We in Israel are sorry for what occurred in regard to the episode of the Free Gaza Flotilla.

We are sorry that lives were lost because militants on board attacked the Israeli soldiers whom they knew would board and whom they meticulously planned to attack.

We are sorry that soldiers were forced to defend their comrades who were being attacked by supposed peace activists and that some people died.

We are sorry that militants bent on violence were allowed by the Turkish government to board ships which the Turkish government knew aimed to violate Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza, endangering the lives of the hundreds of innocents on board the vessels as well as the soldiers who boarded the vessels legally and expected to meet little resistance from peace activists.

We are sorry that the Turkish government in an act of brinkmanship based in machismo has decided to jeopardize the future security and prosperity of the Turkish people, whose concerns are not well represented by this government, by refusing to admit any fault on the part of the participants in the flotilla, nor of the Turkish government for allowing it to sail, nor of the Turkish government from supporting aggressive action against its long-time ally Israel.

We are sorry that the honorable and freedom loving Turkish people are being manipulated into believing that Israelis–who have long worked in cooperation with Turks in defense of freedom and would love to do so going forward–as opposed to radical Islamists who seek to take their freedom away are the enemies of the Turkish people.

We are sorry that the Turkish government has decided to jeopardize not only its relationship with Israel, but its relationship with NATO, America specifically, and the West in general in support of opening supply routes to Hamas and other terrorist organizations located in Gaza for use against the civilian population in Israel and potentially against the Palestinian Authority.

We are indeed sorry to have to make this apology; these events should never have been allowed to happen.

Ew, there’s another picture at the link: Helen Thomas has withdrawn from the anti-AIPAC festival happening in DC at the exact same time of the AIPAC conference. Apparently, even some of the ex-Jews signing onto anti-AIPACFest can’t stomach Thomas’ anti-Semitism. Not that Medea Benjamin gives a damn, but then, any woman who would deliberately change her name to the mythological witch who murdered her children to save her lover is not exactly someone who I think can tell right from wrong.

“The conference is really to talk about –and many of us are Jews- is to work for a policy where Israel and Palestine can live together in peace and get a process started,” Benjamin, who is Jewish, said. “My values are Jewish and I believe in Compassion for all and AIPAC does not represent my Jewish values. Helen Thomas is one of 30 people who have been invited and we are a community of people who cherish Jewish values.”

Yeah. Sure. Jewish values.

I’m not anti-Jewish; I’m anti-Zionist. I am anti Israel taking what doesn’t belong to it. If you have a home and you’re kicked out of that home, you don’t come and kick someone else out. Anti-Semite? The Israelis are not even Semites! They’re Europeans, and they’ve come from somewhere else. But even if they were Semites, they would still have no right to usurp other people’s land. There are some Israelis with a conscience and a big heart, but unfortunately they are too few.

A slip of the tongue. Right.

Gul Dukat tells Israel to shut up and do what the Arabs want them to do: Gul Dukat, the prime minister of Turkey, had his PR people write an op-ed, so of course the New York Times published it. He’s not a bad guy. He just wants to help. What, his anti-Israel bent for the last several years? His support of the IHH terrorist flotilla? His constant demagoguing about Israel in Turkey? Feh. Look, he has an idea for peace. It’s the Arab peace plan, which gives the Palestinians everything they want, gives Israel nothing, and tells Israel to absorb millions of third-generation “refugees,” but hey—that’s what the Times wants to, isn’t it?

But it’s going to be peaceful: Now Fatah says they’re sending officials on the new Gaza flotilla. Officials like this:

Fatah was not part of the May 2010 flotilla. “We didn’t participate in the previous flotilla, but we supported it and the attack on Israel that followed,” said Shaath.

And still, the media will call them “peace activists.”

The IDF saves Bambi: Or Bambi’s mom. Or sister. A Palestinian was taking the doe to the PA, presumably to present them with dinner. The IDF confiscated her and got her fixed up.

Oh, look: More to hate about Obamacare. Yep. If you’re a member of the protected class (read: Labor unions), you get taxpayer money to support your people’s medical benefits when they retire early. Me? I have to support myself if I retire early. Time to end all public-sector unions. All of them. Private-sector unions will die of their own accord, eventually.

