U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Tx) has proposed a resolution supporting Israel's right to defend itself and condemning last week's actions by the Turkish-sent six-ship flotilla that wanted to break Israel's blockade on Gaza.
The text is blunt in condemning Hamas for rejecting Israel's right to exist, for its “human rights abuses” against its own citizens in Gaza, and for its opposition to peace efforts in the region. It also condemns Iran for supporting Hamas.
Moreover, the measure urges Turkey – which funded the flotilla and whose Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan is now threatening to personally join the next one – to "recognize the importance of continued strong relations with Israel.” The bill also expresses American lawmakers' “profound disappointment with the counterproductive actions of the United Nations regarding this incident.”
The U.N. Security Council barely avoided generating a resolution condemning Israel after it stopped the flotilla from proceeding to Gaza with its cargo, some of which contained contraband supplies, such as concrete and other building materials. Such materials are banned due to their use by Hamas in past years for the construction of tunnels and bunkers.
One of the six ships, the Mavi Marmara, also bore dozens of Turkish and other armed militants, including paid mercenaries and several operatives from the Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda terrorist organizations.
When Israel Naval commandos boarded the vessel to redirect the ship towards the port of Ashdod, they were attacked by the so-called “peace activists” who beat them with metal rods and clubs, and stabbed them with knives. Several snatched the weapons carried by the commandos, armed only with paintball guns and pistols, and then shot them.
The 58-year-old Republican senator's non-binding measure would affirm Israel's “inherent and undeniable right to defend itself against any threat to the safety of its citizens” if approved.
It would also “condemn the violent attack and provocation by extremists aboard the Mavi Marmara, who created a highly destabilizing incident in a region that cannot afford further instability.”
Further, Cornyn's measure would “condemn any future such attempts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the purpose of creating or provoking violent confrontation or otherwise undermining the security of Israel.”