People on the New Jersey Parkway drive like maniacs! That’s all.
This week’s blog is about a rescue like “in a Hollywood film,” and a promise for retaliation.
A Hollywood-esque rescue
After a week of hostile rhetoric between the United States and Iran over military exercises to be held in the Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, an ironic situation like no other added some relief to those observing the situation. The Al Molai, an Iranian fishing vessel, was saved by the USS Kidd, a US navy destroyer, from Somali pirates who had held the Iranian vessel for more than 40 days. After the rescue, the destroyer detained the Somali pirates, supplied the Iranians with food and fuel and sent them on their way. The Iranian foreign minister Salehi acknowledged the US action as a “humanitarian gesture,” but was quick to outline that Iranian warships have in the past rescued vessels. Fars, the semi-state owned news agency of Iran, was suspicious about the authenticity of the event that appeared to be staged like “a Hollywood film.” There was no direct interaction between the American and Iranian governments and the opportunity to thaw relations was not taken by either side.
It is great to see underlying solidarity in the face of piracy between the peoples of two states that have been at odds for over three decades. I think this incident shows the gap that exists between a state and its peoples. Would the people of Iran support the development or the use of a nuclear warhead? I highly doubt it for they have not seen the benefit of doing either. And the Americans? The public surely does not seek to enter another war in the Middle East. By rescuing the Iranian sailors, the American military has shown its goodwill towards the will of the Iranian and American peoples alike because they have shown both that it is not their ultimate wish to enter a conflict with Iran.
Disproportionate retaliation?
Earlier this week a hacker by the name of OxOmar published several thousands of credit card numbers stolen from Israeli credit card companies. The numbers solely belong to citizens of Israel. The Israeli deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, condemned the event as a “terrorist” attack that would have consequences. “No agency or hacker,” he said, “would be immune from retaliatory action.” Meanwhile, it was determined that the hacker was a 19-year old citizen of the United Arab Emirates who currently resides in Mexico. Israel so far has taken no actions to contact Mexican authorities. Hamas however issued a statement to encourage further cyber-attacks on Israeli organizations.
Who to blame and how to retaliate? This seems to be a recurring theme in the State of Israel since 1948. Granted, the target of the attacks were specifically Israeli citizens, but if you hack an Israeli credit card company what are the chances you are going to end up solely with the numbers of Israeli citizens? Now that they have a target the question will be how the Israelis will retaliate. The 19-year old should definitely be arrested, if he indeed published the numbers. No such action should be tolerated. However, the more important question is if there will be action beyond that? Will Israel use this to crack down on Arabs living within its borders? Or will this be used to justify raids and attacks into the Gaza strip and the West Bank to claim computers and laptops?
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