Israel Deports Activists, Media Deports Context
"Seven Australian citizens...detained in an Israeli prison after being arrested as part of the pro-Palestinian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza have been deported to Jordan," reports The Guardian. This sentence, perfectly factual, perfectly sanitized, neatly sidesteps the internationally recognized illegal blockade of Gaza, which creates the very need for these aid flotillas. Israel’s 'right' to
intercept humanitarian vessels in international waters, effectively turning the Mediterranean Sea into an extension of its siege, is presented as an unchallenged prerogative. It's almost as if the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, where Israeli commandos killed nine unarmed activists on an aid ship, never happened. One might wonder why a floating convoy delivering basic necessities is treated with the
same urgency as an invading armada. The "international community" (read: governments influenced by powerful lobbies like AIPAC, which spent $3.5 million lobbying in 2023, according to OpenSecrets.org) consistently rubber-stamps Israel's actions as defensive, even when those actions involve blockading 2.3 million people for seventeen years. How many times must aid convoys be intercepted, and
activists detained, before the global media questions the legitimacy of the blockade itself, rather than just the 'detainment procedures'?