Greece proves it: no massacre needed to stop a Flotilla

I wish to be clear about one thing: this is article is NOT a compliment to the Greek government. Greece has played a treacherous role in the recent Freedom Flotilla saga , and undoubtedly had long decided to stop the boats before it actually implemented its slavish role in maintaining the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Despite the long history of close relations between the Greek and Palestinian people, the current government that rules Greece has apparently decided to switch sides. Based on strong popular support for the Palestinian cause among the Greek population, it is safe to assume that most Greeks must at least have been quite uncomfortable with their government’s decision.

It is not too far-fetched to assume that the dire financial straits Greece is finding itself in, have played an important role in deciding how to deal with the second Freedom Flotilla. Cyprus was clear from the beginning, undoubtedly under UN/US/EU/Israeli pressure as well: the Flotilla was not welcome there.

Greece on the other hand, saw an opportunity. How about allowing the ships to dock first, using the Flotilla as a form of blackmail, and then stopping the boats at the very last moment to gain the acclaim of the superpowers, most significantly that of Netanyahu and his thugs? Why not be a ‘hero’ to ‘Israel’, the US, and the European Union, when such an opportunity presents itself?

Surely, knowing the international financial network of the IMF and the World Bank, one could at least expect this to have a positive effect on the Greeks’ financial position and its opportunities to improve it. The Greek government has apparently made its choice between standing up for humanitarian issues, and watching their own wallets. The fact that Greece apparently deemed it insufficient to have stopped a humanitarian flotilla, but has also decided to prosecute the captain of the ‘Audacity of Hope’ for no understandable reason at all, illustrates that this has nothing to do with justice or with rules, but is all about politics.

Nevertheless, with all their sucking up to Israeli interests for their own gains, the Greeks have unknowingly played a quite negative role for Israel as well. Greece has namely demonstrated that stopping a Flotilla requires no bloody violence and murders whatsoever, contrary to the mind-boggling atrocities that were committed by the Israeli navy in the Mavi Marmara massacre of 2010.

Therefore, if the discussion ever arises again, don’t hesitate to throw in this argument. If (pro-)Zionists again start trying to present the murderous Israeli intervention in the 2010 Flotilla as ‘inevitable’, we now have the Greek intervention of 2011 to prove that there was no need whatsoever for the Israeli Navy to murder 9 unarmed activists in 2010.

Doc Jazz