Flotilla and Flytilla

"Flotilla" and "Flytilla"                                                      By Mati Shoshani

In the past week Israel has fended off two public relations attacks. The first was the planned flotilla, a sequel of the one in May. After much diplomatic efforts, the coastal countries of Europe agreed to prevent the ships from sailing towards Israel. In one case Greek Commandos boarded an American ship, which attempted to head out against the authorities' directives.Over the past week Israeli authorities have been preparing for the "Flytilla," several hundred leftist activists who planned to fly into Israel.  Israel successfully prevented the planned provocation by putting many of the known activists on a no-fly list passed on to airlines. They also prepared a large response force in the Tel Aviv airport, which was able to contain easily the few demonstrators who made it to the country. The Israeli government learned the lesson from the media fiasco of the first flotilla. This time they outwitted the international anti-Israeli activists, rather than meeting them on their terms.