VOLUNTARY DETENTION SCORES POINTS
Jake Lynch, director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Israel sent six military vessels to seize a ship, the Spirit of Humanity, sailing from Cyprus with relief supplies for the people of Gaza, and arrested - no, make that abducted - 21 people on board, including the Nobel laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire. After a week in detention, they were released and deported.But in a discussion on Irish TV Maguire does not dispute that she was offered immediate release, opting instead to remain in Israeli custody. Does Lynch know this? If not, why? If so, what's with the lie?
posted by J F Beck at 6:58 PM
9 Comments:
They are attention seeking arseholes.
If a boatload of illegal aliens shows up in Australian waters, guess what? They get arrested and eventually deported.
Yet only the Jewish state is set up in this way, by these oh so selective "peace activists". Of course they choose their target well, knowing they won't get shot.
You will never see them taking a boatload of "relief supplies" to any non-democratic country in need.
Hypocrites.
Israel should simply surround the waters with mines. Then we'll see how dedicated they are.
Sol Salbe asks
Was the immediate release conditional and if it was what ws the condition?
Sol Salbe - release beats getting your head sawn off, as would happen had they chosen to aggravate anyone in the area other than Israel.
Of course, as a nominal Jew, you have spent years advocating for Palestinians by way of left-wing Jewish groups, frequently hostile to Israel..
Can you point to any equivalent Palestinian left-wing groups advocating for the rights of Jews to live in peace? I'm all ears...
Sol Salbe.
Please watch the discussion; the spin from both sides is very interesting.
Release was conditional. According to Israel's ambassador to Ireland (see c. 7.00 minute mark) those apprehended were asked to sign a document acknowledging they had no claim against Israel's immigration authority. This is not disputed by the other panelists who also, apparently, don't think the condition was unreasonable.
Nobel Prize winner Maguire's anti-Israel bias is obvious. She talks about being "kidnapped" by Israeli forces who she claims put her life in danger and manhandled her by "throwing" her in the back of a vehicle. But later she says Israeli's forces were friendly and she was well treated. Such nonsense devalues her Nobel Peace Prize in particular and the Peace Prize in general.
"But later she says Israeli's forces were friendly and she was well treated."
As in, they didn't waterboard or douse her in White Posphourous.
The only problem is J.F., is that there is no lie about the week's detention. So Mairead Corrigan Maguire was offered an immediate release contingent upon on condition she found unacceptable - how does this make Jake Lynch a liar?
The plain facts are as written in the Jake Lynch article. That a ship with humanitarian supplies for Gaza was intercepted by Israel, the ship's complement arrested and held for a week before being deported. There was no legitimate reason to do any of those things except to prevent humanitarian aid reaching Gaza and to seek to frighten off any further attempts to do so.
Meanwhile people in Gaza still live in appalling conditions that Israel appears to want to keep that way. But hey! The Gazans are all just terrorists, don't you know?
During the discussion the Israeli ambassador says that those apprehended could "leave immediately" but instead "chose to stay". The other discussion participants do not dispute this or even comment on the single condition that must be satisfied for immediate release. I therefore conclude that the ambassador is correct in saying those detained remained in custody through choice.
Jake Lynch may not know the circumstances of the detention. If not, why should we pay his views any heed?
'or douse her in White Posphourous'
Do you think anyone will be convinced by disengenuous statements like that?
Such nonsense devalues her Nobel Peace Prize in particular and the Peace Prize in general.
As opposed to say giving one to Yasser Arafat... These days, the Nobel Peace Prize has no value at all.
Apropos Jake Lynch, at best he demonstrated very sloppy journalism. At worst, spreading dishonest Palestinian propaganda. The Fairfax press has been variously guilty of both in the past. Well done JF.
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