctive reactions, nor via chaotic acts of violent demonstrations, acts of terrorism, rhetorical instigations and spread of hatred which unfortunately erupted on the streets of certain countries, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Britain and many others.
Definitely all juvenile attempts to storm Israeli embassies are not an answer to any problem, nor will burning American and Israeli flags fulfill Ahmadinejad’s grandiose delusion of annihilating Israel and throwing her people into the sea. At the same time, all noisy, rowdy demonstrations and bouts of hysterical anger, agitation, insults and screaming do not offer a solution for any difficulty, while rhetorical and inflammatory releases and speeches will not bring back to life any of those who died in the unfortunate incident.
In our current civilized, free and democratic world of the 21st century the accused is innocent until found guilty in a court of law. We cannot accept or succumb to the cult of death and savagery, because we dearly honor the Charter of Human Rights, advocate tolerance, hail all civilizations, abide by law and order and tribute civil societies.
Based on worldwide acknowledged laws, rights, values and principles we call on all those countries, organizations, politicians, human rights activists, clergy and individuals who are genuinely honest and sincere in their quest to learn the truth about the (“Freedom Fleet”) flotilla incident to demand an immediate, comprehensive and extensive international investigation (tribunal) under United Nations supervision in which Israel and may be Turkey or other concerned countries would actively participate in a bid to find out what actually happened on the ship during the confrontations, identify those responsible and then leave international law take its course to enforce justice.
Sadly, Western countries known as the free world of freedoms and democracy are not exerting any kind of pressure on many of their Arab and Islamic country allies and friends to act with prudence, calmness, respect law and order, or to put an end to their evil tactics of demagogy, incitement of hatred, exploitation of tragedies, infringements of rights, abuse of inflammatory statements and keeping a blind eye on the issuing of religious decrees (Fatwas) that call for discrimination and murder.
Absurdly, many free world countries are bowing to terrorism and terrorists and acting in the same shameful manner the rogue and dictatorial countries and organizations do. Ridiculously, the education of peace, law and order is retreating, while the perverse indoctrination of death, violence and savagery is invading many free world countries societies and governments.
There is no doubt that if inflammatory rhetoric, misleading statements, demagogy, lies, slander, cajoling, bragging, fanaticism, and provocation were weapons that could be used to invade other countries, many Arab and Islamic countries which are masters in these domains would have succeeded in occupying the whole world, and perhaps also invading all the stars and planets that fill the sky.
The huge number of inflammatory, provocative, instigative, hostile and angry statements released and speeches that were issued in the aftermath of the “Freedom Fleet” incident in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries, as well as in Turkey and Iran, solidly confirms that reason, a sense of responsibility, logic and law are all on vacation in these countries. The majority of these countries has never officially dealt with any problem with an intention to solve it, on the contrary, they intentionally pour oil on problems and make them worse so that the despotic rulers can hold on to authority. They lead their people into more intolerance, hatred, fanaticism, cults of death and rebellions on law and true education.
Truly most ridiculous and absurd were the speeches and statements issued by the Syrian regime and the leaders of both Iran and Hezbollah. These killers and terrorists par excellence miraculously turned into advocates of peace and human rights wearing angelic garments.
In conclusion all incidents, problems and conflicts including the "Flotilla" bloody confrontation should be handled within the framework of the law and the edification of peace and human rights. Accordingly, Israel has an obligation to provide all the answers needed, to see that justice prevails and that all those responsible for the sad incident are held accountable.

Security Council Debates Criticism of Israeli Raid
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: May 31, 2010
UNITED NATIONS — Israel faced heavy criticism in an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Monday in response to its deadly attack on an aid flotilla trying to breach the Gaza blockade, but attempts to issue a formal statement stalled after the United States rejected the strong condemnation sought by Turkey.
Turkey proposed a statement that would condemn Israel for violating international law, demand a United Nations investigation and demand that Israel prosecute those responsible for the raid and pay compensation to the victims. It also called for the end of the blockade.
The Obama administration refused to endorse a statement that singled out Israel, and proposed a broader condemnation of the violence that would include the assault of the Israeli commandos as they landed on the deck of the ship.
Late Monday night, the two countries were trying to work out their differences on the wording, including whether to specify that the investigation should be conducted by outsiders, diplomats said.
While condemnation of Israel in the Security Council is not uncommon, the criticism at the emergency session called by Turkey and Lebanon was notable for both its vehemence and for the broad array of countries demanding an independent investigation into the decision to fire on civilians in what they described as a humanitarian mission.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey, whose country’s once close relations with Israel have deteriorated markedly since Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2008, called the attack “tantamount to banditry and piracy; it is murder conducted by a state.”
Noting that the ships were carrying items such as a playground, cancer medicine and milk powder, he said that given the history of the Jews the Israelis should be more conscious than others of “the dangers and inhumanity of ghettoes as the one we currently witness in occupied Gaza.”
Gerard Araud, the French ambassador, said the death toll — nine activists in the flotilla were killed in the raid — indicated “there was disproportionate use of force and a level of violence which nothing justifies and which we condemn.” Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese ambassador, said even the laws of war require the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Several envoys said Israel was in violation of international law, not least because Security Council resolution 1860 passed in the midst of the Gaza war in January 2009 had called for ending the blockade and opening unfettered access to humanitarian assistance throughout the strip. The diplomats also demanded immediate access to their citizens, with some 32 different nationalities among the estimated 600 to 700 people on the flotilla. Israel seized all six ships and forced them into port.
The United States, which habitually defends Israel in the council, said that the attempt to run the blockade by sea was ill advised. “Direct delivery by sea is neither appropriate nor responsible, and certainly not effective, under the circumstances,” said Alejandro Wolff, the deputy permanent representative of the United States. But he also described the situation in Gaza as “unsustainable” and called on Israel to undertake a credible investigation.
Daniel Carmon, the deputy Israeli ambassador, scoffed at the idea that the ships were a humanitarian convoy — Israel had offered to bring the goods into Gaza over land — and said Israeli commandos acted in self-defense after being attacked with “life threatening means; live ammunition, knives, clubs, deck furniture and others types of weaponry.”
He described the organizers as linked to a variety of Islamic terrorist organizations, which the Turkish foreign minister called a lie.
The International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization which seeks to end conflicts, issued a statement condemning the attack but noted that it was an outcome of the failed policy of many countries, not just Israel, in trying to isolate the Hamas government which controls the Gaza strip and thus turn the population against it.

