Israeli piracy

The criminal conduct of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) continues as its naval commandoes illegally stopped and boarded a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza while it was still in international waters. Among the nearly 100 detained activists is Saad Edhi, the grandson of the legendary Abdul Sattar Edhi, who was himself arrested by Israel on a similar mercy mission 45 years ago. Saad and the other people on the flotilla have already proven themselves to be better advocates of humanity than the leaders of the so-called free world, who continue turning a blind eye to the genocidal actions of the Israeli government and the unbridled terrorism of "settlers", who are little more than state-supported Zionist terrorists.

Israel's Foreign Ministry had the gall to call the act of sending a peaceful aid convoy a "provocation". Instead of immediately rubbishing that ludicrous claim, let us accept it at face value. That would mean Israel considers the act of supplying food and medicine to starving, traumatised civilians to be an act that incites a legitimate violent reaction. It means providing medical treatment to a wounded Palestinian child is so offensive to Israel that it justifies blowing up hospitals - which is exactly what the IDF does, using weapons provided by the US and Germany.

So far, just 10 countries have condemned Israel's attack on the flotilla, a number so small that it underscores the impunity with which Israel is allowed to act. Notably, several Muslim countries have not yet condemned Israel's actions, while the only Western country to do so is Spain. That means over 180 countries of the world could not even be bothered to issue a press release condemning the denial of aid to victims of war. Given the world's silence, we can only hope that the flotilla volunteers' human rights are respected.

And while Israel's leaders congratulate themselves on stopping a few boats and lowering the bar for what qualifies as rock bottom on the humanity scale, they should know that they cannot stop the rising tide of global outrage among citizens of the world.