I hope they are not seriously considering this:
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday.
"Iran’s Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei’s representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Any intervention by the Iranian military would be considered highly provocative by Israel which accuses Iran of supplying weapons to Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza.
Iran does not recognize the Israeli state and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often predicted its imminent demise.
Israel and its ally the United States decline to rule out military action against Iran if it looks like acquiring nuclear arms capability, something Israel sees as a threat to its survival.
Tehran says its nuclear program is for energy generation and medical purposes and calls its nuclear-armed adversaries hypocrites for trying to block its technological progress.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA said Sunday Iran would try to send humanitarian aid to Gaza in ships under an Iranian flag. It said Iran had decided to ditch previous plans to send its aid in ships flying the flag of another state.
"The Iranian humanitarian assistance will include foodstuffs, medicines and medical equipment," the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Abdolraouf Abidzadeh, was quoted as saying. He gave no more details… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Raw Story>
Personally, given Iran’s track record where Israel is concerned, I speculate that Iran’s goal here is to further destabilize the Middle East by provoking Israel to commit another atrocity.
However, even if Iran’s intentions are completely humanitarian and altruistic, It would be insane for activists, trying to get humanitarian supplies to Gaza and break Israel’s cruel blockade, to accept either armed Iranian troops or relief ships under an Iranian flag. Either virtually guarantees a violent reaction from Israel. It would be like wearing an “I love Obama” T-shirt to an open-carry machine gun party hosted by Teabaggers.
While I believe Israel’s blockade to starve out Gaza should be opposed and challenged at every opportunity, this approach can only exacerbate an already ugly situation.
4 Responses to “Gaza Activists Must Reject Iran’s Offer”
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I disagree – if the Iranians are purely acting out of humanitarian needs as they say, then they should help these aid ships go through the blockade. (Not that I trust them on this but…) I would be a big ‘fuck you’ to Israel, but they’ve been acting like pirates anyway. Yes, it could destabilize that region more, but I don’t think that Israel would be stupid enough to fuck with the Iranians; if they were, it would be solely on Israel’s part. And someone has to stand up to the Israelis – if it has to be Iran, than so be it. Israel has no legal right to board ships in international waters and by doing so, they put themselves in this position. Gaza is a legal republic and should be able to receive aid without interference.
Lisa, here’s our only point of disagreement. You don’t think Isreal’s leaders are stupid enough to attack the Iranians. I think they are crazy enough to do so. That’s the reason for my opposition.
I have a feeling the ships from Iran will be fired upon, and it will not make Israel look bad in the eyes of the world.
On a happy note. I am glad Helen Thomas spoke her mind when she said “tell Israel to get the hell out of Palestine”.
http://www.pafundi.com
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Number of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5466
Ted, I’m afraid we disagree on this one. I wish she had ended her long career on a note more fitting the nobility of her service over the years.
I fully support the existance of both Jewish and Muslim states in Palestine.