As someone who regards himself as a friend of Israel, I am saddened by the recent debacle off Gaza – but not for the same reasons that are getting most commentators’ knickers in a twist.   

I believe Israel has a perfect right to control who and what enters Gaza, given that the Hamas regime is committed to the destruction of the State of Israel and is supported by Iran, but this so-called aid flotilla was never more than an act of provocation, daring Israel to intervene.   This was a trap that Israel should have foreseen and avoided.

Having realised that they can’t defeat her on the battlefield – despite vast superiority in numbers, Israel’s neighbours have changed tactics and, since 1973, their aim has been to win the global PR war.  They have been brilliantly successful, while successive Israeli governments have been pathetic. 

There is now a real risk of Israel being condemned in the United nations and even having sanctions imposed.  The country’s government must now stop relying solely on its defence forces and get to grips with articulating its case clearly before the court of public opinion – before it is too late.  This is crisis PR with knobs on.

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