A boycott of Israeli goods is now necessary

They were not, as Israel's defence minister Ehud Barack ludicrously tried to claim, "an armada of hate and violence".

Nor was the Mavi Marmara "a boat of hate", as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the Turkish ship, trying to justify his commandos gunning down nine civilians on board as they stormed the boat in international waters.

But Netanyahu was right on one count. "This was not a love boat."

The Free Gaza flotilla has been classed by some as a bunch of well-meaning but misguided hippy activists who want to spread peace and love and do not understand the delicate balances of power within the Middle East region.

The movement is far from that, and legitimately so.

These are well-informed, sincere and highly-motivated people who have come together from across the globe to muster the refreshing force of people power. They know that, in the absence of any meaningful moves at governmental level to force Israel to dismantle its illegal blockade of Gaza and to pressurise both Palestine and Israel to take part in peace talks, 1.6 million inhabitants of Gaza will continue to live in desperate conditions, their access to food and supplies reliant on the whim of the Israeli authorities.

The flotilla carried a humanitarian cargo, but it was ultimately, and powerfully, political.

The Free Gaza organisation knows full well that action to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860, which calls on Israel to dismantle the blockade of Gaza, will never happen because the blockade is a product of the very foreign policy these countries promote.

It knows that neither the US nor Europe will do anything to pressurise Israel into meaningful talks with Palestinian leaders which, now that the Palestinian Authority has lost all authority in the Gaza strip, must include Hamas in some context.

As a result, the flotilla could not simply offload its cargo at the Israeli port of Ashdod and hand over the aid. It could never be merely a humanitarian mission. The boats had to publicly challenge the blockade itself in order to highlight its illegality and its effect on the people of Gaza.

The mistake Israel made was to act against the citizens of 40 different friendly nations, including many high-profile individuals, in the same way as it generally reacts to those who oppose it in Lebanon or Gaza – with lethal force.

The Israelis will absorb the body blows of international anger. They will try to justify the killings with talk of self defence. They will continue spinning the fiction that the Israeli commandos who opened fire on the people defending themselves were actually the victims. They will talk about unproven links to al-Qaeda and will raise the menace of Iranian weapons.

But there is no doubt that last week's use of overwhelming force has left them unusually isolated.

John Ging, the UN's representative in the besieged Gaza says the Mavi Marmara killings have "exposed the failure of the international community to match its words with deeds".

The initial response has been promising. Britain's condemnation of the killings was unexpectedly trenchant, with the new foreign secretary William Hague calling for an end to the illegal blockade. The EU, as a whole, was disappointingly more muted, but still condemnatory. Turkey is now, of course, a foe rather than an ally. Ireland may be relatively powerless as a small nation, but Micheál Martin has been assiduous in describing conditions in Gaza to his European colleagues since he became the first EU foreign minister to go there. He is an articulate opponent of injustice and could argue persuasively for the suggestion by aid agency Trócaire that Israel's privileged trading position within Europe be withdrawn until the blockade is lifted. The beginnings of a change in unconditional support from the US also seem to be taking root.

The power of a people's movement lies in its ability to challenge national or international policies that are inherently unjust.

The Rachel Corrie, acting as a second wave of protest, was genuinely feared by the Israelis because of its highly-charged symbolic power. A boat loaded with humanitarian aid and carrying an Irish nobel laureate, Mairéad Maguire, and the United Nations' former deputy secretary general Denis Halliday, could not be confronted aggressively by gun-toting commandos. By all accounts, yesterday's seizure of the ship as it sailed close to the Gaza shore was a completely different operation to Monday's massacre.

But Israel cannot prevent wave after wave of similar protests. The people's movement has made enforcement of the blockade not just "unsustainable" to use Hillary Clinton's phrase, but indefensible.

These activists are showing that individuals can make a difference and that when an issue has international popular support, symbols take on a political power of their own.

While everyone cannot join a convoy, there are times when it's not enough to know that citizens of Gaza are suffering at the hands of a country that is supposed to be our friend.

A boycott of Israeli goods by Irish people may seem like gesture politics, but it could achieve two aims. It would show solidarity with the people of Gaza and it would also register collective displeasure at what the Israelis are doing.

Nelson Mandela told the Dunnes strikers, who made a great personal sacrifice during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, that their gesture kept him going while in prison.

The activists who took part in the Free Gaza flotilla may be regarded by some as extremists, and by others as do-gooders who should mind their own business. But most of us who do nothing should remember that it is generally when injustice remains unchallenged that it persists.