Oh, so this is what they mean by “quiet”: Only two rockets in the past three days

Former MI6 chief: What moderate Muslim Brotherhood? Ynet buried the lede in this story. So the former head of MI6 knows that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, but our own pundits and politicos just can’t see it. Good to know that our people are so easily fooled.

If he’s lost Ruth Marcus, he’s losing Liberal America: What? The Great Orator has become pedantic and repetitive? Say it ain’t so! Wow, she really skewers him. Check this out:

The false-choice dodge takes three overlapping forms. The first, a particular Obama specialty, is the false false choice. Set up two unacceptable extremes that no one is seriously advocating and position yourself as the champion of the reasonable middle ground between these unidentified straw men.

Thus, Obama on health care, stretching back to the presidential campaign: “I reject the tired old debate that says we have to choose between two extremes: government-run health care with higher taxes — or insurance companies without rules denying people coverage,” he said in 2008. “That’s a false choice.” It’s also a choice that no one — certainly no other politician — was proposing.

He’s losing his formerly adoring audience. Hope he’s losing his voters just as much.

Television footage showed the activists attacking marines with clubs, iron bars and at least one knife.

The Deutsche-Press Agenter takes the time to expand upon the commission, its reliance on video evidence, but not until after the obligatory anti-Israel five-paragraph lead. The AFP, of course, slants anti-Israel, quoting liberally from the Turks.

The Irish Times presented a very fair and objective piece. NPR used the AP story to present a fair picture that showed the breakdown of the Turkel Committee. The Independent embedded a video in its story (which also detailed the makeup of the Committee and its investigation), although of course the article is slanted as anti-Israel as they could make it. Even the Hindustan Times managed to publish an article that pointed out the international observers on the investigation, placed there to blunt attacks on the committee’s credibility.

Now compare this to the AP report of the Turkish investigation into the Mavi Marmara incident. There is no information whatsoever on the makeup of the committee. There is no mention of the makeup of the Turkish investigation, except to note that the foreign minister—who is quoted throughout the article—was on the committee. Interestingly, none of the Turkel Committee members spoke to the press. The AP story repeates the Turkish accusations uncritically, even when they are known to be untrue and contradicted by video evidence. Just look at this lead paragraph:

A Turkish committee investigating Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla has refuted Israeli claims that its soldiers acted in self-defense, saying at least two activists were killed before commandos boarded the ship and another died “execution-style” as he lay injured.

Note the language in bold. Israel’s contentions are “claims.” The word’s implied meaning is that they are not true. Of course, what Turkey “says” is taken at face value. There should be a refutation of the lie that Israel killed two “activists” before boarding the ship, but there is none.

On a side note, once again, there is a major PR fail by Israel.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he could not comment on the Turkish findings because he had not seen the report.

Palmor said Israel had submitted its own report to the U.N. and was waiting to hear “what lessons could be learned so this doesn’t happen again.”

Instead of the above, the Ministry should have been ready with its own talking points based on the Turkel Committe’s report. The tone of the AP article would be very different if it looked like, say, this (boldface is made up by me as an example of what could have been said):

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he could not comment on the Turkish findings because he had not seen the report. But he reiterated that the Turkel Committee had exonerated the IDF commandoes, saying they had acted in self-defense after being attacked by activists onboard the ship.

As an example, when the Turkel report came out, Turkey’s Islamist president made sure that he put on a big enough fuss to get picked up in his own article by the AP. The Islamists are running circles around Israel in the PR war. Let me put it this way: If words were weapons, Israel would have been defeated in the mid-70s, when the Palestinians ramped up the PR war and Israel continued to not understand how valuable the sound-bite is on television.

When the AP does finally quote the Turkel report, it does so in the last three paragraphs of the article, after repeating uncritically the ridiculous claims of the Turkish report. This one is my favorite made-up accusation:

Another activist, Cevdet Kiliclar, was killed with laser-guided weapons while taking photographs, the report said.

