Israel has done much to intercept the aerial invasion by the Palestinians and their supporters, which is expected to reach its peak Friday. It lobbied various airlines and their governments to prevent the protesters from boarding their planes, and has a thick cordon of police officers waiting to greet them at Ben Gurion airport. Though still too early to evaluate the success of the efforts, the government was already being criticized Thursday for exaggerating and sowing panic, which only played into the hands of the unwanted tourists. In this context, some claimed that Israel did not need to respond to the initiative. The activists could have arrived, spread out among their friends in Bethlehem, and then returned home to their countries without anyone noticing. This is a reasonable scenario if one assumes that they bothered to fly all the way to Israel with no intention of making waves or attracting attention. All their briefings, however, indicated that they are aiming for a verbal confrontation (though not a violent one, at this stage) and a noisy protest at the airport. In preparatory briefings in Europe they discussed visiting homes inside the Green Line - an opening move in the struggle over the right of return - and resisting any attempt by police to return them to their homes in America and Europe. Israel's diplomatic effort has substantially reduced, it seems, the extent of the "flightilla." The level of preparedness ordered by Yitzhak Aharonovich and Yohanan Danino was criticized, but not necessarily with justification. Israel, and particularly its internal security organizations, suffer from post-flotilla stress - internal pressure caused by the Israel Defense Forces' problematic handling of the Mavi Marmara last year, which drew harsh criticism both at home and abroad. A reinforced police presence at Ben Gurion airport on Thursday and Friday is a reasonable move, based on the reports criticizing the events of May 29, 2010, when the IDF was caught at a disadvantage on the Marmara. The goal is two-fold: an excess of blue-uniformed cops in the eyes of the invaders is liable to deter them from initiating provocations in a place as sensitive as the airport, while if, despite everything, they do attempt to cause a conflagration, enough police will be in place to put it down rapidly, without resorting to unusual means or steps that will draw international condemnation. Anyone who takes issue with Aharonovich and Danino's handling of the current situation should ask himself how they would be criticized if they did not act. They would be asked why they did not draw conclusions from the last incident and why they left the police in an inferior position in a moment of impending confrontation, along with other charges of the sort. The deployment at the airport is similar to an ambulance the waits on the sidelines of a mass event. Chances are, it will not be needed. Everyone understands, however, that it is necessary, just in case.
