nukchebi0 wrote:
Honestly? Are we serious right now? You ask other people about a certain person, you consider their background and personal affiliations, and you are able to get a reasonable picture of who they are, in an accurate manner. That is exactly what the reporter did.
Perhaps, if you cared to analyze the reporter's words, you'll see she was trying to minimize the emphasis on their religious beliefs and conservatism throughout the interview, concluding with her subjective statement describing them as just humanitarians. The guy interviewing her had to tease out some of the details regarding their religious views.
That's touching. It's just that the "they're just" completely alters the implicit meaning of the statement, moving it from factual observation regarding their actions to subjective conclusions regarding the entirety of their motives. (In other words, she stops her factual reporting and substitutes a personal opinion intended to minimize the effect of the reality she just presented.)
If you'd bothered to read, you'd understand I'm using their background as factual evidence (which they are, see above for a reread in case you still can't comprehend it) to buttress my belief the activists were looking for a fight, and to use such an incident to malign Israel. I can't know for sure, but my conclusion seems reasonable in light of the facts we know. The pictures released today by IHH seem to confirm Israel's story of the events, lending further credence to my theory.
So their religious beliefs and their conservatism are evidence enough for you that they had the intention of harming Israel even if that meant losing their lives. Well. As it is I just happened to personally attend an interview of several of the activists yesterday. They spoke at a venue 5 minutes from my house. Of course it was only Greeks - so no conservative religious people, just plain old commie hippie liberals - but they did confirm that they were beaten, imprisoned and generally ill-treated despite the fact that they did not resist in any way. Maybe that wasn't the case in all ships, and sure enough some of the commandos were attacked, but this reaction was only because the IDF stopped them in international waters, where the activists thought at the time that the IDF had no juristiction to board the ships.
nukchebi0 wrote:
As for reasoning, let's see how yours works. You're always assuming things. You take it for granted for some reason thet the Israeli government is incapable or erring,
No. It just doesn't seem likely given the obvious ability to analyze outcomes of the situation.
But it does seem likely to you that the activists would just die as if it's no biggie, just to irritate Israel.
nukchebi0 wrote:
you seem certain as to how a "normal" activist would act in the given situation,
What is a normal activist? It certainly seems people more concerned with aiding the Palestinians would assent to the offer of berthing in an Israeli port in order to undergo cargo inspections. The MV Rachel Corrie is a nice contrast, isn't it?
"Normal" was ironical and it was refferring to your idea of docile activists. As if only the Rachel Corrie reaction is indicative of real activists. The rest are war-mongering terrorists
nukchebi0 wrote:
and worst of all you seem certain that these people would easily sacrifice themselves in order to make Israel look bad.
Again, honestly? Do we lack the historical basis for the plausibility of such a concept?
Wow, nice generalization there. I did explain what kind of people these activists were. But then again if you think that they're all suicide bombers then what can I say...
Btw if you're into history, you might want to look at Israeli gaffes of the past, just to make sure that it is actually very possible for Netaniahu to overreact...
nukchebi0 wrote:
I'll happily blame Israel for things they deserve to be criticized for, and those certainly exist, but it doesn't seem as if this current "crisis" is cause for the zealous vilification so ubiquitous in the Israel and Palestine debate.
I'm curious. Name one. If the imprisonment of 2 million people in Gaza and the illegal effort to detter even aid ships to reach them doesn't deserve to be criticized, then I urge you to name one that does.