Always the innocent bystander excuse. None of the “activists” above decks that night were innocent. The IDF released a slew of video evidence showing the activists preparing to attack, and then attacking them. But for the AP, there’s no such thing as asking for evidence. And remember, they actually declined to accept the videos from the IDF, saying they had no way of knowing if the videos had been tampered with (which is absolutely false; videographers have excellent methods of determining the validity of a video).

This is, once again, not just media bias. This is also Israel’s problem. Israel needs to ramp up its PR department at the Foreign Ministry, at the IDF, at every office and institution so it can begin to change the anti-Israel bent of so many media stories. Or it can just stand by and watch the delegitimization of Israel, aided and abetted by the anti-Israel media.

The dominoes are falling: Tunisia, Egypt, now Yemen. This is definitely what the Chinese saying would call “interesting times.” When the dust settles, what will we have? Don’t ask me. I’m not an analyst, and I don’t play one on TV. However, I can guarantee one thing: Those three nations will still hate Israel and Jews.

Irony alert: The Russian ambassador to NATO is chiding whomever wrote the Stuxnet worm that it could have caused a Chernobyl. Hey, Russian dude? Your lousy technology DID cause a Chernobyl. It didn’t need a worm, just crappy safeguards and untrained workers. (Walking away mumbling, “asshole” to self.)

How does Turkey hate us? Let me count the ways: The wonderful former so-called ally of Israel, Turkey, scheduled the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic “Valley of the Wolves: Mavi Marmara Edition” to open on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Germany is preventing children from seeing the movie (but still allowing it to the over-18 crowd, so don’t worry, the college kids’ minds can still be poisoned against Jews), but they’re delaying the opening by a day. So they’re going to have to wait to see such things as this:

A trailer for the film shows Israeli officials planning to create a Greater Israel. When the Turkish special agent arrives at the Gaza land border from Egypt, an Israeli soldier asks him why he is coming to Israel. “I didn’t come to Israel. I came to Palestine,” he answers.

Right. Protocols of the Elders of Zion it is. I have two words for the producer of this film: Ass and hole. (Yes, that does seem to be the word for the day.)

Here’s how a friend of mine summed up the recent period:

1) Reporters accepting as fact that a woman died of tear gas inhalation despite there being no recorded cases of such an occurrence ever happening.

2) Treating the Mavi Marmara incident as Israel said/Turkey said despite video evidence supporting Israel’s version. (Not to mention a hostile witness supporting Israel’s version.)

3) Taking the Palestine Papers at face value despite the fact that they came from al-Jazira, despite every bit of evidence about PA and Israeli negotiating positions. Despite, I might add, the fact that they include alleged statements like when the Israelis say they are going to return the Golan Heights to Syria, the Palestinians reply that they will compensate Israel with more concessions.

Look at item two. There is ample video evidence and testimony that the Turks attacked the IDF before the IDF even managed to board the Mavi Marmara, and yet, the AP continues to use this boilerplate:

Israeli commandos said they opened fire in self-defense after meeting what they called unexpected resistance when they boarded the ferry carrying aid supplies to Gaza.

Or this one:

Both soldiers and activists involved in the raid have said they acted in self-defense.

Reuters issued a story about the Turkish “investigation” as if it were actual news. Once again, there are videos showing exactly what happened as the soldiers were lowered onto the helicopter. There are videos showing exactly what happened as the soldiers drew up in boats alongside. In none of these videos did the IDF fire first. In all of these videos, the Turkish “activists” attacked the soldiers before they boarded the ship. After they were on board, the “activists” tried to kill them.

15. The three soldiers testified that while they were being held below decks a large number of operatives continued the attack, including choking and beating them with iron bars and wooden clubs. That was despite the fact that the hands of two were tied and the third was having convulsions and lost consciousness several times. The three were wounded and bleeding, and in need of medical treatment (one of them had been stabbed in the stomach and was critically wounded).

