Der Spiegel reports on Israel

From the English pages:

On German editorial pages on Tuesday, criticism of the deadly action by the Israeli armed forces is universal. Even the country's most pro-Israeli daily, Die Welt, argues that the government should have known that the outcome of the attack would be deeply damaging to its international image.

The conservative Die Welt writes:

....

"Still, the expected international storm of anger against Israel has already begun. … The Israeli government and army will have to answer uncomfortable questions -- from their own citizens, too. Everyone knew that Israel could only look bad if it followed a course of confrontation with these haters of Israel disguised as peace activists. That's why it is even less understandable that no effective precautions were made to prevent such a catastrophe."

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"It is true that the 'Free Gaza' Flotilla, which set course for Israel from Turkish and Greek ports, to deliver aid to Gaza, was a pro-Palestinian propaganda operation. But there weren't just militant activists on board -- against whom the escalation might have been fair -- but also 'good guys' who truly do care about human rights and were there to alleviate the hardship suffered by Palestinians."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"As six ships carrying aid set course for the Gaza Strip, the navy was dispatched as if they were to fight off an enemy armada. Israel's aim of defending the Gaza blockade by all means necessary -- nothing more than a punitive action against 1.5 million Palestinians -- has been elevated to a central part of its survival strategy. Israel believes it cannot afford to suffer any defeats in this regard -- no matter what the expense. But with this tunnel vision, Israeli forces have now caused the worst possible damage to its standing in the world."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

"Of course, it has to be investigated what exactly happened and whether the Israeli soldiers fired on orders from their superiors or whether they overreacted out of fear. But that's not decisive. The situation in terms of international law is clear. What happened at dawn on Monday in the Mediterranean Sea was a targeted attack on a civilian ship in international waters. The term for that is state terrorism."