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Palestinian leadership rejected that resolution, but this September
plans to ask the United Nations for recognition of its statehood with
the 1967 lines, a move strongly opposed by Israel.
Israel, for its part, has been campaigning against the flotilla and
perhaps doing more — some of the boats have suffered sabotage.
Israel says the Exodus is the wrong analogy; the flotilla is aimed at
delegitimizing Israel and killing its soldiers.
“The flotilla is entirely designed to attack Israel’s image around the
world,” said Yuli Edelstein, minister for public diplomacy. “We
know that there are representatives of different terror groups on their
way to join the flotilla.”
Israeli military officials have told newspapers that some flotilla
participants plan to pour sacks of sulfur on Israeli commandos and set
them afire. The flotilla organizers have denied it.
A government news release noted that Mr. Edelstein had participated
in a simulation exercise for the flotilla in which Israeli forces were
attacked. The description of the simulation indicates how the
government expects the harsh information war to play out: “As the
events were taking place, the media — with emphasis on the Internet,
Facebook and Twitter — were flooded with mendacious reports (by
private users, Hamas and others among Israel’s enemies).”
Mendacity has already reared its head. An Israeli actor put up a
YouTube clip saying that he was a gay activist rejected by the flotilla
because of his sexual orientation. The video was exposed as a fake.
Israeli officials, who had promoted the clip on Twitter and Facebook,
said they had been duped. But suspicions remained since the clip’s
production quality was high and officials had long used the talking
point that Hamas and other Islamist groups were intolerant of
homosexuality.
The Turkish group I.H.H., which helps sponsor the flotillas, has ties
to Hamas, and Israeli and Western concern that violence could occur
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