 UN Demands ‘Partial Investigation’ of Flotilla Clash
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu/Arutz Sheva
The United Nations Security Council, following a marathon closed session, has passed a watered-down condemnation of Israel and called for a probe of the flotilla clash. The United States was instrumental in toning down the Security Council resolution.
A Turkish-led anti-Israel coalition asked for a stronger resolution that called for an independent international investigation, similar to that of the Goldstone Commission. The Goldstone Report placed most of the blame on Israel for casualties in last year’s Operation Cast Lead war against Hamas terrorists.
After more than 10 hours of deliberation, the Council also asked that Israel release the six ships in the flotilla and all of the passengers. Most of the foreign activists have been processed for deportation to their home countries.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "It is vital that there is a full investigation to determine exactly how this bloodshed took place. I believe Israel must urgently provide a full explanation.” The flotilla clash and worldwide condemnation of Israel have put the government on the diplomatic defensive. The same situation a year ago, after the Operation Cast Lead campaign against Hamas terrorists, resulted in the U.N.-sanctioned Goldstone Report. Similar to the Goldstone Report’s scant mention of the thousands of missiles and mortars that Hamas terrorists fired on Israel since 2000, foreign media and diplomats largely ignored the documented violence initiated by flotilla extremists armed with knives, daggers, metal clubs, as well as pistols that they snatched from the soldiers.
Documented evidence showed the armed Muslim extremists had planned the violent attack on Israeli naval soldiers.
The European Union as a body, and France, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Britain, and Germany individually, immediately condemned Israel for the killing nine Muslim extremists who brutally attacked Navy commandos as they descended on ropes from a hovering helicopter and on to one of the six ships.
Two German legislators were on board the ships, and their government, while saying that Israel has a right to “self-defense,” deplored the naval action as “disproportionate.”
Lebanon, which holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, convened it in a closed session on Monday on the heels of a diplomatic storm following the flotilla clash. Assistant U.N. Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco charged that the clash would not have taken place "if repeated calls on Israel to end the counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza had been heeded.”
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the raid "murder conducted by a state," and PA envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, declared, “We call collectively as Arabs, with Turkey, for an independent international investigation to know who gave orders from the Israeli side to open fire.”
Arab League chief Amr Mussa warned that the flotilla left the American-mediated proximity talks “hanging in the air.”

Two More Boats on Their Way to Gaza
by Hillel Fendel//Arutz Sheva 
IDF General Staff Operations Commander Col. Itzik Turjeman told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that two additional ships of the militant left flotilla are on their way to Gaza. He said they will be stopped as well, hinting that electronic means, or others, might be used.
Asked why the S.S. Marmaris was not physically stopped by the Navy without risking helicopter-borne soldiers rappelling down into a lynch mob, Turjeman said that the Marmaris is too large and heavy to have been physically blocked by navy ships.
MK Tzachi HaNegbi (Kadima), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, opened the session with these
remarks: “After Operation Cast Lead, the government decided to impose a maritime blockade on Gaza [in accordance with international law governing parties in a state of armed conflict – ed.], and that all cargo headed for Gaza would be checked first in the Ashdod port… This issue is a matter of total consensus in Israel, and the reason is the sense of injustice that we all feel, the cynicism and hypocrisy that typify the attack on the State of Israel, and the sense we all have that the IDF’s operation yesterday was logical and ethical. We left Gaza five years ago, yet for years we have been attacked from Gaza, and our soldier Gilad Shalit is still being held in a dark dungeon in Gaza. We therefore feel that we have the right to act in the way we did.”
HaNegbi added that many questions remain open in terms of the operation, the intelligence that preceded it, and the PR efforts after it, “and we will insist on investigating these matters and receiving answers.”
Several terror activists wounded on the Marmaris ship early Tuesday morning are hospitalized in several hospitals throughout Israel. Each of them is guarded by a military policeman, ensuring that he not try to escape or give media interviews.
Dozens of others who were arrested after being taken off the ships are being questioned. Among them is Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, head of the Northern Branch of the extremist Islamic Movement in Israel. He was originally thought to have been injured on the boat, leading to Israeli-Arab rioting and much media speculation, but he is now known to be safe and sound.
Arab MK Hanin Zouabi (Balad), a rookie female MK from Nazareth, was on board the ship as well, but was released straight home because of her parliamentary immunity - infuriating some Knesset Members. MK Aryeh Bibi (Kadima) said, “Our democracy has lost its direction. We’ve reached the point where Arab citizens and MKs do whatever they wish. Zouabi’s parliamentary immunity must be removed and she should be arrested. I’d like to see her try similar protests in Arab countries… let her join the Hamas regime in Gaza.”
MK Danny Danon (Likud) said, “Zouabi and her Hamas friends boarded this flotilla as shahids [martyrs] who said that they knew that they might die in the course of harming IDF soldiers. Instead of making peace, Zouabi started war on board the ship. Terror activists like her must not be permitted to return to the Knesset.” Zouabi was recorded shouting for help in English and Hebrew when the IDF boarded the ship on which she sailed.

