Sunday July 3, 2011

I've Been Thinking:

The Gaza flotilla has been on the minds of many this weekend.

The Greek government boarded and then turned back a ship headed out of their harbor for Gaza. On Friday, armed commandos stormed the ship to turn it back. And then on Saturday the captain of the ship was arrested by the Greek authorities.

For hundreds of years the code of the sea captain has been handed down from generation to generation. It is the moral and legal responsibility of every captain to do everything they can to maintain the safety of his passengers.

Greece charged the flotilla captain as violating that code. He was charged with endangering his passengers - a serious crime by any standard.

The activists trying to break into Gaza claim it is all politics. They say that Greece is "doing the bidding of the Israelis." The decision of the Greeks to turn back the ship might actually be in Israel's interests, but it is also an issue of safety.

The flotilla is an aggressive act against Israel. Now, especially, when the Gaza border with Egypt is open, there is now no international legal footing for any humanitarian group breaking through Israeli territorial waters with a ship.

Greece was correct to stop the flotilla.

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