Media Commentary on the Gaza Flotilla

Aside from all the stuff about the boats, the activists, the aid, the terrorists, the IDF, the weapons, the Israeli government, the Turks, the UN, etc., etc., one of the most extraordinary things about this whole affair has been the struggle to win the PR battle. Here is a selection of articles that I have seen (thanks to everyone who shared these with me, especially Jono Rose, who deserves a major chunk of the credit for this as he posted several of them on Facebook, and also to Doubi Schwartz for pointing me in the direction of a handful of others). This began as an exercise in collecting together a number of articles that struck me as interesting; it has become a means of recording media coverage of the whole affair. Just for the record, I don't agree with every view expressed; I have simply tried to include as many different perspectives as possible.


Margaret Atwood, “The Shadow over Israel” (Haaretz)

Gershon Baskin, "Israel's Gaza policy has strengthened Hamas" (Jerusalem Post)

Peter Beinart, "Israel's Indefensible Behavior" (The Daily Beast)

Aluf Benn, "Israel needs national enquiry into deadly Gaza flotilla clashes" (Haaretz)

Andrew Bolt, “Boatloads of bloody-minded pacifists” (Daily Telegraph, Australia)

Bradley Burston, "The Second Gaza War: Israel Lost at Sea" (Haaretz)

Nick Cohen, "Sympathise with Israel, but not the blockade" (The Guardian)

Robi Damelin, "In response to the recent events" (unpublished)

Alan Dershowitz, “Israel’s Actions Were Lawful Though Probably Unwise” (Hudson New York)

Editorial: Israel and the aid covoys: How to make enemies" (The Guardian)

Editorial: “Turkey’s Erdogan bears responsibility in flotilla fiasco” (Washington Post)

George Friedman, “Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion” (Stratfor Global Intelligence)

Thomas Friedman, “The Ballgame and the Sideshow” (NY Times)

Thomas Friedman, “When Friends Fall Out” (New York Times)

Leslie H. Gelb, "Israel Was Right" (The Daily Beast)

Jeffrey Goldberg, "On the Disappearance of Jewish Wisdom, Far Out At Sea" (The Atlantic)

Marc Gopin, “A note on the disconnect of world opinion and parochial Jewish opinions on the Flotilla tragedy, and what the future holds” (Unpublished)

Daniel Gordis, “The Storm Ahead” (Unpublished)

Hanan Greenberg, “Hamas refuses to allow aid into the Gaza Strip” (YNet)

David Grossman, “The Gaza flotilla attack shows how far Israel has declined” (Guardian)

Amos Harel, “Straight Into The Trap” (Haaretz)

Harris, Shabi and Beaumont, "Gaza flotilla attack: A week that changed Middle East politics" (The Observer)

Donniel Hartman, “Using Prepared Scripts after Gaza Flotilla Seizure Perpetuates Hateful Rhetoric (Shalom Hartman Institute)

Charles Krauthammer, "Those Troublesome Jews" (The Washington Post)

Bernard-Henri Levy, “Recent entries in my diary” (Haaretz)

Charles Levinson and Jay Solomon, “Israel’s Isolation Deepens” (Wall Street Journal)

Gideon Levy, “Israel has no opposition and no alternative” (Haaretz)

Michel Oren, "An Assault, Cloaked in Peace" (New York Times)

Amos Oz, “Israeli Force Adrift At Sea” (New York Times)

George Packer, “Israel takes the bait” (The New Yorker)

Ilan Pappe, "The deadly closing of the Israeli mind" (The Independent)

Ethan Perlson, "Bibi's unlikely new fan club" (The Daily Beast)

Anshel Pfeffer, "In its hour of need, Israel was let down by the Diaspora" (Haaretz)

Political Desk, IRGC Navy ready to escort Gaza-bound aid convoys (Tehran Times)

Robert L. Pollock, “Erdogan and the Decline of the Turks” (Wall Street Journal)

Queen Rania of Jordan, “Hardliners are now the face of Israel” (The Independent)

Seth Rose, “Israel had no choice over Gaza flotilla” (Guardian)

M. J. Rosenberg, “Lying About the Gaza Flotilla Disaster” (Political Correction)

Ari Shavit, “Fiasco on the High Seas” (Haaretz)

Jacob Shrybman, "Debunking the Gaza Siege Myth" (Huffington Post)

Brian Stelter, “Videos Carry On The Fight Over Sea Raid” (New York Times)

Amir Taheri, "Propoaganda war latest: Tehran 3 Israel 0" (The Times)

Joshua Teitelbaum, “Turkey is calling for a jihad against Israel” (The Guardian)

Khaled Abu Toameh, “Turkey’s Support of Hamas Worries PA” (Jerusalem Post)

Michael J. Totten, "So How About That Blockade?" (Commentary)

Leon Wieseltier, "Operation Make The World Hate Us" (The New Republic)

Michael Sean Winters, "Judging Israel" (National Catholic Reporter)

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, message to his community (New North London Synagogue)

Yagna and Liss, “Israeli Arab MKs face growing wave of death threats” (Haaretz)



Associated Press, “Egypt Restricts Marriage to Israelis” (Jerusalem Post)

The Daily Mash, "Israel Just Making it Easier for Guardian Readers to Look Good"

Haaretz service: Turkish paper releases ‘censored’ photos of beaten Israeli commandos (Haaretz)

Times Online, "Gaza flotilla deaths: The World Reacts"

Turkish press: ‘Censored’ photos of beaten Israeli commandos (Hurriyet)



And here's one from me: Time to write A New Story