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Thursday, 7 July 2011

A Greek Tragedy: Seizing the Gaza Flotilla on Israel’s Orders


Greek coastguards stand in front of the Canadian boat Tahrir after forcing it back to port. Photograph: Reuters

Why? Because Israel demands it and when Israel demands the U.S. is right behind it carrying its big stick.

by Mohamed Khodr

Greece’s relationship with Israel suddenly improved after Israel’s murderous attack on the Turkish ship a year ago which led to a souring of the long good relations between Israel and Turkey. As a result, Israel, the bulimic opportunist that eats, chews, and spits nations at will; looked to take advantage of Greece, Turkey’s historical enemy.

The odyssey and fate of eight ships, part of the Gaza Flotilla, that carry peaceful human rights activists and journalists along with a limited cargo of food, medicine, and letters from well wishers from around the world horrified by the four year Israeli imposed siege of 1.5 million Palestinians in the world’s largest open air prison, has become more tragic than any Greek tragedy

The Greek government, not the honorable people of Greece, seized the eight ships bound for Gaza that that were docked in a Greek port preventing them from sailing to answer the cry and call of hungry Gazan children.

Why? Because Israel demands it and when Israel demands the U.S. is right behind it carrying its big stick to whip any nation into a total submission to Israel; after all why should it be the lone nation to do so?

Greece, the founding state of democracy, succumbed to Israel and its wealthy powerful lobbies who demanded that Greece must stop this Flotilla if it wishes to see one dime of a bailout to save its economic hide.

In addition Greece illegally arrested Captain John Klusmire, an American citizen, of the ship “The Audacity of Hope” for daring to guide the vessel with American citizens, including the famed American author, Alice Walker, journalists and crew to deliver more hope than food to besieged and forgotten Gaza.

As expected when any issue deals with Israel, the U.S. Government abandons its Constitution, Bill of Rights, International Law, Human Rights, and even the security of its citizens if they are arrested, killed, or deported by Israel or for Israel’s sake.

Like its silence and shirk of responsibility to investigate Israel’s deliberate murder of another American citizen, Furkan Dorgan, 19, aboard the Turkish vessel the Mavi Marva on May 31, 2010 when Israeli commandos boarded the ship in international waters killing nine innocent civilians who simply sought to deliver aid to Gaza. The IDF riddled their bodies with over 30 bullets.

Obama was content to let Israel investigate itself on this massacre and even blocked the U.N. from carrying out its own investigation. Surprisingly, the Israeli commission found Israel acted properly.
More shocking was that the U.S. rather than condemning and demanding the release of Captain John Klusmire, as it does routinely when other nations detain American citizens, especially Iran, the State Department issued a warning that American citizens taking part in the flotilla may “violate U.S. civil and criminal statues” against “conspiring to deliver material support” to terrorist organizations like Hamas. Additionally two Jewish members of Congress demanded that such citizens be prosecuted because Israel’s blockade of a terrorist territory is absolutely legal.

Thus as America celebrates its July 4th Independence Day, an American citizen languishes in a Greek jail and all U.S. citizens who dare speak and challenge Israel’s hegemony over the United States maybe subject to the ire and wrath of Israel’s lobby, AIPAC, and by extension the U.S. Congress and the White House.

For decades the Greek people and governments have understood, sympathized, and supported the Palestinian’s right to self determination often condemning Israel’s brutal occupation, siege, and numerous military attacks.

Greece’s relationship with Israel suddenly improved after Israel’s murderous attack on the Turkish ship a year ago which led to a souring of the long good relations between Israel and Turkey. As a result, Israel, the bulimic opportunist that eats, chews, and spits nations at will; looked to take advantage of Greece, Turkey’s historical enemy.

Greece is in such desperate financial and social meltdown that it sought Israel’s strategic influence and relationship with the west that it willingly submitted to Israel’s demand to halt the Gaza Flotilla. Netanyahu became the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit Athens and most likely offered the usual carrot and stick approach to persuade Greece to stop the flotilla to Gaza.

Most likely Netanyahu told the Greek Prime Minister:
Stop the Flotilla at any cost and rest assured that we will provide you with western loans to save your country, a military partnership to train and strengthen your army, and a gas pipeline to meet your energy needs. He most surely brought up the half billion dollars of trade with Israel thereby implying another threat to the collapsing Greek economy.
Thus the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, in total economic desperation and with few friends in Europe jumped on the Israeli bandwagon and surrendered all the noble work of his famous father, Andreas Papandreou, Greece’s most beloved politician, on issues such as freedom, self determination, human rights, peace and justice.

