Flytilla Fails to Take Off

April 16, 2012 14:14 by Simon Plosker

It was meant to be a Palestinian PR dream. Over 2,000 activists scheduled to converge on Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, arriving on planes from around the world as part of a “Welcome to Palestine” flytilla.

Israel had done its homework, however. No-fly lists of potential activists sent to airlines prevented many from even boarding their flights at the point of departure. What could have been a major international incident turned from a flytilla into a floptilla, the lack of action described by The Times of Israel reporting from Ben-Gurion Airport:

But by mid-morning, nothing much was happening. Nothing had been happening for quite some time, reported an Associated Press TV cameraman in the arrivals hall who had replaced another cameraman who had watched nothing happen for most of the night. …

There were no fewer than 13 TV cameras and about 30 journalists around the terminal, bored and standing around in clumps. Anyone expecting Tahrir Square was presented instead with “Waiting for Godot.”

Indeed, the story barely registered on the radars of the US press, probably due to the fact that the majority of the activists were Europeans.

Snide headline of the day went to CNN:

Hours later, CNN updated the headline to something more neutral: “Israel detains pro-Palestinian activists”.

And what of the “snide letter” described by CNN? It’s worth noting as one of the means deployed by Israel to pop the activists’ balloons.

Dear activist, we appreciate your choosing to make Israel the object of your humanitarian concerns.

We know there were many other worthy choices. You could have chosen to protest the Syrian regime’s daily savagery against its own people, which has claimed thousands of lives.

You could have chosen to protest the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on dissent and support of terrorism throughout the world. You could have chosen to protest Hamas rule in Gaza, where terror organizations commit a double war crime by firing rockets at civilians and hiding behind civilians.

But instead you chose to protest against Israel, the Middle East’s sole democracy, where women are equal, the press criticizes the government, human rights organizations can operate freely, religious freedom is protected for all and minorities do not live in fear.

Therefore we suggest to let you solve first the real problems of the region, and then come back and share with us your experience.

Have a nice flight.

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93 Comments

93 Comments → “Flytilla Fails to Take Off”

Hans

9:06 am

Apr 22, 2012

To the confused:

Yes, people have a right to travel… HOWEVER, the sovereign destination has the absolute right to determine whether the people in question are welcome to enter its territory…

Yes, people have a right to hold and express an opinion… However, if they wish to do so in a country other then their own then the sovereign destination has the absolute right to determine whether the people in question are welcome to enter its territory…

Whether or not a sovereign destination allows allows all and sundry entry (to express their opinion or otherwise) has nothing to do with that sovereign destination being a democracy or not…

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- Glenn Tamir
  
  9:20 am
  
  Apr 22, 2012
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Of course every country has the right to exclude whomever they want. The question is does it help Israel to do so. As an American living in Israel I feel that unless there is a real threat of violence or national security (certainly not the case here) than we are better served by being open and allowing criticism. This way, we can control the situation better because the criticism will occur no matter what we do.
  
  An additional point here is that Israel’s leaders are afraid of the criticism because for both moral and legal reasons, our policies in the “territories” are wrong. This is not my exclusive opinion but those of the Israeli high court so of course our leaders do not want ANY criticism.
  
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Stan Lee

6:25 pm

Apr 23, 2012

As I read the letter CNN described as “snide,” I couldn’t help but think if any letter at all would have been issued by the Russian government, should people had visited Moscow to assess whether freedoms existed, or were just script in that display item called the Constitution of Russia? Rather, I believe they’d have had immediate confrontation with Russian Militia.

The mere fact that people objecting to anything about Israel have the feeling they can fly there in the attempt to bring about disruption, is sufficient testimonial to the freedom of Israel. The disrupters know and believe it’s a nation dedicated to freedom.
In comparison, they couldn’t visit Syria, or Egypt, of course not Iran, nor North Korea, under the same reasons for visiting Israel.

Hans makes an excellent point of the fact that those endeavoring to visit a sovereign nation must observe proper protocol and respect for that nation’s customs, laws, and civil behavior.
As an American, I don’t regard CNN as any more impartial to the nation of Israel than I would the BBC.

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