16. All three testified that during the incident their lives were in danger and they felt the operatives intended to kill them. They added that some of the passengers, those who were below decks, did not participate in the attacks and that there was a more moderate group of passengers who tried to protect them.¹ They also stated that while they were being beaten below decks they were photographed many times.²

These testimonies are readily available to the media, yet they have not so much as printed a line of testimony by an IDF soldier. We heard the lies repeated about the Palestinian woman who supposedly died after inhaling teargas at a protest (she died of an overdose of medicine given by a Palestinian hospital, but of course, that was not sent around the world in thousands of headlines). But we’ve never seen an AP report that includes the following:

3) He continued, “…I was surrounded by five men, and one more who came a couple of seconds later…They beat me with iron bars…they hit me in the face with the bars, and on the head a lot. My head was protected by a helmet, and after the battle I was told that my helmet was completely shattered…I tried to use my hands to protect my face, so my hands got hit a lot, and one was broken [Note: One of his hands was found to have three broken bones and one cracked bone…]. Then a terrorist ran toward me with a knife and stabbed me in the chest as hard as he could…and all the time they kept beating me with iron bars. They beat my head, my stomach and my legs…I was hit on the head and the back of my neck a number of times and lost consciousness. The next thing I remember was regaining consciousness because of a severe pain in my knee…That was when I realized I had been shot in the knee. I also realized that my ear and head had been cut and that bones in my hand were broken…”

Instead, the AP minimized the attacks by downplaying the violence in each successive report, until now we have the wishy-washy boilerplate quoted above—the weaselly “both sides claim self-defense” line. To repeat: There is video evidence of the IHH terrorists attacking the IDF before they set foot on board the Mavi Marmara—but the standard media line is to insist that “both sides” claim self-defense.

Many bloggers and pundits constantly criticize Israel for not getting its side of the story out fast enough, for not seizing the media narrative quickly, and for not being as media-savvy as the Palestinians and their allies. But I would ask those bloggers and pundits: How the hell can Israel have an effective media strategy when the media refuse to tell the truth about the stories? The truth is right there, on effing video, and the media still hold the “both sides claim they acted in self-defense” line.

The best thing we can do, as bloggers, is continue to report what the media doesn’t. The truth is out there. Let’s make sure it gets out.

Hamas “is not a terrorist movement.”

It gets better.

During an interview, the Turkish leader said Hamas was not a terrorist group, and its members were not terrorists, but “people defending their land.”

Oh, they’re freedom fighters. Yeah. The launching of thousands of rockets after Israel left Gaza to its own devices? Defending their land. Suicide attacks? Defending their land. Murdering Israelis at the Karni Crossing? Defending their land. So, what did the AP choose to use as a description of why Israel and Turkish relations are at an all-time low? (Note the weasel words in bold, put there to place doubt in the reader’s mind that Israel is telling the truth.)

Relations between the two soured, however, with Turkey’s government’s increasingly vociferous criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. They hit an all-time low in May, when Israeli naval commandos killed nine activists from Turkey on board a Gaza-bound ship that tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade.

Israeli commandos said they opened fire in self-defense after meeting what they called unexpected resistance when they boarded the ferry carrying aid supplies to Gaza.

Interesting that they couldn’t seem to find it important enough to quote, because that is the root of all the current problems Israel is having with the Erdogan government. It’s the Islamism, stupid. It isn’t Avigdor Lieberman.

In case you’ve forgotten, you can go here to watch Erdogan attack Shimon Peres and Israel unexpectedly at the Davos forum in 2009. The deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations was long-planned and executed by Erdogan, for Islamism, and at Israel’s expense. The culmination of the deterioration was Turkish government support of the Gaza flotilla “activists,” whose “unexpected resistance” was in total contradiction to the supposedly peaceful message the international fools who started the flotilla said they wanted to convey. Turkey—via the IHH—sent the message they really wanted.

[...] When leaders of the charity returned home after nine Turks died in the Israeli raid, they were warmly embraced by top Turkish officials, said Huseyin Oruc, deputy director of the charity, who was aboard the flotilla.

“When we flew back to Turkey, I was afraid we would be in trouble for what happened, but the first thing we saw when the plane’s door opened in Istanbul was Bulent Arinc, the deputy prime minister, in tears,” he said in an interview. “We have good coordination with Mr. Erdogan,” he added. “But I am not sure he is happy with us now.”

Oh, he is, Bulent. He is.

However, the prime minister made it clear that no apology is forthcoming, and added that Israel demands that Ankara annul all legal proceedings and lawsuits against the IDF launched in the wake of the raid on the Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla.

