Moron of the week

The prize for moron of the week must go to the Israeli naval commando—a member of the world-renowned Shayetet 13, supposedly one of the toughest special forces units in the world—who allowed a few unarmed civilians on the Mavi Marmara to beat him up and take his gun. What the...?

If there is any truth to this, then clearly the poor little boys of Shayetet 13 should all go home and have a nice warm cup of cocoa, but they should remember to get Mummy to check it first because if it's too hot it might burn their lips. Instead of handing out medals to murderers, the Israeli military should be conducting courts martial, not only of these laughably incompetent idiots, but also of the officers who selected, trained and commanded them.

But of course that's only if it's true. I doubt it. Even without his gun, a member of one of these units can kill you seventeen different ways with his bare hands, silently, in a couple of seconds. They are supposed to be the best of the best. Their training alone would break any normal man. The history of their unit is filled with daring raids on terrorist hideouts, assassinations, sabotage, infiltration far behind enemy lines... Are we seriously supposed to believe that they allowed themselves to be beaten up and captured? Excuse me?

One thing is for sure. Never again should Shayetet 13 be mentioned in the same company as the US Navy Seals, Sayeret Matkal, SAS, Rangers, Green Berets, Delta Force and so on. Instead they should be grouped together with such fictional incompetents as Inspector Clouseau, Austin Powers and—my personal favourite—Rowan Atkinson's bumbling secret agent Johnny English. Whether this shameful story is true or not, the loss of professional pride in the unit must now be so serious that for morale reasons alone it should be disbanded immediately, before the shame spreads to the entire IDF.

One last thing: the Turks have said that the next aid flotilla from Istanbul will be accompanied by gunboats from the Turkish navy. If a few unarmed civilian peace activists could make such a mess of Shayetet 13, what will happen if they attempt to engage the Turkish navy? I think, based on the evidence of earlier this week, that Israel would be well-advised to let them pass unmolested.