The latest assault on Israel is the Rachel Corrie, a ship owned by the same Free Gaza movement that co-sponsored the last flotilla with the Turkish IHH.
At present the ship is about 100 miles away from the 25 mile line in Gaza and expected to arrive about 7 AM tomorrow, local time.
The ship is crewed by about 20 people as opposed to the huge crowd on the Marmara, and a number of them are Irish nationals who are Palestinian groupies.
Among them are Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Denis Halliday, a former UN assistant secretary-general...both of whom, shall we say, are noted for their anti-Israel sentiments.
Irish Foreign Minister, Dr. Michael Martin earlier reached an agreement with Israel, whereby the Rachel Corrie would proceed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where its contents could be checked, unloaded and then shipped to Gaza under observation of representatives of the 'activists', the UN and the Irish government.
The Free Gaza people on the ship rejected this offer, insisting on sailing to Gaza to break the Israeli blockade. According to the Irish FM, they also stated b that they would not resist the IDF if it boards the ship.
I'm sure they're telling the truth, aren't you...just like the last batch.
The Israeli government has made it crystal clear that the blockade of Gaza to make sure arms aren't shipped to Hamas will remain in force.
"I want to once again deliver a message that has been delivered in both public and private channels to the Rachel Corrie ship heading toward Gaza," Foreign Ministry Director General Yossi Gal said in a statement he released to the press.
"We have no desire for a confrontation," said Gal. "We have no desire to board the ship. If the ship decides to sail the port of Ashdod, then we will ensure its safe arrival and will not board it," he said.
"Israel is prepared to receive the ship and to offload its contents. After an inspection to ensure that no weapons and war materials are on board, we are prepared to deliver all of the goods to Gaza," Gal said.
"Representative of the people on board and relevant NGOs are welcome to accompany the goods to the crossings," he said.
The Free Gaza people rejected this out of hand, and reiterated that their mission was to break the blockade.
The ship may be small enough so that its rudder can be easily disabled and then towed into Ashdod. Otherwise, the Israelis are going to have to board it.Letting it get close to th e25 milelimit would probably be a good idea,although as I've mentioned before, there's no free space for blockade runners.
We'll see what develops.
This time however,let's hope they put these people on trial for aiding and abetting terrorism.
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