Can Israel ground the Gaza flotilla boats in Greece?

The events of the past few days in Athens confirm that Israel is making good on its claim to apply pressure directly on the Greek government to stop the pro-palestinian terrorist-supporting flotilla boats from setting sail for Gaza.

Islam Times - Early this morning, I discovered that a ‘private complaint’ had been filed against the US boat to Gaza. The complaint, it is still unclear who filed it, stated that the US boat to Gaza is not ’sea worthy’ and requires a detailed inspection. The harbor master where the boat is in port has declared that until the complaint is resolved the boat is not permitted to leave. Currently, lawyers representing the US boat are looking into the origins of the complaint and whether it was filed as a result of Israeli economic or diplomatic pressure on the Greek government. The boat, Audacity of Dopes, is US flagged and registered in the United States.

The government of Greece has been on the edge of collapse due to expected European Union austerity measures which are overwhelmingly unpopular among the majority of the population. Demonstrations and riots have been rocking Athens for the past two weeks. Greek officials have confirmed that Israel and Greece have met in recent days to discuss various issues including the flotilla.

Given the fact that the Greek government is fighting for its political survival, it is unlikely that Greece would bend to Israeli diplomatic pressure. However, it is more probable that Greece would bend to direct Israeli economic pressure. Israel and Greece have a strong economic relationship which includes a joint gas pipeline project in the Eastern Mediterranean.

If substantiated, rumors that Israel is threatening the Israeli-Greek trade relationship over the flotilla could mean that Israel is actually threatening the entire economy of the European Union. Given the depth of the Greek debt crisis, any change in the Greek economy would have profound effects on the European Central Bank and even the international economy.

10 ships are expected to sail as part of the Gaza aid flotilla. Currently three ships, including the US boat, have had complaints levied against them. US boat organizers believe that Greece will attempt to delay the ships indefinitely by using a serious of bureaucratic measures such as endless safety checks and cargo inspections. Despite the setbacks, organizers are continuing with their nonviolence and safety training. They are hopeful that the Greek government will allow the ships to sail next week as initially planned.

“Israel has pulled out the stops in trying to get the flotilla to stop before it begins by threatening the Greek economy,“ said Ann Wright, a retired State Department official and former Army colonel who is the main organizer of the US boat to Gaza. Sitting in the lobby of the noisy Athens hotel, she added, “Greece is caught in the middle. There is tremendous public support for the flotilla, but the government is getting pounded by the Israelis.” Not naming her sources, Wright, visibly exhausted from a year of organizing for the flotilla, contended that “Israel is going to try to sink the Greek economy if they allow the flotilla to sail from Greek ports.”

In response to the growing pressure, the Greek foreign ministry released a public statement on June 22 regarding its own citizens sailing with the flotilla. According to the statement, the ministry “urges Greek citizens as well as Greek-registered vessels not to participate in the new flotilla headed for the Gaza port.”

Communist and Islamist-loving trust fund baby Medea Benjamin of Code Pinko is front and center in this video.

27-year-old Israeli man was savagely beaten and nearly killed after taking a wrong turn into an Arab neighborhood in northern Jerusalem

Local residents who were out on the streets immediately began pelting Nachshon’s vehicle with stones after identifying him as a Jew. Nachshon was then pulled from his van and brutally beaten about the head before being rescued by one of the village leaders.

(That he was saved by a Muslim man still doesn’t change the fact that no muslims should be permitted to live in the Jewish capital. Period.)

Israel Today - Nir Nachshon, a moving company employee, was trying to reach the Jewish town of Ma’aleh Adumim on Jerusalem’s eastern outskirts when his GPS device mistakenly directed him into the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya.

The muhtar (village leader) of Issawiya protected Nachshon from further attack until an Israeli Border Police unit arrived and rushed him to a nearby hospital. He is currently in stable condition. On numerous occassions over the past year Israeli Jews have errantly entered Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem only to narrowly escape with their lives.

