Israel Matzav

The US should stop the Audacity of Hope

The American entry into the Gaza flotilla of fools is financed by Obama confidant Rashid Khalidi and named after the title of one of Obama's books. But the Audacity of Hope can and should be stopped from participating in the upcoming Gaza flotilla.

The marine venue in which AOH will operate makes this situation different from that of US citizens engaging in civil disobedience on another nation’s territory. There exists no “right” to operate a ship under the flag of the United States. Doing so is entirely a matter of privilege conferred by the US government, including conformity with US laws and the international conventions recognized by the US.

The concept of a “flag state’s” responsibility for the behavior of ships operating under its flag is by no means fully developed in explicit law, but it is a longstanding convention, codified in both the Geneva Conventions on the High Seas of 1958 and the UN Convention on Law of the Sea of 1982. (Most discussions of this topic revolve around national responsibility for the behavior of fishing vessels, and for pollution and emission control.)

It is not clear what Israel could hold the flag states of the ships in the next flotilla accountable for, under international conventions – but what is clear is that there is a responsible way for the flag states to handle the problem, and an irresponsible – cynical – one. It is not a responsible approach to stand by and allow Americans to attempt to break a blockade – commit a hostile act – under the US flag, without the authorization of the US government and indeed in contravention of its own policy.

But what can be done? Andrew McCarthy offered an answer in the summer of 2010, shortly after the plans for AOH were announced by the Free Gaza Movement in the US. The possibility of Americans trying to perpetrate unauthorized actions at sea was foreseen by US lawmakers a long time ago, and that is why Title 18 of the US Code contains Section 962, which makes it a crime to “furnish, fit out, or arm” (or “attempt to furnish, fit out, or arm”) a vessel that will be used to “cruise or commit hostilities” against a nation with which the United States is at peace.

McCarthy suggested using Title 18 Section 2339B as well, which makes it a crime to provide support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations. As McCarthy and others have laid out in detail, the Free Gaza Movement has extensive ties to Hamas (designated a terrorist organization by the US government); whenever Free Gaza attempts to break the blockade that hampers Hamas’s arms pipeline, it is providing support to Hamas. McCarthy points out that the laws he cites make the attempt a crime, as well as the accomplishment of the prohibited acts.

Other commentators have also pointed out that the US could take action against the funding sources of the Free Gaza Movement, given its terrorist ties. One step would be revoking the 501(c)(3) status of the American Educational Trust (AET), through which tax-deductible donations to Free Gaza can be made.

Read the whole thing.

The real problem is that the Obama administration doesn't think a flotilla of hostile armed 'civilians' attempting to run a lawful blockade is a bad thing.

Labels: Audacity of Hope, Barack Hussein Obama, flotilla of fools, Rashid Khalidi

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:56 AM