The security establishment is carefully monitoring the SS Julia, a Lebanese ship heading to Gaza, which is expected to arrive towards week’s end. It is part of the next wave of vessels, including the Mariam, which will be carrying nuns and Christian and Islamic women, insisting it is a peaceful humanitarian vessel.

Security officials are not taking the arrival of the boats set to leave the Port of Tripoli in N. Lebanon lightly, attempting to envision all possible scenarios, including the possibility that a suicide bomber(s) will be on board to meet naval commandos.

In Lebanon, the flotilla is bringing embarrassment to the government according to some ministers, as the flotilla is tied directly to Hizbullah. Making things worse, when Prime Minister Hariri turned to Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to cancel the ships, the terror commander told Hariri that it has nothing to do with him, instructing him to address his request to the Free Palestine and Journalists without Borders organizations.

It is also ironic that as Lebanon’s transportation minister approved the vessels leaving the port to head to Gaza via Cyprus, Lebanon is a temporary member of the UN Security Council.

Perhaps signaling the true intentions of the flotilla is a recent statement from the flotilla organizer, “Even if our leaders sign peace agreements, we will not respect them”.

The following statement quoting a flotilla organizer was was released by the Office of the IDF Spokesperson.

“I hope that when the day comes, those ships will be able to take the European refugees [meaning: the Israelis; N.B.] back to their homelands. I am calling out to the Israelis to do that,” said Palestinian businessman Yasser Kashlak who stands behind the provocation flotilla expected to arrive in Israeli waters from Lebanon, during an Interview with Hezbollah’s television channel Al-Manar last weekend.

“Gilad Shalit needs to return to Paris, and the rest of the murderers need to return to Poland”, he said later during the same interview, adding, “We will continue to persecute them until justice will have been done regarding the massacres from Dir Yassin and until this day.” Then he called the State of Israel “a dog infected with leprosy, who was sent to the area in order to scare the Arabs”, and asked the citizens of Israel not to “believe in the illusion of peace created by modern Arab leaders”. He continued, “Even if our leaders sign peace agreements, we will not respect them. Our children will return to Palestine.”

“We’ll see what the Zionists will tell the world after they send their foolish commando soldiers to stop women. I swear that we will persecute the Zionists everywhere in the world for the crimes that they carried out against our Palestinian brothers,” Kashlak told the Lebanese media over the past few days.  He explained that the flotilla will consists of two ships, one of them called “Naji El-Ali” and the other one “Mariam”, which is also nicknamed the “women’s ship”, since dozens of women of the Arab world will sail on this ship.

The Iranian Red Crescent organization announced an aid ship will leave a southern Iranian port on Sunday, heading for Gaza laden with 1,100 tons of equipment, medical supplies and general aid.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)