Pro-Hamas Activists Fail in the Air and on the Sea

Photographers almost outnumbered fly-in activists at Ben Gurion airport as Israel’s diplomatic efforts stymied the pro-Arab protests in the air and on the sea. Several pro-Hamas activists who failed to set sail for Gaza tried their luck in the air, but to no avail.

Video - Activists blocked at the Charles de Gaulle Airport  near Paris:

International media admitted that Israel successful and peacefully defeated the attempts to force a clash with Israeli soldiers and police. Airlines were more interested in dealing with the peak travel season than in having to find scarce seats and pay for the return of fly-in activists not allowed to enter Israel. They largely accepted Israel’s “black list” of unwanted activists and refused to allow them on board.

The pro-Hamas organizers denied allegations that they planned to incite Arabs in visits to cities to Ramallah, Shechem, Jenin, the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem.

Those who were barred from boarding airplanes threatened to sue. The ones who were able to land at Ben Gurion Airport were not able to do much more than stage a noisy demonstration and try to raise a Palestinian Authority flag for dozen of photographers and aggravated travelers.

Six Israeli citizens were arrested at the airport where they sympathized with the fly-in activists. Bethlehem University Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh, quoted in The Los Angeles Times, said that the fly-in was a protest against Israel’s alleged "discriminatory policy against Palestinians and its violation of Palestinian human rights."  

Video - Local activists arrested at the Ben Gurion Airport, Israel:

Most of the fly-in hopefuls were American and European. Israeli authorities monitored social network websites and blacklisted 342 people, most of whom were prevented from boarding flights in Europe. Another 124 who landed at Ben Gurion Airport are being deported. 

The numbers are far less than the 800 planned to enter Israel in the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign.

On the sea, one boat, called “The Dignity,” was able to leave the Greek island of Crete with approximately 10 people. It circumvented the Greek ban on sailing to Gaza by stating its destination was Rhodes, from where it plans to change course for Gaza if it can reach past Greek waters.

The Canadian boat Tahrir gave up all efforts to sail, and eight other ships remain stuck at Greek ports.

The London Guardian’s Stephen Pollard wrote that the activists “have been trumpeting the latest flotilla's size, making claims about what it will achieve and taunting Israelis with what they intend to do. And yet their actions have instead strengthened Israel's hand….

“So successful has Israel been in stymieing the flotilla that what is actually setting sail amounts to one small boat with nine activists on board, leaving two weeks late. It is barely worth noting, and poses no threat to the Israeli naval commando unit, Flotilla 13, which played out a range of scenarios in expectation of a more substantial group, from a peaceful takeover of the boats to dealing with activist violence.”

New York Times Bites Israel By Lying About the “Flytilla” by Barry Rubin

Saying that the New York Times misreported on the Middle East in a way deliberately intended to be biased against Israel is like writing an article with the headline, “Dog Bites Man!” Still, since this behavior is so often unintentionally humorous, I can’t resist quoting the lead of the newspaper’s main story on the “flytilla” attempt to disrupt Israel’s airport and air travel:

“Israel prevented a gathering of foreigners here on Friday by blocking, deterring or deporting hundreds of air travelers who had been invited by Palestinian activists to fly into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport and then travel to the West Bank for a week of “fellowship and actions.”
Now if this was true, those foreigners–unless they had engaged in some violent or directly subversive action (abetting terrorists, smuggling in money)–would have arrived in the airport, walked thorugh the terminal, and boarded buses to go to the West Bank without difficulty. Hundreds of anti-Israel activists have done so in the past.
Remember, too, that this action arose directly out of the failed flotilla a few days previously, an operation backed by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In fact, as was repeatedly stated by the organizers and participants both publicly and on every sort of social media, they planned to hold a demonstration at the airport that would in effect close it down. The author of the article must know this as should any editor at the newspaper who has been following the story.
While a lot of the mass media has been transformed over the last 10 or 20 years from reasonably objective (albeit far from perfect) to slanted, in the last five years it has been further fundamentally transformed to outright conscious lies and shameless propaganda.
Where are the journalism professors, journalism reviews, and editors who will condemn this kind of behavior rather than condone and even advocate it? Does anyone ever get fired for systematically producing propaganda rather than proper journlaism? I haven’t heard of a single case in either category.
An honest lead would have read:
Israel blocked, deterred or deported hundreds of anti-Israel activists who planned a demonstration at Ben-Gurion International airport and then to travel to the West Bank for a week of demonstrations and support activities for the Palestinians there.
That’s a perfectly reasonable, balanced, and fair lead. Instead, the paragraph was intended to make Israel seem like a police state persecuting nice people who just wanted to go make friends with Palestinians.
Perhaps 30-40 percent of the American people think that nothing has changed in the American mass media and that it presents the news in a reasonable way. (For example, conservatives really are really bloodthirsty, racist, monsters while anyone who criticizes the Obama Administration is right-wing and should be ignored–only kidding.) Another 30-40 percent perhaps think things have always been like this.
If you don’t understand how an organ like the New York Times has gone from being a liberal-oriented but professional and responsible newspaper into a disgraceful propaganda sheet, it is impossible to comprehend what has gone wrong in America.
Note: My usual disclaimer applies.There are many good journalists who work in the mainstream media and do their job properly and many good reporters even on the New York Times.

