Israel Matzav

Libyan ship docks in El Arish

The Libyan ship Amalthea, which is carrying 'humanitarian goods' for Gaza, has docked in the Egyptian port of El Arish after receiving assurances that its cargo would be transferred to Gaza through the Rafah crossing point with Egypt. This is an earlier report.

The IDF on Wednesday confirmed that the Libyan ship had heeded Israel's calls to cease from its course to Gaza, and planned to dock at the Egyptian port of el-Arish.

The confirmation came after conflicting reports, with the ship's captain and Egyptian authorities saying the vessel would dock at el-Arish, while the ship's organizers, the Gadhafi Foundation, insisted it would continue on to Gaza.

In response to an international call to make more goods available for transfer to Gaza, Israel recently increased the amount of aid able to flow through to Gaza via its checkpoints.

Tony Blair supported the effort, saying that the "established channels for delivering aid to Gaza should be used in accordance with the new policy we have been working on."

“[The Libyan ship's] goods should be allowed to reach Gaza through established channels and transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing," said Blair, "which is available for the transfer of items for daily life and reconstruction efforts, as we work to expand the crossing capacity.

“I sincerely hope that the transfer of goods will pass off without incident, and urge all sides to act with restraint."

This is a tribute to the IDF having shown that it is willing to kick people's heads in if it has to. There are some lessons there that are applicable to Hamas, Hezbullah, Iran, Syria - and Israel isn't the only party that ought to be learning them.

Let's go to the videotape.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:26 AM