Quote Originally Posted by Sergeant T View Post
It does make me wonder: Based on what was known before the raid, not now, what should the Israelis have done differently?
I think deteriorating relations with Turkey limited Israel's options.

In an ideal world they could have coordinated with the Turkish government to inspect and supervise the loading of the cargo. Coordinated a Naval escort, preferably Turkish, for the flotilla. The volunteers could have flown from Turkey to Egypt or Israel clearing customs and whatever procedures are necessary to enter Gaza, and then meet with the ships at the docks or off the coast.

Such a process could have reasonably allayed Israel’s security concerns, and still enable the flotilla engage in it humanitarian objective. Whether the flotilla organizers would have gone for all this, or if this is even feasible, I don’t know.

Perhaps the security and humanitarian issue on both sides are moot, and it really comes down to Israel asserting its authority and control vs. the flotilla defying that authority and control? In such a case, looking for a non-zero sum solution is a fool’s errand.