Opposition Leader Livni: United We Stand for Hamas Embargo
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu/Arutz Sheva 
The flotilla clash has united Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, head of the Kadima party, with the coalition government. “There is no opposition in Israel” to the embargo on Hamas, she said.
Knesset member Livni is a former Foreign Minister and was acting Prime Minister nearly two years ago after Ehud Olmert was forced to step down due to corruption scandals. Despite her constant criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu since he formed the current government, Livni stood four-square behind it following the flotilla clash.
“There is a process of trying to making it illegitimate for Israel to defend itself,” she said on CNN. "The embargo on Gaza is a necessity in order to stop Hamas and its supporters. Hamas is a fanatical religious terrorist organization that is not prepared to accept the existence of Israel. It uses terror against civilians and is not ready to accept any agreement between Israel and Arabs.”
The Opposition leader also spoke on the BBC, ABC and to media outlets from Australia and France, among others.
She pointed out that the flotilla organizers “from the outset” were not interested in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza residents. “If that is what they wanted, they could have accepted our suggestion to transfer the aid” overland from the port in Ashdod, Livni stated. “They wanted to break the embargo. It is a necessity in order to stop Hamas and its supporters.”
Concerning the violence, Livni said, “Our soldiers were brutally attacked, and then, in self-defense, they retaliated. Israel has the right to defend itself.”
Despite her solidarity with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Livni took a verbal shot at the government, asking rhetorically where the Cabinet were ministers while she was “running around like a maniac” to defend Israel in interviews for foreign media.

Sailor’s First-Hand Report: We Came to Speak; They Came to Fight
by Israel National News-IDF
One of the Naval Special Forces commandos who sustained a broken arm while under attack by the S.S. Mavi Marmaris’ passengers, reports, “Each soldier who descended was grabbed by three or four men and they simply exploded, beating him up. They lynched us.
“They had metal clubs, knives, slingshots, glass bottles…At one point there was also live fire.
“I was among the last to descend, and I saw that the group was dispersed, everyone in his own corner surrounded by three or four men. I saw a soldier on the floor with two men beating him. I peeled them off of him and they came at me and began beating me with the clubs.
“That’s how I broke my arm. At that moment I had no weapon in my hands, like everyone else who descended on the cables empty-handed. My paintball gun was behind me.
“They came and attacked me, I brought them down to the floor, I took a few steps back, I took out my paintball gun, they came at me, and I shot at their legs. One of the clubs destroyed my paint gun and I moved on to my pistol which was the only thing to hold against them. At this point my arm no longer functioned.
“From the opening of the corridor, they were shooting at us the entire time with live fire”
The naval soldier also described how his unit was shot at from the entrance to the ship’s corridor: “I saw two from my group lying flat on the ground. From the opening of the corridor they were shooting at them the entire time with live fire, bullets. We identified a gun barrel, and one of us shot at the guy holding it. Afterwards we entered and he wasn’t there.
"[They were] about 30 men; they simply came for war. We came to straighten things out, to speak to those who went downstairs, but each of us who descended was simply attacked.
“There were some from my group that were thrown to the lower floor, and the passengers took their equipment. They jumped to the water as a last resort. We were told that if they didn’t listen, we should shoot at their legs with the paintball gun. 'The pistol is only for if you really feel your life is in danger, which shouldn’t happen. It would be extremely abnormal.' But in the end, that is what happened.
“We came with the intention of stopping the ship and taking it to Ashdod, and we did not come with the weapons we usually have; we came for something entirely different.”
Commentators in Israel have criticized the fact that many of the soldiers were equipped with pistols and paintball guns instead of being prepared for a worst case scenario where they would need rifles.

IDF Photos of Knives Contradict Turkish Claims of ’No Weapons’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu/Arutz Sheva
IDF photos of two dozen knives, including a machete, plus clubs, chains and metal rods used against Israeli Navy commandoes in the flotilla clash Monday contradict Turkish claims that the passengers did not carry weapons on board. “Customs officials at the Port of Antalya have denied Israeli claims that weapons were detected on a ship taking humanitarian aid to Gaza that took off from Antalya on Sunday,” the Turkish news site Today’s Zaman reported. It quoted a customs official as stating, “Forty-two passengers boarded in Istanbul and 504 passengers got on the ship here. They were screened. We spotted no weapons and there is no such record in our logs. We did not notice anything suspicious about the Mavi Marmara. Had our officers had any suspicions, they would have reported it.”
The IDF confiscated and photographed the weapons, which were used to brutally attack Navy commandoes as they descended to one of the ships via ropes from hovering helicopters, intending to take over the ships peacefully. Greta Berlin, spokeswoman for the Free Gaza movement, claimed to Israel National News that the IDF edited the video showing the commandoes landing on board and added the violence. Concerning the weapons, she told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, "I will venture to say that Israel is lying about this because the weapons that I saw coming on board this morning belonged to Israel. If there were weapons, they planted those weapons."

