Israel Deports Lifesaving Aid, Calls it 'Provocation'
Al-Monitor reports Israel deported 29 more activists from an aid flotilla, calling their attempt to deliver aid to blockaded Gaza a 'provocation.' This narrative conveniently ignores that Israel's 17-year blockade itself is a collective punishment, deemed illegal under international law. In 2010, the Mavi Marmara flotilla, also attempting to break the blockade, resulted in Israeli forces killing
ten unarmed civilians. The UN's Palmer Report found that while Israel's blockade was legal, its use of force was 'excessive and unreasonable'—a distinction often lost in translation when discussing humanitarian aid. So, delivering food and medicine to a starving population under illegal blockade is a 'provocation,' but starving them isn't? One might wonder how many 'provocations' will occur before
the international community decides that delivering necessities to besieged civilians is not, in fact, a hostile act, but a moral imperative. Or perhaps AIPAC hasn't greenlit that particular talking point yet.