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US reluctance to hold Israel to standards applied to other rogue states has contributed much to its temerity to commit atrocities.

ISRAEL has thumbed its nose at the world again with another display of its contempt for civilian lives. The killing of at least 9 peace activists on ships ferrying aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip is its latest show of brazen impudence.

Although Israel had threatened to seize the Freedom Flotilla ships and arrest the activists as soon they entered Gaza coastal waters, no one had expected the Israeli Defence Forces – the so-called “most moral army in the world” – to prove its point through such a brutal and disproportionate use of power.

Soldiers rappelling from helicopters struck the Mavi Marmara which was carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, in international waters at night with deadly force.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak had the audacity to claim that the flotilla organisers incited the assault and that the activists on board provoked the massacre by attacking the Israeli commandos first.

As proof, the Israeli government uploaded on YouTube footage taken from a naval boat showing the passengers beating up Israeli troops with what looked like poles, and one soldier being pushed overboard.

Another video showed the weapons that the activists used against the soldiers – knives, slingshots, stones in bottles, smoke bombs, metal rods, improvised sharp metal objects, sticks and clubs – supposedly found on board the ship.

But there was no clip showing how soldiers shot the 19 activists in self-defence or any footage of the 60 or so injured.

Barak’s deputy, Dan-ny Alalon, made the absurd claim that the flotilla was connected to international terrorist organisations and was trying to smuggle in arms.

He described the ships as an “armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organisation” and accused the peace activists of “premeditated and outrageous provocation”. Yeah, right, especially when the ships were loaded with dangerous things like pens, footballs, paper, chocolates, crayons, crutches, wheelchairs, CAT scanners, cement, and building materials; and manned by pesky people like doctors, nurses, film-makers, parliamentarians and journalists from all over the world, not to mention a Nobel peace laureate and a former UN assistant secretary-general.

The Malaysians on board the Mavi Marmara were UIA lecturer and delegation chief Noorazman Mohd Samsuddin, medical practitioners Dr Mohd Arba Ai Shawal and Dr Syed Muhamad Haleem Syed Hassan, businessman Selamat Aliman, Klang councilor Jamaluddin Elias, religious teachers Al Hilmi Husain Suhaimi and Ustaz Hasanuddin Aqsi Assarip, engineer Mohd Nizam Mohamad Awang, Syabas executive Abd Halim Mohd Redzuan, Astro journalist Ashwad Ismail and cameraman Shamsul Kamal Latip, and Mustafa Mansor of the Islamic Organisation Consultative Council of Malaysia.

They have been confirmed alive and unharmed and arrangements are being made to bring them home.

On board another ship heading for Gaza, the Rachel Corrie, were more Malaysians – journalist Shamsul Akmar, lawyer Matthias Chang, Parit MP Nizar Zakaria, activist Ahmad Faizal Azumu and TV3 crew members Halim Mohamed and Jufri Junid. Like the other 700 activists from more than 50 countries, they were part of the Freedom Flotilla to prove that the world was not insensitive to the gross human suffering in Gaza.

It is a fact that can’t be denied. One and half million Palestinians are prisoners in the world’s largest de facto concentration camp. They have been locked in since Israel’s siege on Gaza began in December of 2008 in retaliation against Hamas’ rocket attacks.

As a result of the blockade, almost half of the people in Gaza are jobless. The World Bank has confirmed that 90% of water is not potable and 80% of the people live on less than US$1 a day. Malnutrition affects 15% of children and many suffer from stunted growth.

The IDF demolished 15,000 homes, destroyed administration buildings, factories and schools, even those run by the UN.

Hundreds of civilians, including children were killed and thousands were wounded by bombs and illegal use of white phosphorous shells in highly populated areas – a war crime which re-mains unpunished.

As the Brussels Committee Tribunal – an international network of academics, activists, journalists, artists, human rights advocates – described it in its latest statement, the blockade of Gaza is equivalent to “slow killing”.

“It is an atrocity on the same level as genocide. Here every man and woman has a moral duty: inaction is complicity and a betrayal of humanity.” The tribunal, of which former Prime Minister and Perdana Global Peace Organisation chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is an honorary member, says all legal rights are with those who attempt to end this situation by whatever means.

It says the Freedom Flotilla is such an attempt, adding that its symbolism is more powerful than any navy, as it signals the collapse of the blockade.

“Where earlier lone vessels tried to reach Gaza, now they go in groups. More will follow. When a thousand ships set sail, what would Israel do?” it asked.

For too long, Israel has ignored global opinion and got away with gross atrocities through a culture of impunity built around its contrived “victim” status.

The United States’ reluctance to hold this rogue state to standards applied to others has contributed much to its blatant nerve. Will the latest act of killing international peace activists goad the US to change its policy towards Israel? The world can only hope.

Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes this quote attributed to US political activist Howard Zinn: There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.