Hariri, Assad jointly condemn Israel's 'heinous crime'
By Agence France Presse (AFP) and The Daily Star
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad and visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday condemned Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid convoy, warning it could drag the region into war. “Syria and Lebanon denounce in the strongest terms the heinous crime committed at dawn by Israel,” that killed up to 19 people, the state SANA news agency reported quoting an official statement after the pair held talks. “The crimes committed by Israel and its flagrant violations for the most basic human rights and for international laws threaten to pull the Middle East into a war whose consequences will not be limited to the region,” they said, according to SANA.
Assad and Hariri called on the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the UN Security Council to take “immediate action” and adopt “effective measures to put an end to Israeli crimes.” At least 9 people, most of them Turkish citizens, were killed when Israeli naval forces stormed boats in the “Freedom Flotilla” at dawn as they attempted to reach the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid. Hariri had earlier called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which Lebanon chairs, to discuss the raid in international waters. He also denounced the Israeli action as “a dangerous and crazy step that will exacerbate tensions in the region.” “President Assad and Premier Hariri also hail those on board of the ship and parties behind sending the fleet to aid Gaza’s residents and pay their sincere condolences to families of martyrs that died as a result of the brutal Israeli attack,” the statement added.
Assad also reiterated that Syria “stands by Lebanon in challenging ongoing Israeli threats.” Talks also highlighted positive developments in bilateral ties and coordination between both countries. In April, a Lebanese ministerial delegation was appointed to discuss with its Syrian counterpart the potential amendments of bilateral accord as well as the ratification of several new ones. The delegations held a meeting earlier this month and agreed to follow up on talks. Among debated bilateral issues include the Lebanese-Syrian border demarcation.
Hariri’s visit, his third since December, comes just days after his return from the United States where he held talks with US President Barack Obama on mounting tensions over accusations Damascus was smuggling weapons to Hizbullah. Hariri briefed Assad on the Washington visit, SANA said, adding that the two leaders discussed bilateral and regional issues and that Assad reiterated Syria’s support for Lebanon “in the face of Israeli threats.” Syria and Lebanon set up diplomatic ties for the first time in 2008 after years of tensions.
Syria dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades until April 2005 when it pulled its troops out from the country under international and regional pressure following the assassination of Hariri’s father, Rafik Hariri. Hariri and his US- and Western-backed allies had in the past blamed Syria for the murder and for a string of subsequent political assassinations in Lebanon. Damascus has denied any involvement. – AFP, with The Daily Star

Israel's logic of the hammer
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Editorial/Daily Star
We deplore unconditionally the Israeli slaughter of peace activists in the Freedom Fleet, and the logic behind the attack and the men who ordered it represent a grave danger to this country and, in the end, to the entire world. The utterly inappropriate use of overwhelming force calls to mind the cliché that problems look like nails to a man who has a hammer. However, there are many political actors with hammers, and not all of them see all external challenges as nails. Ask yourself, how much experience would a politician need to see that the Freedom Fleet was a matter that called for diplomatic tact and careful handling? Might not even an average university student of politics realize it, or even a teenager who aspired to one day study the affairs of the world?  Israel’s decision to use its hammer against activists transporting aid to a desperate populace demonstrates unalloyed incompetence. We have spoken often in this space about how the settlers have hijacked the Israeli political sphere; the necessary condition for that event, however, was the absence of any political leader who could stand up to an obviously doomed ideology. Israel’s leaders need to wake up and see that the world has changed and that they have become incapable of doing what is in their own people’s best interests. Seeing the root of the problem does not require a discourse in ideology or colonialism. A simple glance at history tells the story of the collapse of Israeli common sense.
Regardless of how one feels about the right to a Jewish homeland, one must acknowledge that the leaders of the Zionist movement and Israel in its early decades achieved outsized political, economic and military successes. The world, however, has changed, and Israel’s political class does not have the mettle to meet it. From roughly 1967-87 the Palestinians in the occupied territories were largely subdued, but generations turned over among Israelis and Palestinians. The Islamists rose up among the Palestinians, and the hammers of history can no longer isolate Israel from the Palestinian people. The Israeli leadership, meanwhile, is trapped in its logic of the hammer; it lacks the ability to make a deal or even tie up loose ends. The caliber of Israel leaders has deteriorated so thoroughly that the danger they present is obvious even to heretofore unshakeable quarters as the US military and security chiefs – David Petraeus and James Jones have both said publicly this year that uncritical US backing for Israel poses a security threat to US troops and interests. Alas, the same tragic logic behind the Freedom Fleet massacre also threatens us; instead of addressing such relative trifles as Ghajar and Shebaa, Israel’s leaders often look north and see only nails.

