What about if those FLOTILLAS TRY TO SMUGGLE HEROINE OR UNCONVENTIONAL ARMS LIKE CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL !! IDF WANTS TO ALERT WORLD OPINION BY KEEPING ALIVE THIS FLOTILLA AFFAIR !!

Misguided, spineless apologist. With these nutcases, even when they are clearly losing the game when they are exposed, they will blame the other side- so indicative of their blind, distorted agenda.

Amen !!! Down the hill since the Lebanon war in 2006 ,...

but it is all over Twitter and other social media. The world has changed

The MSM has done its minimum duty in covering this as usual but it is viral on the internet. Everybody can see you make fools and fascist of yourselves. Well done again.

PR will always be against Israel so long as Israel is a Jewish state. If Israel ignores this flotilla more will be forthcoming and Israel will continue to be perceived as weak. This is not a big story in world news with the exception of those who want to destroy Israel piece by piece. The Arab Winter ( not spring ), countries having financial problems and war are the big news....not a flotilla.

My suggestion to Asaf stick to your studies at the University and teach disabled kids as you are loved at this very hard career. As far as your writing abilities are the proof in this article shows your ignorance and lack of understanding of the ARab Israeli situation/ matzav, and that includes all the parasites/unemployed nobodys who try to get a little publicity and excitement in their lives by embarking on dangerous adventures helping Hamas that is too much for you to grasp therefore, I suggest stick toyour studies and become a good counselor to kids rather than a lousy reporter

Don't allow the the boats to get through,but please shut about this flotilla, you are giving them too much publicity.Just shut up,no one is interested in this flotilla,so stop carrying on about it.Asaf is DAMN right,be quiet...

Larry, not only that, but Greece has now announced that she will not allow the flotilla to sail. Israel has really won this round

So, in a pro-Israel rant you mention our southern border. Just imagine if a bunch of immigrants came across the border took over one of the states and forces out the people who were born there with the excuse that their people were there first. That would be an atrocity that no civilized people would tolerate. Why must one set aside common sense to discuss Israel?

down from 3,000 people sailing to less than 200 at last count. Pretty soon there will be more "journalists" than "activists"

In your dreams! Our media are full of attentions. Some are furious, some are laughing, all follow this closely.

agree with you, we have exaggerated our media reaction

You guys did it to the Indians and you had no prior claim to the USA. Talk about setting aside common sense!!!

If Israel allowed a single flotilla to reach Gaza, then many others would follow, and some of these would certainly carry rockets and arms. Amazing how Mr.Gefen can not see that! Also, allowing the flotilla to reach Gaza would be a symbolic victory for Hamas and their supporters, and a show of weakness by Israel. The Hamas terrorists and their supporters understand only the language of force. Israel should not show any weakness.

Ignoring the flotilla would be like ignoring a poisonous snake within striking distance. It would not only be foolish; it would likely be deadly! Ignoring reality is hubris in its purest form. It's hubris obliviana!

You are right. Not a peep about this story in the UK. The tree has not fallen and we are not even aware of there being a forest ...

//A daily perusal of European and American newspapers shows it is being ignored as a story// We lazy Occidentals don't do newspapers anymore. Too time consuming. We do Yahoo! - and it's right there on the home page. However, if we want to talk about stupidity, why blame only Israel? American Jewish protesters outside the Greek embassy yesterday were told "look, it's YOUR [U.S.] government who told us to do it." With regards to the Greek intervention and the sabotage, I think (an)other government(s) is/are intent on preserving the status quo, and letting Israel take the blame. How big a customer would the Levant be for the weapons industry if they had peace? How easy would it be to pull strings? What if the Levantines stopped fighting amongst themselves and started competing in the international market? As they say, follow the money....

Gefen's article was wrong :) Shavua tov

Problem is more of these flotillas will come and if we keep letting these ships come then we can no longer justify having a blockade and one day one once we have given up on this blockade a weapons ship will come. You can only justify a blockade if you search all ships and not be choosy. Not stoping the flotilla may even be worse publicity if we let them go to Gaza anyway. We want to keep the Gaza border closed these guys will dock in Gaza say we are here to give out all this stuff because Israel is keeping Gaza a prison etc. We will not have tried to stop these ships so we will have taken the security element out of the argument so where is our justification for stopping other ships? Stop the flotillas and we can use security as a grounds for the blockade. If the passengers are peaceful when the ship is boarded then the thing will be taken to Ashdod and we can have the cameras unload the cargo and put it onto trucks to Gaza. If the passengers are violent we need to make sure we get maximum video coverage so everybody can see the troops being attacked. Also rather than paintball guns give them riot control weapons and tazers as their non lethal weapon. Paintball guns don't hurt but they don't stop. Tear gas is unpleasant but it will stop a crowd without the need for live ammunition. If possible just disable the ship at sea and tow it to Ashdod and then film the now searched cargo being loaded onto trucks to Gaza.

Can you tell from all the talkbacks that maybe you're off track?!?

The author must have some valid points because he got all of you all worked up over it lol. It's true, you again lost the PR war. They are bringing aid to Gaza, the fairytale of weapons is a desperation hasbara tactic which didn't work. Then linking them to Hamas with no proof. Then claiming these unarmed people are terrorists. Then sabotaging their boats. Then pressuring Greece to prevent them from leaving. It's all out there. I'm surprised Iran wasn't brought up at some point. Think what you want, but Israel lost again. And could be going strike 3 next week.

noone gives a damn about this years flotilla. check the major european , american or russian news and papers --no reports or very little at best. even turkey doesnt seem to care.

is probably responsible for Gefen's ideas. It does bother me a lot that there are such dummies like Barak still in power and kept in power somehow and no matter what blunders they make in a year of 2 here they are again in a position to wreak more havoc on the IDF & Israel. Makes me wonder if there is a God!

We have won period. Total victory and yet morons like you still don't see it. As long as we are fighting Arabs we can't lose. Hell they can't even beat each other, let alone anybody with a brain.

Maybe Asaf isn't bright, but he expresses the impression of the World outside Israël of this historic event.