I preferred to follow the Western visual media’s coverage of the crime that was committed by Israel against the humanitarian aid ships headed for Gaza that caused the deaths of around 20 people from Arab and international organizations rather than following Arab visual media coverage. Our media wants to spread the spirit of provocation instead of presenting information. It wants to increase escalation instead of helping us understand the consequences of what happened and how this battle with Israel should be dealt with so that Israel does not escape the consequences.
Numerous Western media outlets committed themselves to just providing information, without [expressing] emotion, and they were dedicated to repeatedly broadcasting images and that is most important as images stick in people’s minds and what will remain in the minds of Western observers is that Israel committed a crime that breached all international conventions. Israel is in a real predicament today with regards to the international community; more importantly, its predicament is not with Western governments but with international organizations that have a great ability to influence and pressure Western governments and civil institutions and Western public opinion as a result. This is beneficial instead of shouting and [issuing] over-the-top statements even if condemnation is logical and required.
Therefore, all that is required from the Arabs today, particularly the groups that lack logic and those that support them, is that they do not commit any folly in the name of defending the Palestinians and the Arabs or anyone else or as a reaction to what Israel did to the ships heading for Gaza. [If they do] then they would be providing a service on a golden plate to Israel by making the world forget the crime it committed or by shattering the blackened image of Israel that was painted on Monday.
We should mention here the incident involving the young Palestinian boy Mohammed al Durra and his father who tried to shield him from the bullets of the Israeli soldiers and how that image shook the international community until a week after the incident when an image emerged of a young Palestinian raising his hands stained with the blood of an Israeli and throwing the Israeli out of a window. Thus the image of al Durra was wasted and its influence was lost. Unfortunately, we have a long series of errors that serve Israel alone. Therefore, the Arabs must pay careful attention to that instead of threatening to withdraw from the Arab initiative and making threats that are of no use; rather we must allow the international reactions to snowball towards those who are responsible for this crime until they are punished.
Israel’s actions at open sea are now facing a major international storm, a real one and a worthy one, from Israel’s friends before its enemies and from all international and humanitarian organizations. We are also witnessing the recalling of Israeli ambassadors by numerous countries. Therefore, all we have to do today is concentrate on not committing any error that would save Israel this time from its international predicament or help it escape the crime that it committed in front of the eyes of the world, the international community and its institutions, as it was a major crime and we must not help Israel escape the consequences in any way whatsoever as Israel must bear the consequences of its crimes even just once. Will we pay attention to this? That is the question!
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