{"id":6483,"date":"2023-10-18T17:27:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6483"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:29:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:29:22","slug":"flashback-tammy-baldwin-mourned-innocent-victims-on-pro-hamas-flotilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6483","title":{"rendered":"Flashback: Tammy Baldwin Mourned \u2018Innocent Victims\u2019 on Pro Hamas Flotilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/mava-marmara\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mava<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) once lamented what she labeled the tragic loss of \u201cinnocent victims\u201d on a pro-Hamas flotilla that she misleadingly described as a \u201cFreedom Flotilla\u201d that was simply \u201ccarrying activities and supplies\u201d to the Gaza Strip for humanitarian purposes.<\/p>\n

The comments were, minimally, exceptionally naive and incomplete.<\/p>\n

The truth of the Mava Marmara raid by Israeli commandos is complex, and Israel is not above scrutiny or criticism over it, but Baldwin\u2019s statement misleadingly adopted the most simplistic anti-Israeli rhetoric.<\/p>\n

For example, she ignored the fact that a pro-Hamas Turkish group organized the flotilla, and that Israeli commandos were attacked when they attempted to board the boat, which was purposely attempting to violate the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip for political and propaganda reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of them were terrorists who belonged to IHH (the Turkish group) and wanted to kill Israeli soldiers,\u201d Israeli Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom told The Jerusalem Post.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the deck of the Mavi Marmara, the IDF (Israeli) soldiers were met with extreme violence,\u201d a report on the incident by the Israeli Turkel Commission reads.<\/a><\/p>\n

The raid commander told the Commission, \u201cAs we approached, I gave an order not to carry out any shooting at this stage, including with less-lethal weapons. When we came close to the stern, we began to receive a barrage of objects, anything that came to hand, including metal bars, metal chairs, large cans of tinned food, large screws, which hit the combat personnel and the boat. One of the combat personnel was hit by a blunt object in the face and was cut under the eye. Another of the combat personnel was hit by a metal object on the head, and I gave an order to fire less-lethal weapons at the persons using violence against us.\u201d The phrase \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d rang out.<\/p>\n

As Baldwin now attempts to position against Hamas in the wake of the 2023 attacks on Israel, her previous stance on the Mava Marmara raid is illustrative; for years, Baldwin has attempted to act like she is pro-Israel while taking actions that are anything but. As we previously reported, she has taken a series of anti-Israel policy positions over the years, and she has been weak on Iran, supporting Obama\u2019s Iranian nuclear deal and opposing sanctions against that terrorist regime. At election time, Baldwin tends to remake herself.<\/p>\n

It is in this context that we bring her comments on the pro-Hamas flotilla.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was deeply troubled to learn of the violence and loss of life when six ships delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip were attacked last week. My heart goes out to the many innocent victims,\u201d Baldwin said<\/a> at the time, becoming one of only a few people in Congress to speak out against the raid. In that same letter, she stressed her opposition to Israeli\u2019s blockage of Gaza. She urged a \u201cceasefire\u201d and said she supported both \u201cIsraeli and Palestinian peoples.\u201d She wrote that she was pressing for a \u201cfull and impartial investigation,\u201d presumably against Israel.<\/p>\n

When Hamas, which was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel imposed <\/a>the blockade that Baldwin opposed.<\/p>\n

Baldwin\u2019s naive statement ignores the following:<\/p>\n