Thousands protest across Lebanon against flotilla killings
Palestinians, organizations march in support of Gaza aid convoy
By Patrick Galey and Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
BEIRUT/SIDON: Thousands of activists gathered in Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon on Monday to lend their voices to the international outcry over Israel’s attack on an aid ship bound for Gaza, which killed at least nine aid workers. Palestinian citizens, officials and leftist political organizations organized large-scale protests outside the United Nations ESCWA headquarters in downtown Beirut and Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon. Those gathered burned Israeli flags, waved banners and chanted “Death to Israel.”
In the capital, classes of schoolchildren, instructed by their teachers, sang anti-Israeli songs and drapped themselves with Palestinian flags. A giant Turkish flag was unveiled and paraded in front of the UN’s offices as a show of solidarity with those were killed aboard the Gaza flotilla, who were mainly Turks.
“I have come down here to say that Israel is the terrorist, not the Arab people,” said one 18 year-old protestor, Khalid. “They kill children, men and boys, everything. Why did they do this? These people [in the flotilla] had no weapons, just food and water for the people of Gaza. Why kill them?
“If I killed an Israeli, what would the world do to me? They would say I’m a bad person, a terrorist.”
Ahmad al-Assad, a hairdresser from the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp, said that the protest called on the international community to boycott Israel and call it to account over Monday morning’s attack. “It’s not enough for people to just condemn Israel; we want people to unite and the world to listen,” he said.
In Sidon, thousands of Palestinians marched through the streets of Ain al-Hilweh to express their anger over the incident and the continuing Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Protester Hiba Al-Ali condemned the international community’s seeming indifference to the plight of Palestinians across the Arab world.
“Where is the free world, where are human rights organizations, where is the statue of liberty?,” she asked. “Where is America, the land of freedom and law? They have shut their ears and eyes.” The head of a Lebanese delegation aboard the flotilla, Hani Suleiman, was injured in the attack. His son, Adham, said that he was proud of his father for standing up for his beliefs.
“The last I heard is he has been transferred to a hospital [in Israel],” he told The Daily Star. “I am optimistic. It makes me proud to have such a father and I am truly touched by all these people who came here and what the Turkish government has done.” Suleiman, however, said the protests in Lebanon were unlikely to radically alter the situation, as little action from the international community was expected. “Unfortunately, these protests have never had much power. All I can count on is Lebanon being head of the [UN] Security Council to help us,” he added. Several members of political delegations attended the protest in Beirut, including Hizbullah spokesman Ibrahim Moussawi, who told The Daily Star that the international community must show more interest in the plight of Palestinians.
“This is an outcry to the international community to try and do something to break the [Gaza] blockade,” he said. “This is a strong voice to express solidarity with the martyrs and wounded people that came from all over the world.
“It’s time for governments to be in synonymy with the impulse of the people who condemn Israel and to change their policies,” Moussawi added.
Saadallah Mazraani, politburo member of the Lebanese Communist Party, said Monday’s displays of dissatisfaction were an opportunity to change the international community’s approach to Israel.
“Today the world should stand against the Zionist criminality and should realize that it is a threat to peace,” he told The Daily Star.
“Israel is not trying to seek peace and is not making steps towards peace negotiations. Unfortunately it has America’s support and the support of certain western countries.”
Mousawi called for international governments to listen to people at demonstrations which took place outside Israeli consulates throughout the world on Monday.
“It is time for the international community to express condemnation of Israeli leaders to bring them to justice because this is an act of international and criminal piracy,” he said.

