It doesn't matter how many condemnations Israel gets from outside. Netanyahu is changing nothing.
"On the Francop ship alone we confiscated some 200 tons of weapons being smuggled to Hezbollah," the prime minister said, in reference to the Antiguan-flagged ship Israel intercepted off the coast of Cyprus in November 2009.
"Opening a naval route to Gaza will present an enormous dangerous [sic] to the security of our citizens," said Netanyahu. "Therefore, we will stand firm on our policy of a naval blockade and of inspecting incoming ships."
When he puts it like that—and if, in practice, Israel did not invade neutral, international waters to do its business—the man would almost sound sympathetic.
Unfortunately, the blockade isn't just about the sea. It's also about the land siege, and the land siege isn't just about danger to Israeli security. It's also, in the voices of many Israeli defenders of the policy, about officially condoned collective punishment of Palestinians.
"There was an expectation, or a prediction, that the siege would cause the Gazans to loathe Hamas and end its government in Gaza (after it lost its official grip on the West Bank)."
—Amira Hass, Ha'aretz (2008)
Some Israelis still believe this will work, and many Israelis are still trying to convince themselves it will—in spite of all the evidence. (When has a foreign provocation against any country, Israel included, done anything but rally that country's citizens behind its government, however nasty?).
Other Israelis point to the increased radicalism that their siege has created and call that justification for continuing the siege. And still others want to continue the siege simply as a matter of pride—because admitting its failure would be admitting weakness. God knows we can't have that in the Middle East.
But we've got a lot of it, don't we? It's instructive to look at what the Jerusalem Post is saying today:
These are the voices of Israelis who aren't ready to let anyone, let alone foreigners, change their minds. These Israelis don't think themselves to be lying; this is what they genuinely believe, or have been convinced of. The activists were terrorists; don't look at us, we could have been even more brutal (and maybe we should be); don't look at us, our enemies would have done the same if our roles were reversed; we need to end relations with Turkey, because they never really liked us.
Extrapolating the last, we find the idea that 'true friends are never critical,' a right-wing attitude that has been perhaps the most damaging for various nations over decades of history. There is no reason for progressive Jews to get behind this.
But... there in the JPost we also see the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman, years ago a progressive leader, now a neocon taking the opportunity to stoke US/Israel tensions.
In fact, many want to do that right now. Here's Ha'aretz, clarifying that Israel views Obama's post-Freedom-Flotilla allegiance as a test which Obama, not Israel, must pass. "Israel's question directed at Obama's administration: 'Do you have my back?'"
If not—then what? Armtwist Congress via AIPAC, perhaps?
"As Obama approaches the mid-term congressional elections, he understands how much he needs Jewish power. And when we're talking about power, we're referring to the power of money, votes and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee." —Yoel Marcus, Ha'aretz
There are many who would, in the past, have called this conspiracy-mongering, anti-Israel insinuation, or even anti-Semitism. Today it is an accepted fact casually tossed off, almost encouragingly, by Israeli news; at worst, a slightly distasteful trump card that nevertheless has to be played. Even if the USA opposes us, the feeling goes, they will publicly support us out of fear. We have impunity.
As Americans, for us to deal with Israel from this point on is to realize that our funding/treatment of Israel is remarkably like Israel's oversight of blockaded Gaza. Through our own blundering, we have crossed a line beyond which either behavioral route from us—opposing them or appeasing them—will increase domestic Israeli support for their violent government.
Thus, as an extremely sad, progressive American Jew, I say oppose them. Oppose the Netanyahu/Barak/Lieberman troika before they hurt us as well as themselves. Our opposition will strengthen their worst elements—but the alternative will do the same—and watching them actively boast of their ability to intimidate the United States government, is far worse in its fallout for Jews, Arabs, and everybody.
I don't realistically believe a scared Congress is going to change anytime soon, but when Israel openly boasts about its ability to scare Congress, we have to call attention to that fact.
And that there are many reasons for a blockade; some just, others unjust, and justice of one sort is no cover for injustice of another.