INCIDENT AT SEA – AT 11:10 A.M. ET:  At least ten so-called "peace activists" were killed when an Israeli commando team raided a "relief" ship as it approached Gaza.  Israel claims, and seems to have the proof, that the "activists" were actually violent extremists, who attacked the Israeli team.  But the "humanitarian workers" are having a propaganda field day, as is the left-wing media:

Israel's allies in Europe, as well as the United Nations and Turkey, voiced shock and outrage at the bloody end to a bid by international campaigners to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Its navy stopped six ships ferrying 700 people and 10,000 tonnes of supplies toward the Islamist-run Palestinian enclave.

The U.N. Security Council was summoned for an emergency session in New York at 1 p.m. EDT. In Washington, however, the United States, Israel's most vital ally, said only that it regretted the loss of life and was looking into the "tragedy."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Canada and expressed full support for the navy operation, cut short a visit to North America that was to have ended Tuesday with a meeting at the White House with U.S. President Barack Obama.

That meeting had seemed intended to soothe U.S.-Israel ties, which have been strained by differences over recently revived peace talks with the Palestinians. But Obama must also balance relations with Israel, which is popular with American voters, and those with an outraged Turkey and other Muslim allies.

COMMENT:  There is, of course, no waiting for facts.  The standard "shock and outrage" crowd is already at the microphones.  Other ships in a Gaza "relief" flotilla were also boarded without incident.  There was violence, apparently extreme, only aboard one ship.

The incident will complicate even further our Mideast policy.  In fairness we must ask whether mistakes were made on the Israeli side in the planning of the boarding.  However, it does appear that a planned ambush took place aboard that one ship, and that Israelis had a right to fight back.

The truth won't matter.  The flotilla was sponsored by Turkey, which is rapidly turning into an extremist Islamic state.  They'll milk it.

May 31, 2010