More Correspondence with Israeli Embassy re Gaza Piracy

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Friday July 03, 2009 08:13 by Rónan Nolan

Holding Israeli propaganda up to the light of day

Correspondence with the Israeli embassy, their press officer defending the indefensible.
(Apologies for calling the boat the "Spirit of Dignity", rather than the "Spirit of Humanity").

My recent correspondence with Derek O'Flynn, Embassy of Israel Press Officer, Dublin

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-----Original Message-----
From: R N [mailto:tsironphuq@yahoo.ie]
Sent: 01 July 2009 13:52
To: Info, Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of Israel
Subject: Free Gaza Movement - Spirit of Dignity boat

Dear Ambassador

Your actions are in contravention of international law, maritime and humanitarian. You are holding your nation and your government up to the light of international scrutiny and revealing yourselves as a rogue state.

This will inevitably result in you achieving "pariah" status as a nation.

Release the boat you have hijacked in international waters, and its passengers and cargo. Let the boat through, and let all humanitarian and civilian supplies through to Gaza.
Rónan Nolan
Dublin

--- On Wed, 7/1/09, Info, Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of Israel wrote:

From: Info, Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of Israel
Subject: RE: Free Gaza Movement - Spirit of Dignity boat
To: "R N"
Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 12:29 PM

Actually, they violated the law.

It is internationally accepted that Israel has the right to patrol the waters off Gaza, as Hamas is recognized by practically everyone as a terrorist organization in control of Gaza. By the way, Egypt also has its own controls on access to Gaza.

The ship in question broke several laws - flying a Greek flag; saying to the Cypriot authorities that they were going to Port Said in Egypt (as they would not have been given a permit to go to Gaza), and violating
Israeli-patrolled waters. They were repeatedly warned to stop, they refused, eventually they were boarded, no violence was used and no one was harmed. Humanitarian aid on board will be transferred to Gaza through the normal channels.

They are currently being detained at Tel Aviv airport and will be released in a day or two.

Why no unrestricted access to Gaza - for the simple reason that any looney could ship in anything, such as weapons for Hamas. In case you have been living in a cave, Hamas has international contacts - with Hizbullah, Iran, and extremists based in the West.

Humanitarian goods are brought to Gaza via normal channels, on the Israeli and Egyptian side of the border. If these people really cared about helping ppl, they could give the aid via normal channels, instead of deliberately provoking their arrest for 15 minutes of fame (e.g. in 2008,
august, one similar 'free gaza' boat brought 5000 balloons with them!!! Google it timesonline if u don't believe me).

Press Officer
Embassy of Israel
122 Pembroke Road
Ballsbridge
Dublin 4
Tel: 01-2309407
Fax: 01-2309446
Website: www.israel.ie

-----Original Message-----
From: tsironphuq@yahoo.ie [mailto:tsironphuq@yahoo.ie]
Sent: 01 July 2009 14:58
To: Info, Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of Israel
Subject: RE: Free Gaza Movement - Spirit of Dignity boat

Dear Derek

I must say I was amused at your reply, both for its lack of cohesive argument and lack of logic.

If someone wanted to bring in 5000 balloons into Gaza, what is Israel's problem with letting the balloons in ? Is Israel afraid of being water ballooned to death by Palestinians ?

As for humanitarian aid being transferred through the usual channels ? I wish, recent Israeli embargoed goods have included pasta and aubergines. Is Israel afraid of death by Italian cooking also ? If the aid could go through normal channels it would, not the current economic blockade and strangulation that Israel is undertaking. Also, why should one and a half million people have to ask permission by an occupying power for food water and shelter ? is this just or fair ?

It is not 'internationally accepted' that Israel has the right to patrol off Gaza, and certainly not in international waters. That is a lie and not in any UN or international statute. People being afraid that Israel may hijack, ram your boat, kill or main or arrest the passengers is however understood, but I doubt its accepted. If they are no threat and there is no violence, why does Israel feel the need to hold the passengers for a number of days after boarding. Why not simply let them go ? oh,
thats right, Nobel Peace Prize winners are well known as a threat because they might show Israel for what it is, a belligerent state holding millions of people under occupation.

As for Hamas being recognised by practically everyone as a terrorist organisation? Well watch this space, negotiations will be held in the near future with Hamas by interested parties such as the EU and the USA, as well as the current back channels that Israel (the country you are representing as press officer) is currently using to communicate with Hamas.

As for Hamas' contacts, I would also counter that Israel has contacts with extremists in the west, not least the Americans who supply them with the ordnance to subject both Gaza and the West Bank to continuing brutality.

