In , Gideon Levy of writes under the headline “Gaza flotilla drives Israel into a sea of stupidity” that the … The Israeli propaganda machine has reached new highs in its hopeless frenzy. It has distributed menus from Gaza restaurants, along with false information. It embarrassed itself by entering a futile public relations battle, which it might have been better off never starting. They want to maintain the ineffective, illegal and unethical siege on Gaza and not let the “peace flotilla” dock off the Gaza coast? There is nothing to explain, certainly not to a world that will never buy the web of explanations, lies and tactics. Only in Israel do people still accept these tainted goods … And all of this in the face of what? A few hundred international activists, mostly people of conscience whose reputation Israeli propaganda has sought to besmirch. They are really mostly people who care, which is their right and obligation, even if the siege doesn’t concern us at all. Yes, this flotilla is indeed a political provocation, and what is protest action if not political provocation? And facing them on the seas has been the Israeli ship of fools, floating but not knowing where or why. Why detain people? That’s how it is. Why a siege? That’s how it is. It’s like the Noam Chomsky affair all over again, but big time this time. Of course the peace flotilla will not bring peace, and it won’t even manage to reach the Gaza shore. The action plan has included dragging the ships to Ashdod port, but it has again dragged us to the shores of stupidity and wrongdoing. Again we will be portrayed not only as the ones that have blocked assistance, but also as fools who do everything to even further undermine our own standing. If that was one of the goals of the peace flotilla’s organizers, they won big yesterday.
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Bradley Burston, writes in under the headline “A Special Place in Hell / The Second Gaza War: Israel lost at sea that the people were no longer defending Israel, but now defending the siege, which is itself becoming Israel's Vietnam. He writers … A war tells a people terrible truths about itself. That is why it is so difficult to listen. We were determined to avoid an honest look at the first Gaza war. Now, in international waters and having opened fire on an international group of humanitarian aid workers and activists, we are fighting and losing the second. For Israel, in the end, this Second Gaza War could be far more costly and painful than the first. In going to war in Gaza in late 2008, Israeli military and political leaders hoped to teach Hamas a lesson. They succeeded. Hamas learned that the best way to fight Israel is to let Israel do what it has begun to do naturally: bluster, blunder, stonewall, and fume. Hamas, and no less, Iran and Hezbollah, learned early on that Israel's own embargo against Hamas-ruled Gaza was the most sophisticated and powerful weapon they could have deployed against the Jewish state. Here in Israel, we have still yet to learn the lesson: We are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel's Vietnam…
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Meanwhile the trotted the official line with statements from Defense Minister Ehud Barak under the headline “Barak: Flotilla organizers to blame,” in which the minister said that “while he was sorry for lives lost, the organizers of the Gaza-bound protest flotilla were solely responsible for the outcome of the fatal IDF raid earlier in the day. Fifteen activists were killed and dozens wounded in the violent clashes. Barak said that the soldiers tried to disperse the activists aboard the ship peacefully but were forced to open fire to protect themselves.”
The report also stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in Canada where he is currently on an official visit, that he "fully supported the IDF operation."
Also in the report were statements from IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who said that the violence was instigated by those aboard the ships and that soldiers who opened fire were defending themselves, while Israeli Navy commander Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom said Monday that IDF soldiers that raided Mavi Marmara acted with "perseverance and bravery." The report also quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that the flotilla of ships "was an armada of hate and violence."
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But had a totally new spin on the brutal assault on the flotilla, blaming the public relations officials for screwing up again and allowing their (Israel’s) opponents to take over the PR arena. In the article titled “Israeli PR disaster, again,” Roni Sofer writes … Whoever stayed up late Sunday night was able to view the drama that took place at sea via a live broadcast. The popular Al-Jazeera network and mostly the website used by the Gaza flotilla activists showed Navy commandos raiding the “anti-blockade” ships. The images were accompanied with the voices of activists and Hamas spokesmen who repeatedly condemned Israel over what goes on in Gaza and elsewhere. Only one voice went silent – Israel. Until the press conference held by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon at 10:30 a.m., more than six hours after the incident started, Israel did not issue even one official response to the grave events. Even in Ayalon’s press conference, which was indeed opened in English, there was barely any foreign media presence. The few people that made it did not present any questions … Did Israel’s public relationship establishment fall asleep again?