French flytidiots being stopped from boarding plane in Paris

The text reads, in part:

Due to statements of pro-Palestinian radicals to arrive on commercial flights from abroad to disrupt the order and confront security forces at friction points, it was decided to refuse their entry in accordance with our authority according to the Law of Entry to Israel 1952.

Attached is a list of passengers that will be refused entry to Israel....In light of the above-mentioned, you are required not to board them on your flights to Israel.Failure to comply with this directive would result in a delay on the flight and their return on the same flight.

For some reason, the airlines gave the activists the entire list.The letter also states that the list might have more names added at any time.

Six Expelled at Airport; 200 Stopped Abroad

he “fly-in flotilla” planned for Friday has fizzled as foreign authorities ban most anti-Israel activists from boarding flights. Police are still on alert at Ben Gurion International Airport, but so far have encountered only six protesters.

Far-left foreign activists had planned a mass event for Friday in support of the Arab world's demand that millions of descendents of Arabs who fled pre-state Israel be allowed to “return” as citizens. While some activists said they planned to enter Israel quietly and travel to Palestinian Authority-controlled regions to protest, others were planning to riot at the airport to draw attention to their cause.

Israel responded by issuing a list of 347 pro-PA activists believed to be planning disruptions, and asked airports to prohibit them from boarding flights to Israel. Airlines were given an explanation from Israel's security apparatus as to why the “fly-in” protest is seen as a threat, and were warned that passengers from the list who succeeded in reaching Israel would not be allowed to enter the country.

Fifty activists were kept off a Lufthansa flight to Israel at Charles de Gaulle Airport and in protest refused to leave the terminal, Israel Radio reported. “Charles de Gaulle Airport is under Israeli occupation,” one accused.

Another 30 were barred from a flight in Geneva.

While most on the list will not be arriving in Israel, security professionals believe that hundreds more whose names are not on the list are still planning to arrive. Officials have warned that anyone who disrupts the peace at the airport will be denied entrance to Israel and deported as quickly as possible.

Two American women were deported overnight on Thursday after arriving in the country and stating that they were participants in the “fly in” protest who had originally planned to arrive in Gaza by sea in defiance of Israel's naval blockade on Hamas.

Another four would-be protesters were turned back later in the morning.

Police warned that the main “fly-in” wave may not yet have hit. “Anything could happen,” said Police Chief Yochanan Danino.

Pro-Palestinian activists blocked in Europe

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli police boarded two passenger planes from Europe after they landed at Tel Aviv's airport and took off 32 suspected pro-Palestinian activists for questioning Friday, part of its attempt to prevent a mass arrival envisioned by organizers of the coordinated protest.

Israel also blocked scores of activists at European airports, after circulating a blacklist with 300 names to airlines, and deported six passengers who managed to land in Tel Aviv, including two Americans who according to an Israeli media report wore "fly-in" T-shirts.

Organizers said only two out of several hundred expected activists managed to enter Israel so far, but more arrivals were expected Friday and Saturday.

Anna De Palma, 44, a Portuguese citizen, said she passed border controls without problems, apparently because she didn't identify herself as an activist. "I said I was coming to visit. That was it," she said. "I am not a conspicuous person and we don't have to be conspicuous about it."

