Supporters of continuing the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem would like global public opinion to believe that the occupation can be maintained and yet Israel can be considered a democracy. A central challenge of occupation opponents is to expose and exacerbate the contradiction between democracy and occupation in mainstream international political discourse.

The #FreedomFlotilla III sailing to challenge the Gaza blockade is providing an excellent opportunity to expose the true face of anti-democratic, pro-occupation political actors in international media.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid on Saturday denounced those taking part in the flotilla to Gaza as “a gang of supporters of terrorism” and a “despicable flotilla that needs to be stopped.”

The former finance minister spoke to a town hall meeting in Holon. He ridiculed the idea that the flotilla was aimed at highlighting the plight of Gaza and advancing Palestinian human rights.

“This flotilla is a kind of provocation against the State of Israel,” he said. “This is a provocation by people who are anything but defenders of human rights.”

“People are trying to portray this flotilla as one that seeks to promote human rights,” Lapid said. “The last thing that you can say about this flotilla is that it has anything to do with human rights. This is a flotilla run by a gang of terrorism supporters, a despicable flotilla that needs to be stopped.”

“Israel needs to deal with this flotilla like it would if it was trying to disperse a violent protest,” he said. “And all of these folks on the flotilla need to be arrested.”

In U.S. media descriptions of Israeli politics, Lapid is routinely described as an Israeli “centrist.” For example, in this June 22 Politico article:

Multiple Israeli officials also condemned Oren’s essay. Former Finance Minister and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid told an Israeli news source that Oren’s piece was “pseudo-psychological analysis based on nothing” and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told Walla! News that his article “does not represent Israeli policy.”

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