Gaza Flotilla Detention

Morning and welcome today. Rod Little does the greatest of Britain for us. So welcome to Tuesday, seven past six. I read an article in the Australian press by Neve O'Connor. So she write or wrote of her recent arrest and eviction under the headline, I've been kidnapped for the second time by an increasingly desperate Israel. She, of course, is part of the recent flotilla, who were not kidnapped but detained because what the flotilla does is look to draw international attention to Gaza. This is an industry. If it's not a flotilla, it's the regular weekend demonstrations in places like London. I think on the latest expedition, there are three New Zealanders. What I wonder about these escapades is do these people ever ask themselves whether they're actually changing anything. I mean, I watched Winston Peters last week being asked about the three Kiwis and what we're doing to help. And he gave the sort of answer foreign ministers do. We've got consular support, we do what we can, but but big clue here, they were told not to go. So what's being sorted here? Answer? Nothing. So then what's the point? How many times do you set sail on a futile cause? This is not to take sides, by the way. It's simply to question the efficiency of movement. It's to wonder aloud who actually's benefiting from these sojourns. Giving nothing in Gaza changes, are we really dabbling in some self-aggrandizement here? A big boost on the old self-important front. People down a rabbit hole so deep they don't know how to get out. I'm sure they believe in the course. I'm sure they would want something to happen, but it doesn't. It hasn't, it isn't. You've got the well, you got the slightly tricky part with Hamas and the locals' seeming acceptance of them operating under hospitals and schools. Well, until recently anyway. But even if their purpose is pure and all they want is some water and some schools and a life for the innocent locals, you aren't achieving it by sailing for days, being rounded up and then deported. All Neve literally did was get booted out to write another article. She told me what I already knew, which is not to dismiss Gaza, of course, and the plight of its people. It's a mess. But that's not news. And redrawing our attention to it doesn't make it new news. If something materially changed, you could claim victory, has it? No. So a flotilla and a newspaper article.