Freedom Flotilla-2, this time larger and with greater international presence and fanfare will soon launch. The espoused "peaceful" purpose for this and previous flotillas is expressly single-minded, to break Israel's naval blockade of Hamas's Gaza. Yet in reality, the purported "humanitarian" mission is just another in a series of subterfuges (sideshows), whose current mission is to avert public attention away from the daily atrocities committed by Arab governments against their own people. Israel has maintained its blockade of Gaza in response to thousands of unprovoked missile attacks and terrorist incursions from Gaza. Additionally, the Hamas leadership has been unwavering in its dedication to the destruction of Israel and its replacement with an Islamic state. Israel has no choice but to defend itself. From the Hamas Charter: 'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it'.- "Hamas has repeatedly refused international community demands to recognize the right of Israel to exist, abrogate its charter and abide by the previous commitments of the Palestinian Authority"-A. Isseroff 1/11/09. "We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity"-Hamas leader Fathi Hammad , Gaza, BBC,01/02/09. To those tireless flotilla activists, I would ask-When will Freedom flotillas be launched against Arab oppressors in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Gaza, and Iran? Where are the humanitarian sponsors for these flotillas? History suggests that we should not hold our breath waiting. Like a cancerous explosion of cockroaches, these flotilla proponents rush to criticize, confront and lay blame on Israel. -Yet are all but invisible, stealthily silent against the regular and truly inhumane actions by the many oppressive Middle-East Arab dictatorships. Then there is Gilad Shalit, a soldier of Israel, in a country where most pre-college citizens (male and female) become soldiers by necessity of national survival. Gilad was abducted by Hamas terrorists from Israel 5 years ago at age 19. At 24 he still sits in confinement, not allowed humanitarian visits by the Red Cross or any friendly face. His only prison visits are from his terrorist jailers in Hamas's Gaza. They are among those who are supposedly so desperately in need of international aid and sympathy as has been expressed so vehemently by flotilla sponsors. It has been suggested that Israel has previously and/or is currently considering a thousand political prisoners release, including mass murderers and terrorists in exchange for Gilad. But even this uniquely generous, if not suicidal, type offer from Israel has failed in the past to persuade the terrorist Hamas regime to give up Gilad Shalit. Israel's Jewish population numbers under 6 million, and is surrounded by Arabs numbering over 200 million. There is considerable public pressure in Israel on the government to secure Gilad's release. "Even if some of [the Palestinian prisoners] have blood on their hands, or are hard-core murderers of civilians, and there are risks involved in releasing them, it is the only alternative if we want to see Gilad returned alive," – Gilad's father Noam Shalit. The cold international silence to Gilad's predicament, contrasts starkly against the boisterous International outcry to aid his terrorist captors-the Hamas regime. Freedom Flotilla 2 is "expected to sail to …the Gaza Strip within a few days' time in an effort to break the embargo on the enclave. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected on Friday the humanitarian effort as a provocative act against Israel."- KUNA, (Kuwait News Agency) 06/ 25/ 2011. "The US has announced that sending a new aid flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip would be "irresponsible" and "provocative."" State Department spokesperson V. Nuland …claimed that the situation in the Gaza Strip had improved significantly over the past year, with a broader range of goods and materials available."-PressTV 6/25/11.