Alan Dershowitz has suggested that to be effective Israeli propaganda should support 80 percent of what Israel does, and be critical of the other 20 percent. So I expected that Dershowitz would only approve 80% of the Israeli killings on the Gaza flotilla, while expressing some mild criticism regarding the IDF’s other victims. Silly me. Dershowitz promptly weighed in to declare that the Israeli assault was “entirely consistent” with international law.
Anyone concerned with reality might check out the hour-long video smuggled out by Iara Lee or the legal arguments by Lynda Brayer, George Bisharat, the Lawyers Committee for Palestinian Rights, or Ben Saul of the National Lawyers’ Guild, among others. And regardless of what exactly took place on the Miva Marmara, the crucial context of the whole situation — as I argued in my article But What Could Israel Do? — is that the blockade has nothing to do with Israeli security, since Israel could always end rocket attacks on its people by agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas that included a lifting of the blockade. This Israel has been unwilling to do, just as it has been unwilling to end the occupation by accepting an independent and viable Palestinian state on the territories it seized in 1967.
The craven Congressional Democrats have been giving full backing to Israel, including its latest flotilla attack. Among the more disgusting contributions have been Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) openly endorsing collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza, and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), chair of the House subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation and trade, urging the prosecution of U.S. citizens involved with the flotilla.. More significantly, the White House has blocked any international action against Israel.
This is supporting Israel not just 80 percent, but 110 percent.
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