Useful Idiots Aboard 'The Audacity of Hope'

This certainly qualifies as a target-rich environment.

Talk about audacity: Organizers of that 15-ship “peace flotilla” soon to be bound for Gaza are looking for some human shields before they set sail.

That could be a tough sell, given what happened in May 2010, when nine Turkish thugs were killed at sea in a clash with Israeli troops during Round One of the flotilla.

Ah, but the 36 Americans aboard The Audacity of Hope — the ship, not President Obama’s memoir — are in luck.

They’ve already come up with 10 useful idiots . . . um, make that credulous witnesses — volunteers from the Fourth Estate.

That is, reporters from The New York Times, CNN, The Nation and other outlets are coming along for the ride.

Strictly to observe, of course.

The ship will be running Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza, which was imposed in 2008 to prevent arms from reaching Hamas by way of sea.

The activists’ stated aim: to end a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.

But what crisis?

Supermarkets there are stocked floor to ceiling; UN aid arrives every day — and, anyway, Egypt opened its border with Gaza earlier this year.

Israel’s blockade isn’t really the issue — the flotilla is meant to attack Israel itself.

Last year’s flotilla was organized by a Turkish Islamist group with longstanding ties to al Qaeda and Hamas. As Israeli special forces sought to commandeer its lead ship, Turkish “activists” — armed with knives and pipes — attacked the boarding party. The troops fought back, killing nine.

This year, the Turks are reportedly sitting the flotilla out, which is good news all around. But the fresh crop of activists appear spoiling for a fight — which means things could get violent, fast.

These media ciphers should be given no special privileges. They should rightfully be considered the enemy if things get out of hand, which it appears is pre-ordained.