Andreas Papandreou strongly supported the cause of Palestinian liberation, met repeatedly with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and condemned Israeli policies in the occupied territories.

What would the father think of a son who betrays his ideals and principles for a few shekels and an opportunity to temporarily lift a collapsing economy with western loans that come with very stringent and painful strings that will only further inflame the suffering Greek population.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has dishonored Greece’s noble history when in 1947 it courageously withstood American pressure and was among the 13 nations that voted against U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 that illegally partitioned Palestine into two states, a Jewish and a Palestinian State. With terrorism and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians Israel was established on foreign land, while the Palestinians are still imprisoned and occupied by Greece’s new found “friend”. The Palestinians since 1947 are still waiting for their State.

Like a Greek tragedy, Israel has been the sole author of the Israeli Palestinian narrative, a narrative that ranks among the greatest of Greek tragedies filled with mythology, lies, genocide, wars, divine infallible scribes and Rabbis, conquered lands, people crushed into submission, influential reach beyond its borders into many nations, pandering media propaganda, bribes, assassinations, corruption, sex scandals, and the self anointing of a divine people unanswerable to the gentile humanity. All peoples and nations must submit to their all encompassing power or suffer the wrath and consequences of disobedience, including the wrath of God himself.

Historically all politicians are short term thinkers and opportunists whether it’s President Obama throwing the Palestinians overboard to secure wealthy Jewish funding of his re-election campaign or the Greek Prime Minister who for the moment believes he needs Israel’s support and the Jewish dominance of world financial institutions to save his country. (All Jewish: DSK, former head of the IMF, Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank, Ben Bernanke, head of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, and Timothy Giethner, Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, to name a few).

The massive Arab uprisings will ultimately succeed in establishing national, democratic and patriotic governments. Arabs will never forget who were their friends and enemies. An Arab region that controls 50% of the world’s oil and 60% of the world’s gas reserves along with the largest consumer market in the world, 1.6 billion Muslims, will impose its economic will and leverage upon a world that has long colonized, oppressed massacred, occupied, imprisoned and tortured them, raped their women and resources, voted against them in the United Nations, and long favored the truest enemy of peace In the world, Israel.
No bullet, rocket, bomb, missile, artillery shell, white phosphorous bombs, napalm, nerve gas, house demolitions, burning of farms and olive trees, no amount of killing of school children, no rape or defecation in houses of worship or excavating Muslim cemeteries, no amount of tunnels dug under the Rock of the Dome mosque to collapse it, no imprisonment, torture, no siege and starvation of Gaza, no amount of checkpoint humiliations, no number of illegal settlements and Jewish only roads, no amount of water theft and sewage disposal on Palestinian towns, no amount of American money, weapons, vetoes, and caving in to all things Jewish, no amount of lies, propaganda, standing ovations in Congress, no media ownership; nothing, but NOTHING will stop the Palestinians from reaching their human and historical destiny of Freedom and Independence from an Apartheid rogue terroristic state called: Israel.

On the contrary with every political, economic, and military brutality inflicted upon the Palestinians (and the U.S. and Europe), Israel is jeopardizing the very welfare and future of Jews around the world. More Jews live outside of Israel than in it, and with each passing year more Israelis are leaving Israel; more Jews are assimilating, intermarrying, and abandoning their attachment to Israel.

The time for Israel to reform itself and join the community of nations and cease to be a military brute and leave all Arab occupied territories is now, or forever accept the historical fate of all empires, including the empire once known as Greece.

Time, Truth and justice are on the side of the Palestinians and in due time a Palestinian flag will fly over East Jerusalem. The lives of the corrupt western politicians are limited but the Palestinian struggle will never die.

FOLLOW News on the Gaza Flotilla
Ray McGovern Interview Video link
PLEASE Take the Time and Email the following world and Greek leaders expressing your outrage at Greece’s violation of International Law by seizing eight peaceful ships bound to Gaza and the arrest of an American Citizen.
Important Emails to Greek Parliament Members:
Emails to Greek Consulates in the U.S. by City:
Contact Greek Media:



Mohamed Khodr is a political activist who frequently writes on the plight of Palestinians living under the brutal occupation of Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, Islam, and Arab politics.

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