Israeli author David Grossman Responds to Flotilla Attack
by: Abby Caplin on June 3rd, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In case you haven’t see this yet, David Grossman, award-winning Israeli author and peace activist, whose son Uri was killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon, wrote this response to the flotilla attack that happened May 30, 2010:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/gaza-flotilla-attack-isral-declined
It would be really swell if everyone publishing on this incident could please either substantiate any claims with authenticated evidence or refrain from making claims such as this:
“Israel did not send its soldiers to kill civilians in cold blood; this is the last thing it wanted. Yet, a small Turkish organisation, fanatical in its religious views and radically hostile to Israel, recruited to its cause several hundred seekers of peace and justice, and managed to lure Israel into a trap, because itknew how Israel would react, knew how Israel is destined and compelled, like a puppet on a string, to react the wayit did.”
I for one am sick and tired of polemics and questionable framing. This is too important for the slipshod “journalism” and pontifications by those of the extremist ilk who have little good faith interest in anything smacking of human decency and actual honesty.
But if you go past the first paragraph you get to Grossman’s point which is this: “This assessment does not imply agreement with the motives, overt or hidden, and often malicious, of some participants in the Gaza flotilla. Not all its people are peace-loving humanitarians, and the declarations of some of them regarding the destruction of the state of Israel are criminal. But these facts are simply not relevant at the moment: such opinions do not deserve the death penalty.”
So even if we assume the worst possible about some members of the flotilla, Israel’s actions are wrong. That’s the point he’s making.
Sorry but I just can’t get past the first paragraph. It has changed my view of Grossman who I’m afraid maybe simply a propagandist.
Yes, I agree with JustJack and pangloss that this is David Grossman’s opinion, and it would have been important for him to begin with the added the words “It’s very possible that…….” or “In my opinion, I do not believe that…….”