“The time has come,” the Walrus said,

“To talk of many things:

Of shoes – and ships – and sealing-wax –

Of cabbages – and kings –

And why the sea is boiling hot –

And whether pigs have wings.”

— Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter, from Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There, 1872

Organizers of the recently failed Gaza Flotilla II fiasco, including the radical anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement, were attempting to repeat their propaganda victory of last year. But the ships and boiling hot seas they foresaw instead morphed into Carroll’s winged pigs (in other words, they went nowhere), with the help of timely journalism and some surprising support for Israel.

The 2010 flotilla headed by the Turkish-flatted Mavi Marmara, with passengers self-described as “human rights and peace activists” trying to deliver “humanitarian supplies” to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, resulted in a boarding by Israeli commandos who were attacked with pipes, large sticks and knives. In the ensuing melee, eight Turkish nationals and a Turkish-American were killed and others wounded.

Predictably, Israel, acting as a sovereign to protect its national waters from possible importation of contraband, was roundly condemned by the “international community” for its “disproportionate” response to the flotilla. The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution criticizing Israel for its actions, and the U.N. Security Council, in a presidential statement, called for an investigation.

What a difference a year makes!

The 2011 edition, with several hundred activists from over a dozen nations (including the United States) ran into some unexpected but welcome obstacles.

• The effort was opposed as unnecessary and provocative by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the so-called Quartet (comprising the European Union, the U.S., the U.N. and Russia) and even Turkey.

• A recent (and as it turns out, timely) New York Times article by Ethan Bronner described some of the economic development being experienced in Gaza. Bronner gave eyewitness descriptions of “new cars, shopping malls and luxury hotels” that are emerging in Gaza. Reports Bronner: “Thousands of new cars (are) plying the roads,” and “hundreds of BMWs, pick-up-trucks and other vehicles have arrived in recent months from Libya, driven through Egypt and sold via the unmonitored tunnels.” Later in the article, Bronner reports that most consumer goods in Gaza originate in Israel and that “the siege of goods is now 60 percent to 70 percent over.”

• Perhaps most importantly, as noted by the American Jewish Committee, “The Greek government prevented the boats, which are docked in several Greek ports, from sailing to Gaza, citing the U.N. Secretary General’s position that humanitarian aid should be supplied through official channels. As expected, Greece has been under tremendous pressure from pro-Palestinian organizers to reverse its policy.”

What’s most telling, however, is how the Israel delegitimizing voices run away from anything that would undercut their agenda. When Bronner, for instance, asked a Gaza resident to comment on the area’s new prosperity, he was told that discussing it was “not constructive.” Translation: To do so would undercut the purely propagandistic actions such as the Gaza Flotilla publicity stunt.

This line of thinking is evident in the deceptions involved in promoting anti-Israel conduct such as the flotillas. For instance, if Greece says no and Turkey won’t take a leading position this time (the Turkish and Israeli governments have made strides in reconciling), why not depart from Syria? The answer: because the radicals who try to deconstruct Israel want it to appear as though more moderate nations support their cause. Having sworn enemies of Israel be front and center in a flotilla effort would undermine their efforts. Meanwhile, there has been much silence by the flotilla “peace activists” as the Syrian regime has slaughtered 1,300 protesters and caused 7,000 refugees to flee across the border into Tukey.

Those nations and individuals who live to destroy The Jewish State are starting to see chinks in their armor. The Arab Spring movement, while fraught with perilous instability, frightens the radical Palestinian leadership because it cannot stomach the notion of masses thinking for themselves about democracy and free will, which in the Middle East is most well emulated by Israel. The news of the West Bank’s economic development and relative security doesn’t play well in Gaza City. And Hamas’ arguments about embargoes are undercut by its own smuggling tunnels and the channels by which Israel has sanctioned legitimate assistance.

In other words, things are moving in the right direction for the residents of Gaza, admittedly sometimes in fits and starts. That doesn’t make for the kind of contempt toward Israel that some hateful activist leaders would prefer, especially as the potential U.N. September showdown about Palestinian statehood draws near. So the response is both pathetic and predictable: When things go well, the radical activists get going – in the opposite direction of publicity.

The AJC and other Jewish groups are encouraging Americans to express appreciation to the Greek government with email messages to both the Greek Ambassador to the United States, Vassilis Kaskarelis, at [email protected], or to the Greek Consul General for the Midwest in Chicago, Ioanna Efhymiadou, at [email protected] or [email protected].