Convoy of care or flotilla of fools?

By Joe Fernandez - Free Malaysia Today,

COMMENT The Israelis may have been right when they dismissed the so-called humanitarian mission to Gaza as a cheap publicity stunt that had little to do with helping the Gazans, and mostly to do with breaking the maritime blockade imposed by Tel Aviv.
The Israelis offered to take the aid and distribute it to the Gazans directly, saying they did not want to risk any of the aid falling into the hands of the Hamas high command.
Tel Aviv’s explanation seems to have been conveniently ignored by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin as he went berserk on the streets of Kuala Lumpur while the police looked the other way. We have not seen him getting similarly worked up on poverty, rising prices, extrajudicial killings, the harassment of Penans, or the level of corruption in the country. Charity begins at home.
The Gaza aid organisers, the Malaysians included, foolishly vowed “no surrender” and pledged to carry on despite Israeli reminders that the convoy would not be allowed to proceed.
Now the inevitable has happened. Déjà vu? Ask the trigger-happy Malaysian police who seek refuge, after their shoot-to-kills, under four emergency proclamations.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who does not care that the Penans are in even greater need than the Gazans, should be ashamed that he encouraged the Malaysians on their foolhardy mission.
This is not the first time that he has pulled such a cheap public relations stunt to boost his image among the gullible rural voters deep in the heartland of Malay country and to improve his standing in the Muslim world.
He did it during the Bosnian war, when he encouraged quite a few Malaysians to symbolically adopt children from the ravaged country.
Tel Aviv's responsibility
The children of the Penans had a better claim for adoption, but for people like Mahathir they are a nuisance since they are squatting on rich timber tracts.
What the Gaza aid organisers have failed to comprehend is that the welfare of the people of Gaza and the West Bank is the responsibility of the government in Tel Aviv. No self-respecting government in the world will stand idly by and see itself challenged on this score by some bearded do-gooder lefties leading a flotilla of sampans. Usurping the functions of a legitimate government is not the thing to do in the modern world.
Foreign Minister Anifah Aman appeared on national television recently expressing disappointment with the UN Security Council for the mildness of its criticism of Israel’s use of force. Afterwards, this question was text-messaged to him: “What would be Malaysia’s response if a foreign flotilla of ships, led by the Bruno Manser Foundation of Switzerland, were to head towards the Sarawak coast with 10,000 tonnes of medical and food supplies for the starving Penans?”
Anifah has not responded.