Legal Commentary

Gaza Blockade Violence News You May Have Missed

By David Bernstein

Reading the news this morning, I got a big dose of he said/she said, with Israeli spokesmen claiming that its naval personnel were attacked with clubs and knives, perhaps even live fire, from one of the ?peace activist? boats, and spokesmen for the blockade runners claiming, for example to the New York Times, that they would never, ever, engage in any violence.

So it would be easy enough to miss what I found to be the most relevant information, from the Washington Post:?Short video clips broadcast on various television stations showed demonstrators clubbing the navy personnel with metal bars and showed at least one soldier firing.?

I have my doubts about the wisdom of Israel?s blockade of Gaza, and there was obviously an operational/intelligence failure that led to Israel?s naval commandos having to open fire to defend themselves, giving the other side a propaganda victory. But it does appear that the physical violence started from the other side, which to begin with had the rather unhumanitarian mission of aiding Hamas.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on May 31, 2010 (boomark / email).