Shorter Bibi: Hey, Erdogan! Bite me.

The awesome power of Zionists strikes again: Now the Mossad-slash-Zionists are responsible for cutting the undersea cables that knocked out Egypt’s internet. Bow to our mighty awesomeness1!111! ZOMG!

Um… what? Julian Assange could possibly get creepier, but I’m not sure how. I mean, I have to tell you, if I was alone with him and there was a sharp, pointed object within reach, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be walking out of the room and I would. Because he is super-creepy. But WTF is this supposed to mean?

Mr Assange regards himself as a victim of radicalism. “Sweden is the Saudi Arabia of feminism,” he said. “I fell into a hornets’ nest of revolutionary feminism.”

Is he seriously comparing radical feminists with the scumbags in Saudi Arabia who demand that grown women get their husband’s or father’s permission to so much as go to the effing mall? Is he trying to say that Swedish feminists are like the Saudi Islamists? Because both comparisons are detestable and loathsome, just like—creepy Julian. (Actually, if he was alone with me and got all creepy, I’d just shoot him. I have guns.)

So does this mean the Garden of Eden was in Israel? Geez, they have to stop confusing me. Just when I’ve pretty much wrapped my brain around Adam and Eve somewhere in what is now Iraq, they go and find a bunch of teeth in Israel that are older than any other human remains on record. Or so they say. It remains to be seen if the remains are human. Betcha five bucks the Palestinians will insist this is proof that Palestinians were there before Israelis.

Lieberman called Turkey’s demand for an apology over the IDF raid on the Marmara, in which nine Turkish civilians died, “beyond rude”. He also said lies were being heard from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “who visits Lebanon and threatens the State of Israel”.

Lieberman’s comments led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce that the foreign minister’s views do not reflect that of the Israeli government, and that only Netanyahu can express official state opinions. A Likud minister added to this that Lieberman “must be out of his mind”.

When the PM of Turkey says that his country will stand with Lebanon in case of another war with Israel, you have to ask: What’s wrong with Lieberman calling him out on it?

“I heard the lies and false promises made by the foreign minister who said, ‘Look, we are ready to cooperate with Israel, look at how we came to help Israel with the fire in the Carmel and in our stead they would not have done the same.’ I want to remind him of the earthquake in 2007, when we sent delegations which were there for weeks. We worked and heard not a word,” Lieberman said.

I’m glad someone’s calling a lie a lie. The Turks are lying to the world, to their country, and to the media. And the lies are, as usual, uncritically reported by the mainstream media.

Someone’s got to tell the truth. It may as well be Crazy Uncle Avigdor.

The activists, mostly members of pro-Islamic groups, waved Palestinian and Turkish flags and chanted “down with Israel” and “Allah is great” as they greeted the vessel. Protesters also boarded boats to welcome the approaching ship, which was adorned with a poster of the nine activists from Turkey who were killed during the raid.

What the AP doesn’t tell you:

He added: “I ask God to return Jerusalem to us and fight for the shahids.” He also asked that God “take revenge on the killers” and called for “death to Israel,” saying they will fight till their last breath until they take over Jerusalem.

What the AP reports:

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants Sunday along the Gaza-Israel border, where a sudden surge in violence has weakened an unofficial truce in place since Israel’s bruising 2009 war there.

[...] But violence flared several weeks ago, and on Saturday, Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers warned they would escalate hostilities against Israel if tensions didn’t subside.

What the AP doesn’t tell you:

Nearly 30 rockets and mortars have been fired toward Israel over the past week.

What the AP reports:

Turkey’s foreign minister said Saturday that his country wants improved ties with Israel but added that Israel must apologize and offer compensation for its deadly raid on a Gaza Strip-bound aid flotilla.

[...] Israeli commandos said they opened fire in self-defense after meeting what they called unexpected resistance when they boarded the ferry carrying aid supplies to Gaza.

What the AP doesn’t tell you:

“We fully intend to go to Gaza regardless of any intimidation or threats of violence against us,” Arraf said. “They are going to have to forcefully stop us.”

Or show you.