Flytilla Fails to Take Off

April 16, 2012 14:14 by Simon Plosker

Having seen the problems that supposedly “non-violent peace activists” could cause Israel, for example the Mavi Marmara flotilla, or regular protests and damage to the West Bank security barrier inflicted by foreign activists, it’s no wonder that Israel took this latest provocation very seriously and preferred to prevent these people from entering Israel at all.

A demonstration at Ben-Gurion Airport under the banner “Welcome to Palestine” is probably a more accurate reflection of the motivations of the activists. After all, most of the radical campaigns against Israel are less about Israeli policies and all about Israel itself and its very right to exist in the region. Rather than “pro-Palestinian”, the actions of many of these protesters is anti-Israel and does nothing to promote peace in the region.

This didn’t, however, stop Phoebe Greenwood, who also reports for The Guardian, from describing the campaign as a “protest against the expansion of Israeli settlements into Palestinian territory” in the Daily Telegraph.

Harriet Sherwood in The Guardian termed it as an “attempted show of solidarity with the people of the West Bank.” She also couldn’t help but include a subtle dig at Israel:

Those suspected of being pro-Palestinian activists were taken first to a smaller terminal, with a “Welcome to Israel” sign above its doors, for interrogation and from there to a nearby prison.

While Sherwood may have portrayed it otherwise, the irony was not deliberate on the part of Israel. Rather, Ben-Gurion Airport’s Terminal One does indeed have a large sign greeting travelers as it has done for many years and not just for this particular occasion.

Overall, however, as the Israeli letter to the activists pointed out, other very pressing concerns in the Middle East continue to expose the obsessive and disproportionate and often hateful attention leveled at the region’s only real democracy. Thankfully, at least in this case, the international press also had better things to do with its time than pander to what turned out to be an expensive failure of a PR stunt.

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Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com, flickr/tomhumphries.

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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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