Lebanon expresses outrage over Gaza flotilla deaths
By Patrick Galey and Carol Rizk
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
BEIRUT: Lebanese officials joined international condemnation on Monday of the “horrific” attack on an aid convoy bound for Gaza, urging world leaders to call Israel to account for its actions.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which Lebanon headed throughout May, to work out a unified response to the “dangerous and crazy” Israeli raid.
“Lebanon firmly denounces this attack and calls on the international community, notably major powers to take action in order to end this continued violation of human rights and threats to international peace,” Hariri said in statement on Monday.
President Michel Sleiman called the assault – in which at least 9 people died – “a criminal act and a massacre added to Israel’s record of organized crimes and terrorism.
“The storming of a ship carrying humanitarian materials and food to a besieged people is a crime against humanity,” Sleiman said in a statement released by his office.
He reiterated Hariri’s call for immediate UN action by asking for an emergency Security Council session.
Israeli naval commandoes stormed a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid in international waters during the early hours of Monday morning. The convoy had been bound for Gaza and had hundreds of volunteers from 40 countries aboard.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the attack was an “official military crime against activists” which required a “tangible Arab and international stance to penalize Israel and stop treating it as an exception to which international laws do not apply.”
Hizbullah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters news agency that those activists taken into Israeli custody would be considered by the party to be international prisoners of war.
“Israel’s kidnapping of civilian hostages from international waters and their arrest constitutes a barbaric aggression and Israel bears complete responsibility if any happens to them,” Fadlallah said.
“Any delay by the Security Council in moving quickly against this Israeli crime constitutes a cover-up,” he added.
Speaking following a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Ali al-Shami, Berri called on the International Criminal Court to involve itself in “this crime and all crimes against Arabs, especially in Palestine.”
A statement released by the Future Movement called for a national day of mourning to commemorate those who lost their lives as well as to express solidarity with Turkey and “all our friends in peaceful countries” in support of Gaza.
Shami said that the Foreign Ministry had been engaged in intense diplomatic conversations all day, including making contact with his Turkish and Syrian counterparts.
“We have asked Lebanon’s permanent mission at the UN to coordinate with the Turkish mission in order to call the Security Council to hold an emergency session today to discuss the attack,” he said.
Aboard the flotilla were seven Lebanese nationals, according to the General Coordinator of the National Initiative Committee to Break the Blockade of Gaza (NICBBG), Maan Bashour.
He told The Daily Star that in addition to delegation head Hani Suleiman, who was injured in the attack, three Lebanese activists were being held with three journalists.
“We are in contact with Suleiman and he is in hospital. He was shot in the leg and wounded on the ship. Three others, including Bishop Hillarion Kabbousi and three Lebanese nationals working for Al-Jazeera are now in Israeli custody,” Bashour said.
Parties from across the political spectrum blasted Israeli aggression on Monday. A Lebanese Forces source condemned Israel Naval commandoes’ “use of arms to kill activists and civil society members.”
Progressive Socialist Party Leader Walid Jumblatt said that Monday’s incident typified Israel’s approach to international law.
“Once again, we have seen Israel’s brutality. This behavior is new evidence that Israel absolutely refuses to abide by laws and international treaties,” he said in a party statement.
Speaking in response to political camps who accused Hizbullah’s arsenal of providing Israel with a pretext for an attack on Lebanon, Jumblatt said:
“Today we a have a new proof that Israel does not need an excuse to attack. It attacked a ship belonging to a country with which it has diplomatic relations.
“Lebanon should support the people of Turkey and Palestine after this new massacre,” he added.
“This is another black day in Israel’s history,” said Osama Hamdan, the Lebanon representative of Hamas, during the protests in downtown Beirut on Monday.
“It shows the true face of Israel, which continues to target civilians who are attempting to break the siege [on Gaza],” Hamdan told AFP.
In a statement addressed to members of the humanitarian mission, the mainstream Fatah faction’s press office praised activists for their efforts to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
“You have proven your support and conviction for the Palestinian cause by standing by the side of the people in Gaza. Today you are paying the price of your principles and your stances against Israel’s racism,” the statement said.
“You have proven to the world that Israel is an enemy to humanity and freedom.”
A host of Lebanese and pan-Arab NGOs chimed in with strident criticism of Israel’s decision to attack a fleet carrying only civilians and humanitarian aid.
“This crime was committed in front of the international community,” the Palestinian Organization for Human Rights (RASED) said. “Israel executed its threats to suppress any solidarity with Gaza. This crime and the threats that preceded it are not new; they are part of Israel’s policy, attacks and escalating violations committed against Palestinian civilians and all those supporting them.” The Beirut-based Witness Association for Human Rights listed Israeli violations of international law, which “considers international water to be open to all countries without discrimination.” “Killing civilians on purpose, after a political and military decision, is a crime against humanity,” it added. Developmental Action without Borders [Naba’a] called for “an urgent international investigation of this crime, a comprehensive fascism in the 21st century.”– with Agencies

Israeli PM says soldiers defending themselves in Gaza flotilla raid
By The Canadian Press/OTTAWA - Israel's prime minister says soldiers who boarded a ship bringing supplies to the blockaded Gaza strip were only defending themselves.
Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli soldiers were mobbed as they boarded one of six ships in an aid flotilla. Netanyahu, who is cutting short his scheduled visits to Ottawa and Washington to deal with the crisis, said the soldiers had no choice but to defend their lives. "They deliberately attacked the first soldiers who came on the ship," he said. "They were mobbed, they were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed. "Our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed."He said the boarding came as the Israeli navy was checking for any rockets, missiles or explosives that might have been headed for Gaza and destined to be fired into Israel. Netanyahu, who began a two-day official visit to Canada on Sunday, was defending the pre-dawn raid which killed at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists.

Hezbollah: Israel aid ship attack is terrorism
Published: 05.31.10, 15:58 / Israel News
Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah guerrilla group said on Monday Israel's action against Gaza-bound aid ships in which at least 10 people were killed, was a "terrorist act that deserves international punishment". "Israel's kidnapping of civilian hostages from international waters and their arrest constitutes a barbaric aggression and Israel bears complete responsibility if anything happens to them," said Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah. (Reuters)

