The National Council of Young Israel today called on Secretary of State John Kerry to clarify his recent comments, in which he likened the victims of last week’s deadly bombings in Boston to the Turkish activists who lost their lives during the flotilla incident in Gaza three years ago.

After the Mavi Marmara, a ship that was part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, willfully sought to violate Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza in May 2010, Israeli forces boarded the vessel in order to prevent it from breaking the blockade. The Israelis were attacked by the armed activists on the Mavi Marmara, and nine activists were killed during the ensuing skirmish. Had the activists not attacked the Israeli forces, there would have been no injuries, and certainly no deaths, during the incident.

In September 2011, the United Nations Palmer Commission determined that Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza was a “legitimate security measure” in order to curtail the smuggling of weaponry into Gaza. The commission’s report noted that the militant groups in Gaza pose a real threat to Israel and concluded that the naval blockade that was imposed in response to that threat was in compliance with international law.

While in Istanbul, Turkey earlier this week to discuss improving relations between Israel and Turkey, Secretary of State Kerry made the following statement while talking about the flotilla incident:

“I particularly say to the families of people who were lost in the incident we understand these tragedies completely and we sympathize with them. And nobody – I mean, I have just been through the week of Boston and I have deep feelings for what happens when you have violence and something happens and you lose people that are near and dear to you. It affects a community, it affects a country. We’re very sensitive to that.”

David Gebler, Associate Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel and a former president of the Young Israel of Sharon, Massachusetts, took particular offense at the Secretary of State’s remarks.

“As a resident of Massachusetts and a former constituent of Senator Kerry, I was deeply troubled by the Secretary of State’s comments,” said Gebler. “Massachusetts residents, as well as all Americans, watched in horror as the tranquility of Boston and its suburbs was shattered by the deadly bombings that claimed the lives of several innocent victims and caused serious injuries to countless others. We experienced a sense of profound grief and acute anxiety as the perpetrators of this senseless act of violence brought the city of Boston to a virtual standstill as this terrifying drama unfolded.”

“The National Council of Young Israel strenuously objects to the implied moral equivalence conveyed by Secretary of State Kerry regarding the terrorist act in Boston and a legitimate defensive measure carried out by the Israel Defense Forces on the Mavi Marmara,” continued Gebler. “We respectfully request that the Secretary of State clarify his remarks to confirm that it was not his intent to infer some sort of equivalence between these two distinct events.”

“The National Council of Young Israel also expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the various law enforcement agencies that collaborated in order to track down the terrorists responsible for the Boston attacks and ensure that they would not be able to do any further harm,” added Gebler. “Our thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones in the attacks and we continue to pray for the speedy recovery of all those who were wounded.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)