I rarely disagree with you Pete, but no-one seems to have a grasp on the actual situation. Failing that, I don't have a grasp, and everyone else does, but here goes...
The Israeli's are totally out of order.
The aid convoy sent out of Turkish Cyprus was US approved. The Israeli's told the convoy, and the US, that if it headed to Gaza it would be stopped in international waters. The convoy left anyway. They felt protected, because the US had given them an all clear, and they believed that the US had Israel on a short leash.
The Israeli's are demonstrating here that the US, who they feel are exercising too much 'control' over their military activities, 'ain't the boss of us'.
They went in heavy handed, it WAS, technically, an act of Piracy, unless they can prove that the convoy was not carrying aid, and holds equipment that would endanger Israel in some way. Stopping a boat carrying aid, and killing 15 people in the process, is not OK to do simply because small-minded people (not you lot) believe that Israel are anti-terrorist and 'acting for the global good'. Israel are no more anti-terrorist than any other nation. They are however more anti-Muslim than pretty much every other nation.
Ask yourself this. How much drama do you think would have been avoided in the middle east, in the past 50 years, if Israel was located in western Europe? How many lives saved?
I would go as far as to say that if there is a WW3 in our lifetime, it's the Israeli's that start it, chalking up millions more dead. I'm not an anti-semite, by any means, but I also cannot understand people that see Israel as a victim in the Middle-east. They are a heavily armed Tiger amongst a bunch of scruffy tabby-cat kittens.
This is my opinion. I am prepared to have it challenged, as I'm not married to it, but anyone who has the Israelis in white hats, and their neighbours in Black ones, needs to read-up more.
Note. The guns the Israeli's used are made by a toy company. I looked them up today. They are made specifically for the Israeli's, and they were apparently using a mix of ammunition, one of which was a metal-filings/paint mix. Sounds pretty nasty.