Several Israeli Arab protesters arrested in mass rallies over Gaza flotilla deaths
Israeli forces on high alert on Lebanon, Gaza and Syria borders; Hezbollah demands 'international punishment' of Israel.
Published 10:17 31.05.10
By Jack Khoury and Amos Harel
Hundreds of Israeli Arabs took part in mass demonstrations across Israel on Monday, to protest against the Israel Navy's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid convoy earlier in the day.
Angry Palestinians were hurling rocks at police forces positioned near the Old City gates. A handful of protesters were arrested in the northern town of Umm al-Fahm as the demonstrations turned violent.
Protests were also held over the course of the afternoon in the Israeli Arab cities of Acre, Sakhnin, Arabe and Shfaram. There was no word of violence or disruption in those areas.
A spontaneous demonstration erupted in Nazareth as Israel's law enforcement authorities prepared to face an anticipated wave of violence after Israel shot dead at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid convoy.
The protest in the Arab-populated town in northern Israel was the first mass response to news in the early hours of the morning that Israeli commandos had fired on flotilla passengers as they approached a maritime exclusion zone imposed by Israel off Gaza.
Reports in the Arabic-language press on Monday that Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Israeli-Arab Islamic Movement, had been seriously wounded sparked widespread anger among the country's Arab minority - some 20 per cent of the population.
IDF officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Haaretz that Salah was alive - but offered no other details on his condition.
Salah's deputy, Kamel Khatib, said in a radio interview that there was still no clear indication of Salah's state. Khatib said that if emerged Salah had been killed, Israel would be directly responsible.
Local authorities in Arab-populated areas in Israel on Monday declared a general strike for the following day.
Israeli-Arab leaders condemned Israel's handling of the interception.
Knesset member Mohammed Barakeh offered sardonic praise for the government, congratulating Defense Minister Ehud Barak on his "decisive victory of the army of pirates over the flotilla of civil liberty".
Barakeh added: "Any government that puts itself outside international and humanitarian law will consign itself to the garbage can of history.
MK Taleb al-Sana said the operation had "exposed the ugly face of Zionism, the violence and aggression of the government of Israel". Sana described the interception as an act of state terror against a humanitarian mission and called for Israel's leaders to be tried for war crimes.
"This event proves you don't have to be a German to be a Nazi," he said.
By lunchtime, police were preparing for disturbances in Arab-majority districts in the north of the country, as well as around the Al-Aqsa Mosque atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the harbor at Ashdod and hospitals across the country where casualties are being treated.
"At this moment we have to act with restraint and complete control, so as not to inflame the situation needlessly,' said police commander David Cohen.
The internal security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, also held emergency planning meetings with police, saying that while he hope to maintain calm, law enforcement agencies were prepared for any eventually.
The Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, which represents Israel Arab minority, called on Israeli forces to stay out of Arab areas so as not to provoke violence.
"The government of Israel and the police carry responsibility for the safety of Arab citizens that will demand the right to protest against the police of the government and defense ministry that was carrying a message of peace to Gaza." Hezbollah demands 'international punishment' over Gaza flotilla deaths' The Hezbollah guerrilla group on Monday said Israel's action against Gaza-bound aid ships in which at least 10 people were killed, was a "terrorist act that deserves international punishment". Israeli commandos stormed the ships before dawn and at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists on board were killed, unleashing fierce criticism from Israel's friends and enemies. Israel put its forces on high alert on its borders with Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, as well as around Jerusalem and the West Bank, following the incident. "Israel's kidnapping of civilian hostages from international waters and their arrest constitutes a barbaric aggression and Israel bears complete responsibility if anything happens to them," Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters. "Any delay by the Security Council in moving quickly against this Israeli crime constitutes a cover-up. This never would have happened without international and U.S. silence over the Gaza blockade and the crimes that Israel commits against civilians." Hundreds of people protested against Israel in Beirut and Palestinian refugee camps across the country also witnessed several demonstrations during which protesters chanted anti-Israeli slogans and raised Palestinian flags. "We hope they come back safely. My father is on the ship and he is injured but our blood is not more precious than the blood of all martyred Palestinians," said Adham Suleiman, the son of Lebanese activist Hani Suleiman, in Beirut.

Hezbollah condemns Israel's threats against Hariri
2010-05-31 BEIRUT, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah on Monday slammed Israel's threats against Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, saying they are a proof that the Jewish state intends to attack "all Lebanese factions."Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said on Saturday that the western-backed Hariri "will pay a heavy price in the event of any war between Israel and Lebanon". The country's state-run National News Agency (NNA) quoted Lebanese Minister of Agriculture Hussein Hajj Hassan, who is also a member of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, as saying that the Israeli threats against Hariri prove that Israel aims to attack all the Lebanese, regardless of their factions.
"These threats will enhance the country's unity against Israel, " he said. Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006. The Shiite group, backed by Iran and Syria, is the only Lebanese armed faction.

The media-assisted psychological war between Israel and the 'radical axis'
Israel is very troubled by the increasingly close operational ties between Syria and Hezbollah and by the flow of advanced weapons into Lebanon.
By Amos Harel /Haaretz
Published 01:53 31.05.10
Tags: Iran Syria Hezbollah Israel news Israel is currently waging a war of nerves with the members of the radical axis of the Middle East: Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. Against that backdrop, reports have been stepping up of improved rocket-firing capability of the members of that axis and the possibility of an Israeli response.
The danger that a regional war will break out shortly has decreased somewhat, according to intelligence officials, but that also means the cold (er ) war is being waged elsewhere.
There's an arms race and competition over operational plans, intelligence gathering and deterrence - and of course, there's media-assisted psychological warfare.
You've got to be naive to believe there's no connection between Friday's (London ) Times report about Hezbollah's secret arms depots in Syria and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warning to European officials about the same exact topic just a few days earlier. Sunday's Haaretz report about satellite photographs of Syrian military installations, which are available online via Google Earth, is also related. Israel is very troubled by the increasingly close operational ties between Syria and Hezbollah and by the flow of advanced weapons into Lebanon.
Since Syria continues to deny all accusations of involvement in the matter, one way to prove it is to work through the media. Invisible hands make sure to bring up-to-date satellite photos to reporters with a reliable record in the West. The officials take care of the follow-up - both Israelis, like Netanyahu last week, and those from other countries.
Witness the worried statements about Hezbollah's arms made by senior American officials and others over the past two months.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which has helped bring a quiet to Israel's northern border since August 2006, failed miserably regarding anything connected to the weapons being smuggled from Iran and Syria to Lebanon. The factual discrepancies, conflicting reports and mutual threats are expected to continue throughout the summer, even if no conflagration breaks out. In the meantime, Syria and Hezbollah are benefiting from the shift in world attention to issues like the aid flotilla to Gaza, even if they have no direct link to it.
In addition, there has been a steady drip to the media of information concerning Iran and the progress of its nuclear program. In this case, the Western press has been functioning for years as a conduit to put intelligence information in the hands of intelligence agencies in countries fighting the prospect of a nuclear Iran. On Sunday, Britain's Sunday Times reported that Israel would be deploying three submarines equipped with nuclear capable cruise missiles in the Persian Gulf, near the Iranian coastline. Over the past year, Israeli submarine movement has been recorded in the Suez Canal, but from there to a permanent presence in the Persian Gulf is a long way to go - and not just geographically speaking.
Nonetheless, if the combination of Israel, Iran and the nuclear bomb continues to sell papers abroad, one can hope that it also helps a little bit when it comes to Israel's deterrent capability.

