Sarah Palin On Israeli Flotilla: Don't Take Mainstream Media Coverage at Face Value

The media, as usual, seems to be reporting only one side of the Israeli Flotilla incident. Don't trust the mainstream media to give you both sides of a story fairly... you must seek out fair reporting to ensure you have all the information.

As far too many in the media, and in various governments, rush to condemn Israel, we must put the recent events off Israel’s coast into the right perspective.  This “relief” convoy was not about humanitarian aid, as the liberal mainstream media keeps reporting.  The whole operation was designed to provoke Israel, not to provide supplies to Palestinians held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.  Anyone who sees the video of Israeli commandos being attacked as they land on that ship knows the people aboard were vicious thugs, not “peace activists.” The media insults our intelligence with their outright mischaracterization of who these enemies are.

Israel delivers thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies every week to Gaza.  These ships could have offloaded their cargoes at a nearby Israeli port if they really wanted to help the people of Gaza.  Instead, they chose to incite confrontation and violence.  Israel has a right to prevent arms shipments to Gaza that will be used to target innocent Israelis, so they were legitimately checking the cargo on the flotilla.  Turkey has chosen to condemn Israel but we should be asking some serious questions about Turkey’s role in this whole affair.  Why is a fellow member of NATO sponsoring such a dangerous publicity stunt?  As one expert points out: “Three ships of that six-ship pro-terror convoy flew Turkish flags and were crowded with Turkish citizens. The Ankara government -- led by Islamists these days -- sponsored the "aid" operation in a move to position itself as the new champion of the Palestinians. And Turkish decision-makers knew Israel would have to react -- and were waiting to exploit the inevitable clash. The provocation was as cynical as it was carefully orchestrated.

We can only hope the Obama Administration does not join the anti-Israel chorus in the aftermath of this staged confrontation.  Please, Mr. President, we need to let Israelis know we stand with them in their fight against terrorists and those who arm and support them. America and her ally, Israel, stand by waiting for your response. 

- Sarah Palin