One might think that an anthology about a controversial international incident edited by an American academic would be reasoned and factual; that the contributors to the book would be authoritative and reliable; that the language used would be measured and non-partisan.
Think again.
In Midnight on the Mavi Marmara, Moustafa Bayoumi, has unabashedly compiled a collection of distorted and manipulative articles, hurriedly put together when the furor over the Israeli boarding of the Gaza “freedom” flotilla was at its height. He includes firsthand accounts by those who were on the scene, or nearby, on the night of May 31, 2010, when Israeli commandos intercepted a convoy of ships bound for Gaza. But he includes testimonies from the “peace” activists only—nothing from the Israeli side.
For good measure, he has thrown in opinion pieces published within the first week or two of June 2010 from well-known anti-Israel writers, academics, and activists, most of whom were not on the scene.
Accurate Analysis—or a Crystal Ball?
As his sub-title, “The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and how it Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict,” reveals, Bayoumi’s sweeping conclusions, published less than two months after the incident, seem better suited to a crystal ball reader. In fact, he acknowledges his “accelerated publication” schedule and boasts that this was the first book in print on the Mavi Marmara incident.
Bayoumi has not placed the events in context, has not provided balance, has not allowed any counter opinion at all. To address all the wild assertions contained in his book isn’t the purpose of this review. However, his one-sided approach to covering an international incident is a flawed one, deserving of scrutiny.
Recycling Tired Canards
To the anti-Israel movement the Mavi Marmara incident must have seemed like the perfect chance to haul out old grievances, recycle tired canards, and milk the supposed Israeli “crime” for all it was worth—and who better to put this all together than Bayoumi, associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, New York, whom some have called a "grievance peddler" (FrontPageMag)?
He is also the co-author of The Edward Said Reader—Said being the late and controversial Orientalist, known for his anti-Israeli stance. From his background, then, it can be concluded that Bayoumi was not a neutral commenter on the Mavi Marmara incident.
A Who’s Who of Anti-Israel Activists, Writers, and Academics
But Bayoumi, as editor, could have gone beyond choosing only articles that were in accord with his own views. The fact that he did not speaks to his political agenda.
What about these contributors recruited by Bayoumi? Although some well-known writers, journalists, and academics were willing to lend their names to this book, the resulting screed with its unbalanced, even unhinged, rhetoric falls far short of the measured words one would expect from objective writers.
Included among them are:
- Noam Chomsky
- Norman Finkelstein
- Alice Walker
- Stephen Walt
- Adam Shapiro
- Juan Cole
- Ilan Pappé
All of the above are considered to be anti-Israel (Discover the Networks).
Since Bayoumi fails to provide an alternate point-of-view, a balanced recounting of the incident and its ramifications is made impossible. All the readers get is a deluge of rhetoric from hand-chosen extreme detractors of Israel.
Objectivity Not the Aim
The article titles give clues as to the slant of this book and its cavalier approach to journalistic ethics:
- “Our South Africa Moment” –trotting out the tired and despicable canard of Israeli “apartheid.”
- “The Deadly Closing of the Israeli Mind” –a foregone conclusion, apparently.
- “Israel’s Loss of Moral Imagination” –another foregone conclusion; an attempt to defame.
- “The Day the World Became Gaza”–an appeal to pity; implying that all the world supported the activists—the “bandwagon effect.”
- “The Myth of Israeli Morality”–another foregone conclusion; a defamatory accusation.
- “Ever Fewer Hosannas”–alluding to Jewishness when the subject is Israel smacks of anti-Semitism.
What of the First-Person Accounts?
Many readers who pick up this book would likely appreciate reading a sober recounting of the facts that night—from both sides. What they get instead is a one-sided view from biased commenters. Crucial details are either distorted or omitted.
For example: one passenger avows, “We stressed time and again that we would not start any provocation” Yet the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has videotaped evidence which clearly shows the opposite.
Another passenger asserts, “I saw people whose internal organs were out.” With no further detail, this disturbing description implies Israeli atrocities. However, it has been confirmed that the Israelis were attacked with knives and one commando suffered near-evisceration (Phyllis Chesler). If there is any truth in this passenger's description, it needs to be further explained.
The contributors’ propensity for defamatory and counterfactual rhetorical flourishes betray their eagerness to castigate Israel. Hence, the reader continually encounters Israel being accused of:
"a despicable form of state criminality," “murderous rampages,” “relentless persecution,” and “violent recklessness."
Black-and-white characterization is the hallmark of this book. We read that “Israeli policy is and always has been to apply pain and suffering to get what it wants ...” but that the passengers on the Mavi Marmara were “the modern example of Ghandi’s essence.”
Hindsight is Revealing
The advantage of reviewing this book in the second year after the incident gives one the benefit of hindsight. From this vantage point it’s obvious that Bayoumi’s subtitle displays a premature assumption that the course of history had been changed—it was not.
Also, later developments, specifically the UN Palmer Report of September 2011, would show that this subtitle is also factually inaccurate—the Israelis did not “attack,” rather their intervention in international waters was entirely legal, as is their blockade.
Rushing to publication before the dust has settled (or—as in this case— the seaspray has dried) on an incident is fraught with risk. Bayoumi took that risk—and lost.
However, Bayoumi’s aim here was not to evaluate the incident in a reasoned manner—it’s obvious that he saw an opportunity to excoriate Israel, evidence be damned. In one way he achieved his objective: this book, although gravely flawed, can forever provide defamatory material against Israel, for those who seek it.
Bayoumi is an academic not a journalist; however, he—and his publisher—should have known better than to hurriedly publish this one-sided screed with no attempt at balance.
Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: the Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and how it Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict by Moustafa Bayoumi was published by Haymarket Books, Chicago, IL, 2010. ISBN:978--1-60846-121-9
Other Sources:
Camera, "UN Palmer Report Affirms Legality of Israeli Naval Blockade of Gaza," September 2, 2011.
Discover the Networks, Guide to the Political Left.
FrontPageMag "The Exalted Islamic Grievance Peddlers," John Perazzo, January 30, 2009.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "IDF forces met with pre-planned violence when attempting to board flotilla," May 31, 2010.
PJ Media, "Alice Walker: Stop Telling Lies About Israel," Phyllis Chesler, June 6, 2010.
Jen L. Jones - Based in Canada, Jones writes on human rights, history,and the natural world. She focuses also on Turkish and Scottish travel and ...
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