UN Security Council Holds Emergency Session on Israeli Raid
Margaret Besheer |
United Nations 31 May 2010
ttp://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Israeli-PM-Cancels-White-House-Meeting-95257909.html
The U.N. Security Council met in emergency session Monday on how to respond after Israeli commandos intercepted a ship carrying humanitarian aid in international waters and killed at least nine pro-Palestinian activists.
The 15-member council convened an emergency session at the request of members Lebanon and Turkey.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who traveled from South America for the meeting, criticized Israel, calling the Israeli Defense Forces' actions "tantamount to banditry and piracy."
"It is murder conducted by a state," said Ahmet Davutoglu. "It has no excuses, no justification whatsoever. A nation-state that follows this path has lost its legitimacy as a respectful member of the international community."
Davutoglu said Israel's explanation that its military acted in self-defense does not justify its actions. He called Israeli use of force "inappropriate and disproportionate," and said the actions of protestors on the ship did not absolve Israel of its duties under international law.
"To treat humanitarian aid delivery as a hostile act and to treat the aid workers as combatants is a reflection of a dangerous state of mind with detrimental effects to regional and global peace," he said. "Therefore, the Israeli actions cannot be deemed legal or legitimate. Any attempt to legitimize the attack is futile."
The aid ships, carrying about 700 pro-Palestinian activists and 10,000 tons of supplies, headed for Gaza on Sunday. They defied several warnings from the Israeli navy not to approach the Palestinian territory by sea and instructions to deliver their cargo to the Israeli port of Ashdod where authorities would inspect it and deliver it to Gaza.
The flotilla of six ships was led by the Turkish vessel, Mavi Marmara, which was in international waters off of Israel when the commandos intercepted it, boarding it from helicopters.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks to the media outside the Security Council, 31 May 2010, at the United Nations
At the open Security Council session, members strongly condemned the violence and called for an investigation into the events. They also urged the immediate and unconditional release of the protesters who are citizens of 32 countries. After the session, members moved to a closed meeting to consider possible action.
Nearly all of the council members called for an immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade that has prevented many goods from reaching Gaza's 1.5 million residents since Hamas took over the territory in 2007.
Israel's deputy U.N. Ambassador Daniel Carmon dismissed the situation in Gaza, telling the council that "no humanitarian crisis" exists there. As for the incident aboard the ship, he said Israel regretted the loss of lives but he denounced the activists, saying they were not there to deliver humanitarian aid, but to make a political statement and that they tried to "lynch" the Israeli soldiers who intervened, using knives and clubs.
"The answer is clear," said Daniel Carmon. "There [sic] are not peace activists; they were not messengers of goodwill. They cynically used the guise of humanitarian aid to send a message of hate and to implement violence."
Israel's staunch ally, the United States, said it was "deeply disturbed" by the violence and regretted the loss of life. But Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff also appeared to criticize the protesters, saying that there are other mechanisms for delivering aid to Gaza and that direct delivery by sea was neither "appropriate nor responsible" under the circumstances.
In comments in Africa, where he is traveling, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the violence and called for a full investigation to determine exactly how the events unfolded.

"Free Gaza" Flotilla Defeats the Israel Defense Forces
by Daniel Pipes
May 31, 2010
One of the most important rules for a strategist is not to be put on the defensive. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, developed this concept into a doctrine of forward defense that brilliantly served his state in its early years.
Eventually, however, Israel's enemies realized that they could not win a conventional war. Instead of launching planes, tanks, and ships at the Jewish state, they turned to other means – weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and (most recently) political delegitimization. Delegitimization turns the rules of war upside down: in particular strength is weakness and public opinion has supreme importance.
Israel's command structure, having mastered the old ways of war (the ones that lasted to 1973), has shown utter strategic incompetence at the new ways of war (in place since 1982). The new rules require an agile sense of public relations, which means that a powerful state never physically harms, even inadvertently, its rag-tag political adversaries.
Rachel Corrie has been an albatross around Israel's neck since 2003; today's dead on the seas off Gaza will prove an even worse source of anti-Zionism. Thus did the "armada of hate and violence" achieve its purpose. Thus did the Israelis fall into a trap. (May 31, 2010)