June 6, 2010

Comments

#1 Mossy Heneberry commented, on June 6, 2010 at 6:48 p.m.:

Lets boycott all Israeli companies established in Ireland. Let's boycott Sky, as they use security software made by Israeli companies. Also ditch your mobile phones because a lot of software your phone uses, is made by Israeli companies or should we stick to potatoes and jaffa cakes?

#2 Sean Murphy commented, on June 6, 2010 at 10:56 p.m.:

I refuse to buy anything produced in Israel. Let us not forget that this is a state that was formed by armed terrorists and has used terrorism against its neighbours and the indigenous Palestinian people in the 62 years of its history. Let us show that terrorism be not rewarded.

#3 martin commented, on June 7, 2010 at 6:34 p.m.:

Our state was formed by armed terrorists too, if you want to look at it that way. In fact, not only that, but the forces who fought their war of independence looked for examples to our war of independence.

I don't want to push the parallel, but demonizing Israel, the only functioning democratic state in the Middle East, seems to make no sense.

#4 Sean Murphy commented, on June 7, 2010 at 11:36 p.m.:

Our state cannot be compared to Israel. Our population is and was the native population of this country, whereas the "freedom fighters" of Israel
were European terrorists (the Irgun,etc)
who made war against the indigenous Palestinian people, overrunning their country. Some of the early deeds of this "democratic" state were the attack and bombing of a Jordanian water supply project in 1952 and the attack on Egypt in 1956 provoking the Suez crisis.

#5 Sean commented, on June 9, 2010 at 3:36 p.m.:

We should be sympathetic to indigenous people being illegally displaced by colonists.
Israel declared a sovereign state within the boundaries of USGA res 181 in 1948. They have no rights to anything else. Within Israel, they promised equality, irrespective of race or religion, they promised to be bound by international laws. They have thus far ignored 221 UNSC resolutions to act in a legal, decent and humane manner. They have shown themselves to be despicable abusers of defenseless people. There must come and end to this and western politicians in general need to be damned for their complicity.
As the saying goes, money talks, BS walks. Sanctions will be listened too, even Israeli's know which side their bread is buttered on. Israel should be a democratic and leading light in the middle east, rather than a brutal bully boy.

#6 Ben commented, on June 9, 2010 at 3:54 p.m.:

Martin seems to think that Israel is a democratic state. Whilst they might hold elections, they also define their state on a demographic achieved via ethnic-cleansing and even keep their own non-Jewish citizens confined to residency on a few percent of the country. This is not to mention of course the five million Palestinians who live under fascistic military law since '67. BOYCOTT ISRAEL NOW!

#7 zees commented, on June 10, 2010 at 9:45 a.m.:

We really need to boycott Israel.As a respectable irish nation ,we should support humanity.

#8 Lulu Iman commented, on June 10, 2010 at 11:48 a.m.:

I do not see how anyone with a knowledge of what a working democracy is, can say that Israel is one. Apartheid is not a democracy. Threatening your citizens with deportation to Gaza (admitting by the way that it is a prison), threatening to strip your citizens of their citizenship, and depriving your citizens of free speech is not democratic by any stretch of the imagination. I can not imagine the UK passing laws that their citizens can not criticise the governments actions, or even those from other countries can not criticise, or it will be a crime. I can not imagine the UK or any other democracy forcing any segment of society to sign loyalty documents or be deported, or imprisoned. Gaza is an open air prison where the vast majority of over 50 percent are children under the age of 18, but they are being treated worse than animals, they have been stripped of all their rights. They are forced to live under the worst conditions reminiscent of the Warsaw ghetto and Israel lies about the conditions of the people. How can you take Israel's word for it, when they do not allow journalists inside Gaza, and constantly call the NGO's liars? I know who I believe, and it isn't Israel. I have already began to boycott Israeli goods, and if you are compassionate, and use your logic about who is right or wrong, so will you. Bar codes for Israeli products begin with 729, so read your products carefully. Look up which companies support Israel on Google.
By the way, you might also be interested to know that Israel is now trying to pass a law that will mean that those advocating and inciting a boycott of Israel will be open to prosecution, and they are trying to make that world wide. Who do they think they are?

#9 Abraham commented, on June 10, 2010 at 7:03 p.m.:

Hey Martin,

I think Lebanon is more a democratic state than Israel. They at least open their ears to the opposition, not kill them and restrict them.

And I second Ben and S. Murphy.

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