Hamas did not organise this Flotilla, nor was there a Hamas flag flying above any of these vessels. So bringing Hamas into this is a red herring.
International human rights law protects the right to life, and the UN has strict guidelines on the response by military and police in law enforcement situations. The use of violence is prohibited unless it is strictly necessary, and the use of lethal force can only be justified in self-defence or to protect life. International law also requires that any use of force is proportionate. There is also the question of the violation of international maritime law by Israel. The flotilla was around 80 miles from Gaza's coast when Israeli commandos boarded. The army did not use Proportionate force. The soldiers were not trained to handle the situation.They were not supposed to board the vessel given its location, blockade or no blockade. There were several alternative options rather than use of Military Force and a Military style Commando raid on these vessels which were known to be full of civilians on a humanitarian mission. There was callous and wanton disregard for human life by the Israeli forces. You have what? 19 civilians..CIVILIANS..Dead. Not HAMAS operatives, or armed militants, or terrorists. CIVILIANS. DEAD. I don't see how you can justify that by talking about Self Defence. On 31 May 2010 15:51, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > Wasn't there an attempted attack by Hamas personnel only last week? > There was also a few attempted missile strikes from within Gaza on > Israeli territory over the few weeks. > > So WTF is Israel supposed to do, roll over and play dead? > > Israel has the right of self defense. Period end of story. The legal > definition of a blockade is that all vessels attempting to penetrate > the blockade must be stopped or it is not considered a blockade. The > response may have been excessive, though from all I've been reading I > doubt it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:319787 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
