What Comes Next?

That remains the question of the hour. As mentioned yesterday, there are short-term effects stemming from the flotilla incident and there will most certainly be long-term effects.

Of immediate concern are the threats still being made by the Turkish government that they will send navy ships along with more flotilla-type invasions of the Israeli blockade. It is hard to imagine that Turkey would really do that, but they have threatened such action (as seen in several posts from yesterday). It is hard to imagine an Israeli-Turkey naval battle, but it could be looming on the horizon.

We also see a predictable response as issued by Iran:

"Iran, Hamas seek global anti-Israel bloc"

An international front to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip should be formed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the Teheran Times reported.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki thanked Europe and the international community for the "harsh response" to Israel's "barbaric commando operation," saying Iran identified with the "shahids" who were killed in the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.

Also of note, there are several interesting commentaries on the flotilla incident - commentaries which offer fresh insight and deeper analysis into this evolving situation.

In this first article, we see that Israel may be sending a signal that they are ready for war:

"Gaza Flotilla Raid: Israel Sends a Message"

In normal times it would have been better to turn away the Hamas blockade-running flotilla using tear gas, high-decibel rock music, warning shots, and public ridicule. These are not ordinary times, and I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to send a clear and unmistakable signal to Israel’s most dangerous enemies, Iran and Syria. A few days ago we heard a public leak that Israel’s three diesel submarines, armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, are being stationed on permanent rotation in the Gulf, right off the coast of Iran. It was a serious check-mate move.

The Israelis made a deliberate decision to respond with force.

Question: Israel is about to take a PR drubbing in Europe and America, and certainly at the left-wing and Muslim-dominated United Nations. Israel’s cabinet knew that would happen. Why did they decide to stop the flotilla with commandos? There are more imaginative ways to do that.

I think the decision was deliberate, and it was not aimed at the blockade-running convoy. It was a signal to Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, and most of all the United States — because we are in the midst of the most dangerous war confrontation in decades. This was also a signal for the Obama administration, which just stabbed Israel in the back at another UN phony “peace” conference.

Everything being done by Israel and its enemies today has a double purpose: It is what it is, and it’s also a strategic signal. This time the cabinet and PM decided to show their very sharp claws. It meant: This time we are willing to preempt you with gunfire. Take heed, because we are not interested in PR.

Strategically, Israel’s announcement that nuke-carrying subs are now to be stationed off the coast of Tehran is far more significant than the Gaza stunt.

Iran has been surrounding Israel with ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as the low-tech harassment missiles they have never stopped firing at Israel. Lebanon now has Iranian ballistic missiles. Syria is bristling with them — ready to fire on instant command, with 15 minutes of flight time to Tel Aviv. Iran now has large numbers of North Korean-style missiles and hardened tunnels and bunkers to protect its nuclear industry. Not a day goes by without Ahmadinejad threatening genocidal war. Not a day goes by without the Hamas, Hezbollah, and Fatah TV indoctrinating toddlers to become suicide bombers.

Strategy dictates tactics. The PR stunt by Hamas and its backers is small change compared to the constant 15-minute massive missile threat and the likely Israeli response. The Hamas affair will cause three weeks of PR headlines in Europe and America, but it will not change the strategic balance of forces. Israel’s commando attack is a public signal to decision makers, the same reason why lions and tigers bare their fangs before engaging in a deadly fight. IDF commandos were told to shoot to kill if necessary, regardless of the PR costs. That means: Normally we care about PR. Today we don’t.

Over the next few weeks, as you see the predictable display of outrage from the media, keep in mind the strategic realities. We are perilously close to major war in the Middle East for the first time in decades. The possibility for escalation to a missile exchange is very dangerous. Every military in the Middle East is on 15-minute alert. That includes U.S. forces in the Gulf, in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean.

The following commentary offers a more global view of this scenario and the rabid, knee-jerk, predictable response by the media:

"The Turkish Government as Global Arbiter of Ethnic Violence"


The virulent worldwide reaction to Israeli’s handling of the Gaza flotilla has been quite instructive.

No one in Europe worried much about the constant shower of missiles from Gaza in the past. No one in Europe said a word when North Korea torpedoed and slaughtered South Koreans on the high seas. No one objected when the Iranians hijacked a British ship and humiliated the hostages.


