The Proudest Moment

To call today’s events unnerving would be quite an understatement. On my long drives in and out of Jerusalem, I heard uninterrupted coverage of the aftermath of the bloody fight that had taken place hours earlier in the open waters of the Mediterranean. It was with great urgency that Israel Army Radio ran from reporter to reporter, updating the scene at the Ashdod port where the escorted ‘Mavi Marmara’ boat was being unloaded; in Canada, where Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making plans to abruptly end his North American mission; and at an Israeli Arab village where protestors were hurling stones. The tension was understandable. At least 9 were dead and dozens more were wounded on a boat that had proudly and loudly set out under the slogan of peace and solidarity.

Some of the international headlines reflect the global ire again aimed at Israel. These sentiments ring crystal clear: “Israeli Leadership Faces Fallout”; “Israel Faces International Criticism for Raid on Gaza Aid Flotilla”; and “Protests erupt across the world after Israeli raid“. With the United Nations holding an emergency session to discuss the situation, and with the makings of an unprecedented diplomatic crisis with formerly warm ally Turkey, one gets the sense that Israel finds itself in a most uncomfortable predicament.

For my part, an overwhelming internal sense of identity urges me to mount my soapbox and offer my two cents. Here and now, I have never felt prouder to be an Israeli citizen and a Jew.

The uniform story reported by Israeli naval personnel and the local press, substantiated by the documented video and audio records (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLrX7fznVgI), demonstrate conclusively that the boat’s mission was not quite as peaceful as claimed. After hours of hailing the ship, trying to verify its purportedly peaceful intentions, to answers of vulgarities and cries of “Jihad”, Israel’s navy felt it necessary to board the ship themselves. The decision to board the ship was borne out of the very real understanding that the boat, whose hostile behavior only fanned the flames of suspicion, could have easily harbored caches of an assortment of weapons and/or terrorists. When the navy successfully intercepted an enormous shipment of assorted rockets, shells, and other weapons last November, Israel learned that it cannot trust anyone to convey ostensibly innocent cargo to local waters, without the lingering threats of heavy weaponry.

So in the wee hours of the morning, Israel started to lower naval commandoes onto the ‘relief ship’. As each soldier landed on the craft, he was met by a team of hostile attackers, relentlessly and mercilessly bent on killing him. While the so-called ‘peace activists’, wielding knives, metal pipes, and other pleasantries, did not hesitate in their quest to lynch the commandoes, the Israelis strictly followed orders not to open fire with live ammunition. When it was more than abundantly clear that there was no alternative, they fired on and killed a number of the ‘activists.’

The mission of vessels, billed as a relief convoy, has been strummed up in the media for the past week. The stage was artfully set for a most uncomfortable confrontation when Israel repeatedly insisted on its right to protect its waters and block the conveyance of threatening materials. Although explicitly committing to deliver any received humanitarian materials to Gaza, Israel could not afford to blindly trust shipments into hostile Hamas-controlled territory.

Evidently, then, the plans were laid by some ill-intending ‘activists’ to speed up the anticipated confrontation. Those aboard the vessel reasoned as follows. Whereas other civilized militaries might defend themselves and protect individual soldiers by firing upon hostile vessels, Israel would risk the life of each of its own commandoes in the interests of preventing innocent bloodshed. When the Israelis would land on the boat, the plotters envisioned a win-win scenario. If the Israelis were surprised and overwhelmed enough, there would be a repeat of the gore and glory from the second Intifada. Members of the lynch mob could exult in their kills, with blood-stained hands before an adoring crowd. And if the Israelis would somehow survive the onslaught of attackers on the ship’s deck, the ‘activists’ were prepared to nobly give their lives for the cause. They would become holy martyrs to the media cause, ripe for the international community to consecrate and idolize. The world would erupt in protest and condemnation should Israel be accused of attacking an aid vessel. The choreographic scripting of the whole event is already more than familiar, with Israel consistently having to choose between mourning its own losses and being damned for defending itself.

Although it is not comforting or consoling to think of those killed on board that fateful ship this morning, it comes as an enormous relief that the aggressors failed in their bid to kill Israelis. But for me, something even greater resonates from the harrowing incident. Under unmistakable threats of the greatest personal danger, the naval commandoes lowered themselves into the eye of the storm and, with enormous dignity, defended the sanctity of human life. As long as they could avoid risking killing others, they bravely did so. And when it was clear that there was no choice, they bravely defended their lives and the lives of their fellows. And then, with herculean discipline, they stopped.

What could be nobler?