De Palma said she believes some of her fellow passengers on her flight from Zurich were held up because she did not seem them after getting off the plane. A passenger on an Easyjet flight from London said he saw 15 activists being held up at border control.

Concerned by the growing number of confrontations with media-savvy activists and the international criticism that has often ensued, Israel took measures to avoid a clash this time by preventing protesters from reaching the country altogether.

Hundreds of activists had planned to arrive at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport over the weekend, beginning late Thursday. Organizers insisted they were on a peaceful, weeklong mission to express solidarity with the Palestinians and draw attention to life under Israeli occupation, including travel restrictions.

Israel tightened security at the airport ahead of the their arrival and asked foreign airlines to prevent blacklisted travelers from boarding Israel-bound flights.

By mid-afternoon Friday, the Israeli measures had been successful in preventing significant disruptions at the airport, although more arrivals were expected later in the day and Saturday.

Two planes that arrived from Geneva and Rome on Friday were diverted to a special area of the airport, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Security officers boarded the planes and escorted 32 passengers off for questioning. Rosenfeld said the passengers would be granted or denied entry on a case-by-case basis.

At Israel's request, several airlines barred about 200 would-be protesters from boarding flights to Israel from Europe, Rosenfeld said.

"The companies did not allow them on the airplanes because we told them clearly they wouldn't be able to enter Israel," Rosenfeld said.

One of the organizers, French activist Olivia Zemor, said her group planned only nonviolent activities. The group, "Welcome to Palestine," released a statement Friday calling the moves to prevent activists from reaching Israel "provocative, blackmailing and illegal."

At Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, several would-be protesters were turned away from check-in counters, and protesters subsequently gathered in the terminal, shouting "Boycott Israel," as French police stood by.

Cynthia Beatt, a British citizen living in Germany, told The Associated Press that she had been barred from boarding a Lufthansa plane Friday morning in Berlin. She had planned to take part in the protest.

"Lufthansa called me last night and said I would not be allowed to board their plane because Israel denied me entry," Beatt said.

In Geneva, dozens of activists were barred from boarding an EasyJet flight to Tel Aviv. Aline Yazgi, a spokeswoman for Switzerland's second biggest airport, said the passengers tried to pass through security without a boarding card and were turned back, closing part of the airport for about 40 minutes as a result.

An EasyJet spokesman in Geneva, Adrian Fuhrer, said 40 people were prevented from boarding the plane at the request of Israeli authorities. "It was compulsory for EasyJet not to let these people on board," Fuhrer said.

The detailed lists showed that Israel has been tracking the activists. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, police and intelligence units followed social networks used by the groups organizing the protest.

Israel's public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, told reporters at the airport near Tel Aviv that the list of banned activists consisted of about 340 names. Organizers of the protest said a total of about 600 people were scheduled to take part.

Six would-be protesters had arrived in Israel and had been deported by Friday afternoon, Aharonovitch said.

Israel has not publicized its criteria for denying entry, but has said peaceful visitors will not be deported.

The activists have placed Israel in an awkward position. Authorities are determined to keep out people they consider hostile agitators, but critics in Israel have said the government's high-profile reaction has only served to draw attention to the activists' attempt to gain publicity.

Israel's concern is rooted in a number of deadly run-ins with pro-Palestinian activists, both on the high seas and along the frontiers with Lebanon and Syria. The best-known, in May 2010, resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists in a clash with Israeli troops aboard a vessel trying to breach Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The activists say they want to express solidarity with the Palestinians in the West Bank and draw attention to life under Israeli occupation, including travel restrictions.

Visitors can reach the West Bank only through Israeli-controlled crossings, either through international airports or the land border with Jordan. Citing security concerns, Israel bars most Palestinians from entering Israel or using its airport, meaning they must travel to neighboring Jordan to fly out.

At any given time, hundreds of foreigners, including activists and aid workers, are in the West Bank.

Travel restrictions in the Gaza Strip, ruled by the militant Hamas group, are even more rigorous. Israel allows few people to cross its border with Gaza, and most Gazans can travel abroad only by crossing into Egypt through their shared border.

Associated Press writers Ariel David at Ben-Gurion Airport, Angela Charlton in Paris, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, and Frank Jordans in London contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.