But the Western and Islamic worlds have a preexisting furor at the Jewish state that can be tapped at will by almost any pro-radical-Palestinian group clever enough to do proper P.R. after a desired asymmetrical confrontation. The fallout from Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, the distortions around the 2002 terrorist storming of the Church of Nativity, the 2006 Lebanon war — over time, these incidents do their part, in weird fashion, to incur hatred for a liberal democracy while creating sympathy for a theocratic thugocracy like Hamas.

Perhaps the outrage reflects simple realpolitik — 350 million Arab Muslims versus 7 million Israelis. Perhaps it is oil: half the world’s reserves versus Israel’s nada. Perhaps it is the fear of terror: Draw a cartoon or write a novel offending Islam, and you must go into hiding; defame Jews and earn accolades. Perhaps it is anti-Semitism, which is as fashionable on the academic Left as it used to be among the neanderthal Right.

At this point, it doesn’t much matter — as this latest hysterical reaction reminds us, much of the world not only sides with Israel’s enemies but sides with them to such a degree as to suggest that, in any existential moment to come, the world either will be indifferent or will be on the side of Israeli’s enemies.

And last but not least, Caroline Glick offers her view, which is always worth reading:

"Ending Israel's losing streak"

The reality is simple and stark. Israel is the target of a massive information war that is unprecedented in scale and scope. This war is being waged primarily by a massive consortium of the international Left and the Arab and Islamic worlds. The staggering scale of the forces aligned against Israel is demonstrated by two things.

The Hamas abetting Free Gaza website published a list of some 222 organizations that endorsed the terror-supporting flotilla. The listed organizations hail from the four corners of the earth. They include Jewish anti-Israel groups as well as Christian, Islamic and non-religious anti-Israel groups. It is hard to think of any cause other than Israel-bashing that could unite such disparate forces.

The second indicator of the scope of the war against Israel is far more devastating than the list of groups that endorsed the pro-Hamas flotilla. That indicator is the fact that at the UN on Friday, 189 governments of 189 countries came together as one to savage Israel. There is no other issue that commands such unanimity. The NPT review conference demonstrated that the only way the international community will agree on anything is if its members are agreeing that Israel has no right to defend itself. The NPT review conference's campaign against Israel shows that the 222 organizations supporting Hamas are a reflection of the will of the majority - not a minority - of the nations of the world.

This war against Israel is nothing new. It has been going on since the dawn of modern Zionism 150 years ago. In many ways, it is just the current iteration of the eternal war against the Jewish people.

Moreover, there is Turkey's behavior to consider. Since Obama took office, Turkey's gradual slide into the Iranian axis has sped up considerably. Turkey's leading role in the flotilla, and the Erdogan government's ostentatious embrace of IHH which just a decade ago Turkey banned from earthquake relief efforts in light of its violent, jihadist mission made clear that the Erdogan regime would use the violence on board the ships as a way to strike a strategic blow at Israel's international standing

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The entire world is aligned against Israel. This most recent example reveals the supernaturally inspired hatred of Israel throughout the world - and facts have no bearing on this. The videos are obvious to anyone, yet the international community ignores the facts and chooses to condemn Israel - who is in a desperate struggle to survive as a nation.

But we know that Israel will survive. We know that there will be several major attempts to destroy Israel and each will fail. We also know that Israel's enemies will be destroyed when they make these efforts to end Israel's existence. Just look at the words which come directly from God Himself:

"I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them."
(Ezekiel 39:21)

"...my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath ...I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and his many troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. " (Ezekiel 38:18-23)

Note the phrase "and on the many nations with him".

Not only will God strike down those who are invading Israel, but those nations who provide these terrorists and who provide support will receive God's wrath.

God is watching this situation along with us, and as stated, there will come a point when God's "anger is aroused" an anger which creates "zeal and fiery wrath". I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that situation.

Right now, the world is aligned against Israel and does so with great enthusiasm.

But there is a limit to God's patience. And His patience is growing short. The enemies of Israel have this present time to continue with their hatred, lies and violence unabated. This won't last forever. God will intervene, and when He does so, it will be in a big, dramatic way, and the world will witness His power and might.

The nations are aligned against Israel - but they are also aligned against God. Big mistake. God always wins.