Israeli commentators say the younger generation of Arabs has been so radicalized by a Palestinian school system full of anti-Jewish incitement that they will try to kill any Jew on sight. Police officials have lamented that Arab parents suffering either from indifference or fear of appearing to be “pro-Jewish” typically do nothing to prevent the younger generation’s violent ways.

Israel warns journalists not to join Gaza flotilla or risk being banned from Israel for ten years

The Israeli government issued the warning on Sunday, saying the journalists could also have their equipment seized in addition to other sanctions. The threat came as pro-Palestinian activists prepared to set sail for Gaza from Greece and elsewhere in an effort to break Israel’s (Internationally sanctioned legal) blockade of the coastal territory.

Al-Jazeera - Eleven ships – nine passenger boats and two cargo ships – carrying about 1,000 activists from 20 countries are said to be taking part in the second Freedom Flotilla. Among the activists are many Israelis, including Amira Hass, a prominent journalist of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Israel insists the latest flotilla is a “dangerous provocation” and has vowed to intercept it. “Those participating in the flotilla have declared that it is their intention to ‘break’ the naval blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for security reasons, given Hamas’s efforts to smuggle weaponry and terrorists into the Gaza Strip,” Oren Helman, director of Israel’s Government Press Office, said.

Helman said the government of Israel has instructed the Israeli army not to allow the flotilla to reach Gaza.

“Participation in the flotilla is an intentional violation of Israeli law and is liable to lead to participants being denied entry into the State of Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions,” Helman said.

“I implore you to avoid taking part in this provocative and dangerous event, the purpose of which is to undermine Israel’s right to defend itself and to knowingly violate Israeli law.”

In response to Helman’s warning, the Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association said in a statement: “The government’s threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press.

“Journalists covering a legitimate news event should be allowed to do their jobs without threats and intimidation. We urge the government to reverse its decision immediately.”

On Friday, the US also warned the activists against their plans to send the new flotilla to the Gaza Strip, saying it would be irresponsible and dangerous.

“Groups that seek to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza are taking irresponsible and provocative actions that risk the safety of their passengers,” Victoria Nuland, a state department spokesperson, said in a statement.

SHALOM KITTY…Code Pink wants to scratch your eyes out!

Code Pinkos have been running around the country, staging protests in and around any company that does business with Israel. So you can imagine how chagrined they will be when they find out that ‘HELLO KITTY’ is opening a chain of 18 new stores in Israel. The fact that pink is the main ‘Kitty’ color must irk the hell out of the Code Pinkos.

ELDER OF ZIYON - Hello Kitty announced earlier this year that they will open a chain of new stores in Israel. As reported in YNet in February:  Hello Kitty  officials say the reasons for their decision to expand the brand’s activity in Israel in the coming year, is because Israel is an overwhelming financial success story. 

“You are one of the only countries which have survived the global financial crisis so well,” says Roberto Lanzi, an Italian, president of Global Consumer Products for the EMEA market (Europe, Middle East, Africa) at Sanrio, the Japanese company which owns the Hello Kitty brand.  He made the remark during a visit to Israel with Kunihiko Tsuji, one of the company’s owners. “Although you have the limitations of a small country, the Israeli market has great potential,” the two agreed.

This is making the usual crowd of Israel haters very upset as can be seen in this letter written to the company by “Palestine Campaign.” The campaign does not seem to have worked. From YNet on Saturday:

The Hello Kitty brand is launching a chain of 18 stores in Israel at an initial investment of $2-3 million. Sanrio, the company which created the pink icon in 1974, has chosen Leader Brands as its franchiser in the Jewish state. The chain’s first store is expected to open by the end of June at the Givatayim Mall and will offer a variety of items for young girls and women, starring the famous Japanese cat.

“We’ll open eight to 10 stores this year,” says the owner, Yossi Shoch. “We are about to finalize three additional locations in the Azrieli Malls chain, and we’ll open a total of 18 stores within a short period of time.

CODE PINK BITCHES IN BIKINIS PROTEST ISRAELI PRODUCTS