Best Regards

Rónan

--- On Wed, 7/1/09, Info, Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of Israel wrote:
From: Info, Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of Israel
Subject: RE: Free Gaza Movement - Spirit of Dignity boat
To: tsironphuq@yahoo.ie
Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 3:08 PM

Thanks for your reply,

As for the balloons in august 2008, the ship wasn't stopped because it had balloons; the ship was stopped as a matter of course after refusing warnings as are normal with regard to illegally approaching coastlines, and once the boat was boarded the balloons were found. The 'free gaza' people were not really serious; even the Palestinians felt used at the
time.

As for the current incident, the Ambassador he has contacted top people in Jerusalem to get the Irish citizens released asap. The latest info I have is that the ball is actually in Mairead Maguire's court. 3 choices: a) sign immigration-interior ministry papers as is procedure, and leave on the first flight b) wait, for extra publicity, and all will be deported after 72 hours, as is procedure c) she can sue and drag the thing out for weeks.

I say again; she is NOT being detained, jailed, chained, or whatever (apologies for sarcasm, but one is driven to it considering the truly bizarre emails one has received this morning!!!). She can leave when she wants to. Nobody in Israel or the Embassy wants this affair lasting a second longer than it has to.

As for Hamas, in the 1990s until the Security Fence was built, it murdered 1200 Israelis civilians, partic in 1996 and 2000-2001, usually suicide-bombing bars, restaurants, cafes, busstops etc (not that there were any protests about that of course in Dublin), and after the Fence was built to stop it Hamas switched to rockets, firing 9,000 up as far as December 2008. I wonder how Irish people would feel if say the whole of Munster, or most of Leinster had to live with sheds in the back and warnings of 30 secs to 2 mins to grab your family and shelter from rockets (excellent shelter and warning systems are the only reason why thousands of Israelis have not been killed by those rockets, and some by the way are still being lobbed in from Gaza since the war in January ended, though more likely from Islamic Jihad rather than Hamas itself). Israelis put up with that torture for 8 years, and studies show that children in southern Israel
suffer alarmingly high levels of psychiatric shock and depression.

Regards,

Press Officer
Embassy of Israel
122 Pembroke Road
Ballsbridge
Dublin 4
Tel: 01-2309407
Fax: 01-2309446
Website: www.israel.ie

--- On Thu, 7/2/09, R N wrote:
From: R N
Subject: RE: Free Gaza Movement - Spirit of Dignity boat
To: "Derek O'Flynn - Embassy of IsraelInfo"
Date: Thursday, July 2, 2009, 10:36 AM

Derek,

Don't you get tired repeating the lies that your position requires you too? It is not illegal to approach the coastline of Gaza, Israel has no jurisdiction over international waters. The Israeli Navy rams and boards
ships in international waters, when Somalians do this, it is correctly called piracy.

How can the ball be in Mairead's court when she is held by the Israeli authorities illegally ? The ship was hijacked in international waters, her and the other passsengers being seized is equivalent to kidnapping.
If I were to seize you walking in a public park and grabbed you and detained you, held you without access to lawyers, and then wanted you to sign an immigration form to Rónanland, wouldn't you also question the legitimacy of the exercise ?

As for Hamas, I suggest you ask your local Israeli intelligence officer in the embassy why they backed and expanded Hamas in the 80's to create a counterbalance to the PLO?

Israel has occupied the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. All UN and international laws respect the right of occupied peoples to resistance, violent if necessary. If an occupying power controls all access in & out for people,goods & services, and has built a large wall around them, that is both an occupation and a prison. However I am not going to defend suicide bombers as I think it is a terrible act, but I also wonder why on earth a human being would feel so desperate as to want to carry out a suicide bomb attack. Here is a possible reason:- 1,133 Israelis and an estimated 5,144 Palestinians (including 952 children) have been killed since September 2000. From UN data, the post-1967 avoidable mortality (excess mortality) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories totals 300,000 and the post-1967 under-5 infant mortality 183,000 (of which 90% has been avoidable) - as compared to 2,178 post-1967 Israeli terrorism deaths (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs figures). Add the average ratio of injured casualties (usually of the order of 5 times the death toll) and the number dead & injured is in the millions.

Also, there was a working viable ceasefire in place between Hamas and Israel from June 2008. This was broken by Israel on November 4th when they killed 6 Gazans, and admitted by the Israeli spokesman Mark Regev when interviewed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza and subsequent massacre in January.

Phew! Thats hard work on your part to defend the indefensible.

Best Regards

Rónan