Israel's three year embargo of the Gaza Strip has to continue, despite the pressure being placed upon her by the West. It is of particular concern that the Obama administration has now come out in support of such a ban, followed, as usual, by the UK.
First of all, the ban itself has been put in place for sound military and political reasons by Israel. It exists for the protection of the state of Israel. The threat is real; the shipments of more sophisticated weaponry, including missiles from Iran that can target any city or town in Israel being unleashed upon the Israeli people is a real possibility; a possibility the West has, for the past three years believed would happen, if the embargo were ever cancelled.
Now the so-called friends of Israel seem not to believe that such threat any longer exists, or else why would they demand (in, of course, the language of the diplomat) the abandoning of the embargo?
Well, for one reason, Turkey (a NATO member) has started to turn her back on the West and toward the Muslim world. Having been kept waiting for so long at the alter of European entry, she has decided that her national interest is be better served within her own religious community.
Last week it was a Turkish vessel, the Mavi Marmara that caused so much embarrassment to Israel and led to Western demands for the abandoning of Israel's blockade. The Mavi Marmara was the Turkish government's way of getting the West's attention. This act, if the West's response is anything to go by, succeeded beyond expectation. All Western governments took heed and, after three years of almost silence on Israel's embargo, they promptly sought to retract Israel's claws.
At one point the media picked up and briefly ran with a story out of Jordan that suggested that the Turkish president would join the next flotilla, surrounded by the Turkish navy. This must have caused quite a bit of hair-tugging within the Western political and diplomatic community. The story captivated Sky television, until an Israeli spokesman told them what they should have already known; that such a source was unreliable.
The threat to Israel is real, but the West has now been warned by Turkey that her ambitions may, after all, lay elsewhere; and this sends a shiver down the spines of Western politicians. Because our politicians in Europe, have allowed a population of over 15 million Muslims to live among us. This was allowed to happen in Europe, because Left of centre 'progressive' governments felt a colonial guilt that demanded to be recompensed.
Turkey has suddenly become what the West feared - a major Muslim power which, should she so choose, become the leader of a Muslim axis partnering Iran and Syria in opposition to the West. Such a combination of opponents for the West, with their indigenous populations of disenchanted Muslim communities, would pose a challenge we in Europe at least, would not be able to meet without succumbing, as the Archbishop of Canterbury (no less), suggested we do, incorporate parts of sharia law into our own.
Israel was right to oppose the Mavi Marmara in the way she did. My only criticism is that not enough commandos were used for the purpose. What is more, Israel should continue with her embargoes until a two state solution is agreed upon. What the rest of the Western world decides to do about Turkey should not matter to Israel. It should not matter because the West will, in its present state, kow-tow to any Muslim grievance, leaving Israel out in the cold.
Israel should continue to do what she has, since 1948, always done. She must look to herself, just as many individual Jews have been forced to do throughout the history of the Diaspora. Israel is surrounded by potential enemies. Her so called allies in the West cannot be relied upon in extrema. In final analysis you as a people belonging to a newly recovered country can, in the final analysis only rely upon yourselves.
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