Gaza flotilla hijacked by radicals

AMSTERDAM -- Whatever one thinks about Israel's raid on the so-called Freedom Flotilla, one point should stand beyond dispute: The term ``peace activist'' does not apply to some of the key organizers and participants in the pro-Palestinian sea voyage to challenge Israel's Gaza blockade. The evidence mounts each day that militant opponents of peace played a key role in what transpired that terrible night on the Mediterranean.

Evidence from a number of European capitals confirms that, although legitimate peace activists were part of the group, the anti-blockade project was hijacked by radicals whose ultimate objectives do not include visions of peace or coexistence.

Here in the Netherlands, intelligence analysts have dusted off the well-worn file of Amin Abou Rashed, a Palestinian with Dutch citizenship, detained by Israelis during the raid at sea. Rashed's thickly bearded face graces an even thicker dossier. One of the flotilla's principal organizers, Rashed belongs to the radical Islamic Brotherhood and helped run the Al-Aqsa Foundation until Dutch authorities froze its assets accusing it of supporting terrorist activities by Hamas, which now runs the Gaza strip.

It was clear that pristine peace-loving goals did not drive the leaders of this operation. Consider that before the group set out to sea, the parents of Gilad Shalit -- the young Israeli soldier held in captivity for four years by Hamas -- asked that the purported humanitarians help get a package to him and help persuade Hamas to allow the Red Cross to visit. In exchange for help for their son, Shalit's parents offered to lend their support to their call to end the Gaza blockade. These humanitarians wanted no part of the deal.

According to Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a former French anti-terrorism judge, the main organizer of the flotilla, the Turkish group IHH, ``has clear, long-standing ties to terrorism.'' Bruguiere linked IHH to a 1999 Al-Qaida plot to bomb the Los Angeles airport. These people are not pacifists. They are not supporters of a two-state solution and of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. They embrace the view that Israel should not exist and they wanted to do their part to make that goal a reality. They were not humanitarians seeking to strike a blow for peace.

As I wrote before, Israeli authorities should not have been surprised by the violent reception they got upon boarding the Mavi Marmara ship. I firmly believe this dismal failure of intelligence and planning was a terrible error in Israel's part, and one for which it is paying a damaging price.

Proof of the militants' far-from-peaceful intentions was all over the Internet long before departure, with their calls for attacking ``the Jews'' broadcast on Al Jazeera. Already organizers have admitted to shooting at Israeli soldiers. Bulent Yildirim, one of the leaders, admitted they took the soldiers' firearms as the Israelis stormed the ship. After using them against the soldiers, he revealed, they threw the weapons in the sea. Israelis say that on the ship's deck they also found spent cartridges, fired bullets from weapons they do not carry.

These zealots were prepared for a fight, and for all the anti-Israel publicity that would bring. Many boasted of seeking ``martyrdom.'' That was their plan and they apparently achieved their goal.

Today, as Hamas maintains its position of seeking Israel's destruction, these supporters of Hamas' objectives are receiving heroes' welcomes, and the world's most despicable regimes again stand in judgment of Israel.

Israel's actions deserve close scrutiny, there's no question about that. But it is nothing short of obscene that the malodorous U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution sponsored by the likes of Sudan, Iran and Libya condemning Israel. Sudan, Iran and Libya: one country has perpetrated genocide on its own people; another executes pro-democracy demonstrators and gay men in the streets; all three brutalize anyone who dares to oppose them. These regimes commit excesses just for the sake of maintaining power.

An honest critic of Israel must recognize, at the very least, that the country's actions are motivated by a need to defend itself. Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians. It is trying by all means possible to acquire weapons from Iran, which is pushing forward with a nuclear program even as it waxes rhapsodic about the desirability of ``a world without Israel.''

So, whatever you think about how Israel handled the incoming flotilla, don't call the participants humanitarian activists. Some of them might have been well intentioned, but they were merely the passengers, a cover for the people who planned to fight pitched battles against Israeli soldiers. The militants were the ones with their hands on the rudder.

Don't call them peace activists.