UN-Truth

So, what would be the worst thing that could happen if they gave a press conference — and nobody came?

A few months after Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Foreign Ministry (MFA) offered a briefing to journalists on its response to criticisms about the Gaza war. Despite the nicely-air-conditioned auditorium, five journalists came.

Some days before that, the MFA offered a similar briefing on the same topic to the diplomatic corps. I was told that five diplomats attended….

Now, Israel’s YNet website has reported that “Weeks before the Gaza-bound flotilla left port, at the end May, 2010, the Israeli government was aware of the problem and the potential whiplash. Israel’s Defense Ministry, under Ehud Barak, worked out plans to enforce the blockade and apprehend the ships; Israel’s Foreign Ministry was responsible for PR and the legal justification for stopping the flotilla”…

The YNet article continued: “According to Israeli government sources, journalists were ‘unofficially’ referred to a Danish government report on IHH, US court and CIA documents several days prior to the arrival of the flotilla. ‘Unofficially?’ Why not officially? Why wasn’t the IHH thoroughly exposed and the Turkish government held responsible? According to the Australian-based Talk Gaza organization, which provides information on the incident, Israel’s Foreign Ministry circulated information on IHH ‘to some people at least five days before the incident’. ‘Some people?’ Who? Why not circulate it to everyone? ‘A number of journalists were also referred by various official sources to the few news articles that did discuss IHH days before the incident’. How many journalists? And when? Was the FM staff overloaded, understaffed, or simply unaware of the magnitude of the problem? Asked why a press conference wasn’t called before the engagement at sea, this journalist was told: ‘No one would come’.” This is posted here.

Our first report on the composition of the Freedom Flotilla and what might happen was published on 6 May, in our post entitled “Can Turkish involvement help Free Gaza – Freedom Flotilla challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza?”, which is published here.

Yesterday, as we noted, YNet reported — after some journalists were briefed by Gen. Eiland — that “The report adds that the IDF had begun preparing for the flotilla in February. In mid-May Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak requesting their cooperation in order to prevent a violent incident“. This is published here.

Nevertheless, the Eiland report, released last night — which focuses on the IDF — stated that “The expert team determined that regarding media relations, the preparations made in advance were good. However, [n.b. - here the report seems to be referring to the period after the Israeli naval assault at sea] the release of press statements and visual materials was delayed due to the need to maintain reliability, the obligation to notify the families of the critically injured soldiers and the long authorization process at the levels above the IDF Spokesperson Unit [who does this mean?]. The team noted with favor the work of the IDF spokesperson following the incident and emphasized the need for better coordination between the IDF, the foreign ministry and other foreign affairs institutions?…

As we noted here on 26th May — five days before the interception of the Freedom Flotilla, in a post entitled “Israel lining up options to deal with Freedom Flotilla” — we asked: “there are reports of Turkish-Israeli contacts, and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls this big operation a ‘publicity stunt’. (Do you use military force against a publicity stunt?)”

We also reported in the same post that “Yesterday, the Israeli MFA sent around a message saying that one of its legal experts, Sarah Weiss Maudi said: ‘The reason why ships can’t come into Gaza currently is because a maritime blockade is currently in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such a blockade has been imposed by Israel because Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza. Hamas has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel proper with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza by various routes, including the sea. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no vessels can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian vessels and enemy vessels. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate the maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law, and may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea’. Is there an ‘armed conflict at sea’ – at least until now? Weiss Maudi is, the MFA says, the ministry legal expert on maritime and humanitarian law — but she is very young. No senior Israeli government official has spoken so clearly, publicly, on these matters. She duly notes ‘the requirement to give due notice’ of the blockade, and to ‘publicize the existence of the maritime blockade in effect’ — and, she says, Israel has ‘published the exact coordinates of the blockade via the accepted international professional maritime channel’. (See the Youtube video starting at 1′16″.) IDF spokespersons refused to return my calls recently, when I asked for confirmation that its naval blockade of Gaza still exists. Other Israeli government spokespersons have appeared, generally, to evade this issue, and have appeared to make efforts to refrain from calling it a naval blockade” This post is published here.

Filed under: Blogging, Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Journalism and Journalists