Israel must agree to an inquiry for the good of its own people and the Palestinians

In the video above we see Hillel Neuer, a leading advocate of human rights and executive director of UN Watch (an accredited NGO associated with the US Department of Public Information), questioning the motives and real purpose of the "humanitarian aid" flotilla. Meanwhile, US Vice-President Joe Biden has emphasised his government's position, stating that "Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest." He added, "They have said, here you go. You're in the Mediterranean. This ship - if you divert it slightly North you can unload it and we'll get the stuff into Gaza...Well, it's legitimate for Israel to say, 'I don't know what's on that ship. These guys are dropping eight...three thousand rockets on my people.'"

There is little doubt that the Israeli government offered a number of invitations to the flotilla to dock in Israel, promising that the aid would be delivered and that they simply wanted to check it for banned items first - but the flotilla's organisers, including the very dubious "charity" IHH which is wodely suspected of maintaining links to Hamas (considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union, Canada, Japan and the USA) and Al Qaeda, refused these invitations; which can be viewed as deliberate provocation. Despite the "peace activist's" insistence that Israeli commandos attacked the Mavi Marmara with machine guns before boarding it, there has as yet been no evidence to suggest that this was the case - while increasing evidence seems to show that they were armed only with non-lethal paintball guns as used in Israel and many other nations during riot dispersal situations, turning to their handgun sidearms only when it became apparent that the people on the ship were determined to violently attack them. Released video seems undeniably - unless you want to claim the videos are faked, as some of the more idiotic conspiracy theorists online have already claimed - to show that the IDF were indeed attacked with staves, metal bars, chains and possibly stun grenades and guns. Further reports say the humanitarian aid onboard included a large amount of expired medicine and equipment in such poor condition as to be useless. Israel very quickly began to release people apprehended during the exercise and thus far, none of them have tried to accuse Israel - a modern democracy - of mistreating them while they were detained (an Israeli prison being by far the most preferable type if one is to be imprisoned anywhere in the Middle East, as while conditions are not ideal due to overcrowding - a situation also found in several other nations including the UK - prisoners are not treated in grossly inhumane ways nor routinely tortured, as is the case in many other nations in the region). Once checked and offloaded, the aid was made available to Gaza, but Hamas have prevented it being dispersed among the people - the efficiency with which Israel carried out delivery has highlighted the established infrastructure it has in place to deliver the 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid that it makes available to Gaza every week. Israel, it turns out, has delivered over one million tons of aid in the last 18 months, including 94,500 tons between January and March this year alone - more than a ton of aid for each and every man, woman and child in Gaza.

Online, an army of bloggers, Twitterers, Facebookers and representatives of assorted other Internet fauna more numerous than the IDF could ever hope to be are fighting hard to highlight the humanitarian work that Israel carries out in Gaza - not just the aid they donate and distribute, but their rehabilitation of Palestinians who have suffered horrific violence at the hands of Hamas such as those found guilty of opposing the organisation and thrown from roofs or tortured as an example to others, their recent decision to allow 781 Palestinians to leave Gaza so that they could receive treatment in Israel's modern and well-equipped hospitals and a whole host of other actions. The anti-Israel and/or antisemitic bloggers counter with all manner of accusations, such as claiming that the videos of the IDF being attacked have been faked by the Israeli government - but these days, most people have woken up to the fact that Protocols of the Elders of Zion-type worldwide Jewish conspiracy theories are just a little too ridiculous to be worth paying any attention whatsoever.

IDF video evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt that IDF commandos were violently attacked as they boarded the Mavi Marmara. An inquiry might prove that that the flotilla had deliberate provocation, in order to try to demonise Israel and damage its already-tarnished reputation, as a prime motive.

In addition, Israel has found some powerful allies - it's not just the USA, but Italy and the Netherlands - the latter being a nation with an admirable record on human rights and justice - who have come out in support. With all of the evidence and an enormous amount of individual support from people around the world, it may well prove to be in Israel's best interests if it agrees to participate fully in an international inquiry, providing of course that such an inquiry is guaranteed to be entirely free of bias against Israel or in favour of Hamas, because it is looking increasingly as though the nation is without blame in this incident.

If the world is shown that the IDF had no choice but to halt the flotilla if it wishes to protect its civilians - Jewish, Muslim, Christian and secular - and those of Gaza too from Hamas and the violence they regularly use, Israel may find herself with many more friends. Similarly, many people around the world may start thinking for themselves and realise that they have been seduced by the romantic image of the freedom fighter struggling to release his people from the chains inflicted upon them by an aggressive state and see Hamas for the terrorists with no concern for the Palestinian people that they truly are.