Irony is everything. Who knew that Turkey would be providing humanitarian aid to victims of Israeli oppression? Israel, the state that was supposed to be a haven from ethnic attacks and Turkey, perpetrator of the first modern genocide (which it stridently denies) are caught up in a bizarre dance of moralism and outrage.

What we know is this: An aid flotilla, bound for Gaza, left Turkey and later came under attack by the Israeli Navy, which has been blockading Gaza for three years. We know the Turkish flotilla was in international waters. We know that Israel claims one of its own was stabbed and that there were higher casualties on the Turkish side. We know that the Israeli forces tried to shut down all communications once they boarded the Turkish boats, as evidenced in one broadcast from a Turkish reporter that ended with someone shouting “Shut up!” in Hebrew.

Yes, I agree that Turkey is doing this move to build itself up as a regional power. Yes, I agree that Turkey is using this incident to increase its credentials at the expense of Israel’s. But didn’t Israel know that? Didn’t anyone in the Israeli Navy stop to think that this sort of thing might just make it next to impossible for Israel to get the kind of aid it wants?

And then I recall that South Africa revealed it once attempted to purchase nuclear weapons from Israel just a few days ago: nothing at all about that in the US press. One of the stories on the news this morning was about riptides, the sort of thing that they report on when there’s a slow news cycle. How can there be a slow news cycle with a smoking gun that proves Israel not only has nuclear weapons, but also was party to negotiations to proliferate nuclear weapons? In America, that’s possible, thanks to the pro-Likud American-Israel PAC.

Leaders of AIPAC hail it as the most successful lobbying organization in the history of the USA. That means it’s been able to run US foreign policy for its own benefit and not the benefit of the typical American citizen. Already, the Israeli propaganda machine is trying to style the altercation at sea as an attack on Israel. I find it hard to swallow that 6 boats in international waters carrying wheelchairs and concrete for Gaza constitutes an attack on Israel, but that won’t stop Israel or the AIPAC from spinning this incident that way.

They have to spin it that way for survival. Here begins another irony: the tactics Israel uses for its short-term survival will almost guarantee its long-term destruction, a la the apartheid regime in South Africa. The USA, by the way, was one of the last supporters of the Nationalists in South Africa and getting the USA to cut its ties with the regime was key in forcing it to hand over power peacefully to the ANC. Israel and AIPAC know that any wavering in US support for Israel will lead to the collapse of Israel’s current system, ushering in a new state that will be nothing at all like the Israel of today.

One wonders if Israel will allow a peaceful transfer of power or if it will go down the other scenario the Nationalists envisaged with their nuclear weapons, gained with the help of Israel. In that scenario, the Nationalists of South Africa buried nuclear warheads under key cities and mining areas so that the ANC would not be able to gain them through violent overthrow of the apartheid system. They would pull off a Samson act, bringing the temple down on everyone’s heads.

Now we know why Israel will be so desperate to keep the USA from cutting support. They don’t want to have to go down that road. That’s what makes this Turkish incident more than just a few hippies getting shoved by security toughs. That Turkish flotilla threatened the very existence of Israel as soon as it drew the foul and came under Israeli fire.

Saner minds prevailed in South Africa and while it is still a land rocked with murders and turmoil, it is not a land scarred with massive radiation and holes in the ground where millions once lived and perished in a flash. The ultimate question is this: are there enough sane minds in Israel to prevail and avoid this sort of final settlement for Jerusalem?