Illustration: Yemeni "peace" flotilla logo
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It's the perfect, manufactured storm: nine jihadi irregulars killed by Israeli commandos while trying to breach an Israeli naval blockade around rocket-happy, genocidal Hamasistan. How thrilling for the Israel-hating world to find its new terrorist cause, it's new jihadi heroes. But who were these flotilliacs anyway -- not the terrorist-irregulars, but the more or less "regular" passengers?
We don't have passenger manifests, but thanks to MEMRI, we have a rundown via Arab media on at least some of the people aboard.
Bear in mind: If the flotilla's purpose was to bring Gaza supplies, such supplies could have been unloaded in Israel and trucked into Gaza -- after the night vision goggles and bullet proof vests that were found aboard were weeded out, of course. Israeli supply convoys go into Gaza regularly (why, I don't know). Just few of the MEMRI thumbnails below shed light on the flotilla's true purpose: anything to advance the destruction of the Jewish state. And boy, looking at the hate-Israel derangement underway everywhere, did they ever succeed, proving once again that ... jihad works. But don't think it stops with Israel.
From MEMRI:
Out of Egypt, there were a couple of members of the Muslim Brotherhood bloc in parliament including Muhammad Al-Baltaji who in March said: "A nation that excels at dying will be blessed by Allah with a life of dignity and with eternal paradise." He also said that his movement "will never recognize Israel and will never abandon the resistance," and that "resistance is the only road map that can save Jerusalem, restore the Arab honor, and prevent Palestine from becoming a second Andalusia."
(Which I would take to mean Andalusia circa 1492, long past its so-called Islamic "golden age" when the Spanish finally, after eight hundred years, ejected the Muslims from Spain.)
One of six Lebanese included Hussein Shaker, aka "Abu Al-Shuhada" ("Father of the Martyrs"). MEMRI reports: "He has reportedly expressed a desire to meet "his martyrs" (i.e. relatives killed during the 2006 Lebanon war), and has called his participation in the flotilla revenge for their deaths."
From Syria, there was a activist-playwright, who had dramatized the life and "martyrdom" of terror kingpin and Hamas founder Sheik Yassin and was hoping to make it into Gaza to "inhale the scent of the place where he lived." The Yemenis on board must have been a lot of fun, too. Here's a pre-raid snap of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hazmi on deck. Shuffleboard, anyone?
Fellow-Yemeni Hazza Al-Maswari was not just a fan of Israel but also Uncle Sam's. In 2004, MEMRI notes, "he objected to a Yemeni program for dialogue with prisoners from Al-Qaeda aimed at tempering their views, declaring recently at Friday prayers: `We cannot tell militants "don't terrorize Americans" or "don't attack their interests...." ' Yemen's a free country, right, Hazza? At least according to the Islamic definition of freedom, which means perfect enslavement to Allah.
One of the more prominent Kuwaitis in the flotilla was Dr. Osama Al-Kandari, a Hadith lecturer at the College of Basic Education. In February 2009, he signed a communiqué expressing support for Hamas and for jihad in Palestine against the "Jewish enemies." From Bahrain there was Sheikh Jalal Al-Sharqi, head of the Association of Islamic Scholars in the GCC Countries. Previously, Al-Sharqi signed a clerics' petition calling to acknowledge Hamas's legitimacy, as recognized by shari'a, and not to prevent it from obtaining weapons. The petition justified the stance of the "fighters in Gaza" who cling to jihad "against the Jews" and to martyrdom.
And these were just some of the innalecktuals.
No wonder the world is ... on their side??