It's a trap!

Like most of you, I'm still trying to process the raid on the Gaza flotilla and its aftermath. One thing is clear to me, though: no good comes of it.

Let me start by saying this: I agree with the Israeli assurance that, once those commandos hit the decks and the people on board started attacking (including with captured firearms), there was little the IDF sailors could do except respond in kind. Here's my quesiton: why did those sailors need to board those boats at all?

We've been hearing and reading about the flotilla for some time, and this is not the first attempt; everyone knew it was a publicity stunt and that the participants WANTED the IDF to storm the boats and cause a ruckus. No one could have anticipated the incident turning deadly, but it was clear from the get-go that they wanted to put Israel in the worst light possible. It was clearly a trap; so why did the Israeli Navy and government walk right in?

Israel is losing a very important battle right now: that of world opinion. I know there is a long-held sense of fatalism: that Israel never has the upper hand there, never has world opinion on its side, so why try? That Israel should look only after her strategic needs. The problem is that world opinion is part of that strategy, and it is becoming increasingly important. Perhaps there was a time to blow off world opinion to some degree, but when the country's leadership seems so tone-deaf that it's alienating long-standing allies, like the US and Turkey, one wonders what is going on? Before, it was merely the bad timing of building more settlements and Avigdor Lieberman insulting Turkey (which are both bad enough); now 10 people, mostly European protesters, are dead.

I agree very much with this analysis in Ha'aretz: Israel needs a full inquiry into the matter, and her leaders need to take a long, hard look at their policies. How is killing 10 protesters bringing Gilad Shalit back? How is this securing Israel's safety well into the future? How is making Israel a pariah state--eliminating several years of goodwill in Europe and the US and Turkey--going to ensure and Israel for my children and grandchildren? How is giving Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran more ammunition helping achieve any strategic goals?

Israel deserves better, and the world deserves better, than this mess now docked at Ashdod. In the meantime, let's hope Bibi Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Gabi Ashkenazi are better at extracting themselves from the trap than they are at avoiding it. So far, I'm not impressed.