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A UN Miracle: Israel Is Vindicated on the Gaza Flotilla, But Turkey Still Pouts

(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - Here's a story for the man-bites-dog folder: The United Nations has conducted another inquiry into an Israeli military operation - and produced a report that mainly vindicates the Jewish state. Given the UN's track record on Israel, one might have expected this latest report to be a reprise of Richard Goldstone's notorious report alleging Israeli war crimes during its 2009 war with Gaza (charges later retracted by Mr. Goldstone). Instead, the Palmer report offers a point-by-point rebuttal to some of the most preposterous accusations leveled against Israel. One such accusation from the Turks is that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is illegal because blockades can only be legally imposed on another state, and Israel has never recognized Palestine as a state. The Palmer report dismisses that bit of legal legerdemain, noting that "Hamas is the de facto political and administrative authority in Gaza," that "it is Hamas that is firing projectiles into Israel or permitting others to do so," that "law does not operate in a political vacuum" and thus "Israel was entitled to take reasonable steps to prevent the influx of weapons into Gaza." All this might have provoked a bit of soul-searching within the Turkish government, just as its once-warm embrace of Syria's Bashar Assad has. Instead, Prime Minister Erdogan has doubled down on his anti-Israel bets, insisting that Jerusalem apologize to Turkey, compensate the victims and lift its blockade of Gaza as the price for his forgiveness. The Palmer report is a fresh reminder - from the least likely of sources - of why Israel has no honorable choice but to spurn those demands. The Turks will learn in their own time that being Hamas' patron is a loser's game.
2011-09-06 00:00:00
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