facts

1) the purpose of the flotilla clearly was to provoke, not to bring aid.
2) the organizing group, IHH, is a fanatical Turkish Moslem group,
strongly identified with Hamas
3) Gaza is ruled by Hamas which is committed to the destruction of
Israel, kidnapped and holds Gilad Shalit illegally for 4 years
without letters or visits from Red Cross or family, and has fired
hundreds of rockets and ballistic missiles into Israeli cities and
towns for years, killing and wounding innocent civilians, something
which no other country in the world has to live with
4) the blockade is well-recognized under Int'l law to prevent the
delivery of armaments and rockets, dugmat the Karin A and other
shipments of arms that have been intercepted
5) the IDF had no intention of injuring anyone, as proven by the "low
level" military character of the takeover of the ships. The soldiers
only pulled out their pistols after they were attacked violently
(it's on YouTube) and they did so in self-defence.
6) while the loss of life is regrettable, we must keep things in
proportion. Israel is always judged under the magnifying glass while
other countries, including but not limited to the US in Iraq and
Afghanistan, Russia in Chechenia, China in China, Turkey vs the
Kurds, have caused much greater civilian casualties in botched
military activities or worse, with the international press and
community not batting an eyelash, not to mention the deaths of
hundreds of Moslems weekly and sometimes daily in Iraq and Pakistan,
at the hands of other Moslems. So the commotion over the flotilla
this week is another example of the double standard in the world -
one for Israel and another for all the rest. And among the most
hypocritical are some European countries, most notably the
Scandanavians, whose armies have not had to fire a gun for over 50
years except perhaps at a caribou. They can afford to be great
humanitarians and give mussar to others.