UPDATE FROM ALLISON KAPLAN SOMMER
Of course, the worldwide anti-Israel propaganda machine immediately began cranking out the standard stuff.
Here, however, is some of what you won’t see from that same machine:
Video taken by IDF [Israel Defense Force] naval boat shows the passengers of the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the ‘Free Gaza’ Flotilla, violently attacking IDF soldiers who were trying to board the ship after having sent repeated requests for the boat to change course.
Large groups of passengers surrounded soldiers and beat them with metal poles and chairs, and threw one soldier over the side of the ship. Some passengers grabbed pistols from the IDF soldiers and opened fire. As a result of the attacks, seven IDF soldiers were injured, and nine of the passengers were killed.
The ‘Free Gaza’ Flotilla had publicly insisted on their non-violent intentions, however their violent attack on the IDF soldiers was clearly premeditated. They had knives, metal rods, firebombs and other items ready to use. (Link)
Nor will you see how many Israeli soldiers were armed with paintball guns.
Quoting Melanie Phillips, of Spectator magazine:
As the international community rushes to condemn Israel for the violence on board one of the ships in the Gaza flotilla, which left a reported 10 people dead and dozens injured, it is now obvious that the real purpose of this ‘armada of hate’ was not merely the further delegitimisation of Israel but something far worse.
Gaza’s markets are full of produce, thousands of tons of supplies are traveling into Gaza every week through the Israeli-controlled border crossings, and there is no starvation or humanitarian crisis. It was always obvious that the flotilla was not the humanitarian exercise it was said to be. Here is footage of the IDF offering to dock the Marmara — the main flotilla ship — at Ashdod and transfer its supplies and being told ‘Negative, negative, our destination is Gaza’.
And now we can see that the real purpose of this invasion — backed by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a radical Islamic organization outlawed by Israel in 2008 for allegedly serving as a major component in Hamas’s global fund-raising machine — was to incite a violent uprising in the Middle East and across the Islamic world. As I write, reports are coming in of Arab rioting in Jerusalem.
The notion — uncritically swallowed by the lazy, ignorant and bigoted BBC and other western media — that the flotilla organisers are ‘peace activists’ is simply ludicrous. This research by the Danish Institute for International Studies details the part played by the IHH in Islamist terror in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. According to the French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere testifying at the Seattle trial of would-be al Qaeda Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressamin, the IHH had played ‘[a]n important role’ in the al Qaeda Millenium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles airport. It was also involved in weapons trafficking, and played in addition a key role in galvanizing anti-Western sentiment among Turkish Muslims in the lead-up to the 2003 war in Iraq. ‘Peace activists’ these people most certainly are not.
And this flotilla was but the latest jihadi attack, deploying the Islamists’ signature strategy of violence and media manipulation. Here from MEMRI (via Just Journalism) is a clip showing the hysteria against Israel being whipped up on board before the ships set sail, with the chanting of intifada songs about ‘Khaybar’ – the iconic slaughter of Jews by Muslims in the 7th century which is used as a rallying cry to kill the Jews today — and threats of ‘martyrdom’. This was not merely a propaganda stunt, but a terrorist attack.
This is what the Jerusalem Post reported earlier today about what happened last night:
“According to the IDF, the international activists ‘prepared a lynch’ for the soldiers who boarded the ships at about 2 a.m. Monday morning after calling on them to stop, or follow them to the Ashdod Port several hours earlier.
“… Upon boarding the ships, the soldiers encountered fierce resistance from the passengers who were armed with knives, bats and metal pipes. The soldiers used non-lethal measures to disperse the crowd. The activists, according to an IDF report, succeeded in stealing two handguns from soldiers and opened fire, leading to an escalation in violence.”
Also in the Jerusalem Post, David Horowitz wrote:
“Benayahu said soldiers, who had been dispatched to block the flotilla because of fears that it was carrying weaponry and other highly dangerous cargo into the Hamas-controlled Strip, were attacked with knives and bars and sharpened metal implements.
“Benayahu said two pistols that had been fired were subsequently found aboard the one ship, the Marmara, on which the violence erupted. And, most dramatically, he said that one IDF soldier had his weapon snatched away by one of the ‘peace activists’ on board, that this weapon was then turned against the IDF soldiers, who came under fire, and that they had no choice but to shoot back in self-defense.
“… What seems urgent now is to make publicly available footage that shows exactly what did unfold. In early afternoon, video footage screened on Israel’s Channel 2 appeared to show one of those aboard the Marmara stabbing an IDF soldier. Any such footage should have been made available hours earlier. Critically, if footage showing a soldier’s weapon being snatched and turned on the IDF troops exists, it should be broadcast, and the sooner the better.”
Some of this footage is now available on the web but much of it is hard to follow: as ever, the Israelis have been far too slow in making the most telling images and information available in comprehensible form (including in English rather than in Hebrew, for heaven’s sake!). This clip appears to show masked and armed flotilla activists beating Israeli soldiers (although here is the BBC report accompanying that footage, in which the voiceover appears to be claiming, perversely, that the people in masks were Israeli soldiers. That said, the report on Radio Four’s World at One was fair and balanced).
This clip shows an Israeli soldier being stabbed. This IDF clip, and this one show attacks on the commandoes including throwing one off the deck, attacking others with a metal pole and a firebomb and an attempted kidnap of another.
It is also becoming clearer as the day wears on that, far from storming the boats in order to attack those on board, the Israelis were hopelessly ill-prepared for the violence they encountered. Israel’s Channel 10 and IDF radio have reported that the Israeli naval commandos were equipped with paint ball rifles to ensure minimum casualties among the flotilla terrorists, with their hand guns to be used only as a last resort. The terrorists tried connecting the steel cables from the overhead helicopters to the boat’s antenna, in order to cause the helicopters to crash. Only when the terrorists beat the soldiers with iron rods, stabbed them with knives and tried to lynch them did the soldiers respond. The Israeli commandoes were pushed down stairs, thrown overboard, and shot at.
Here is a report by an Israel army radio reporter on board:
“‘The activists had many things ready for an attack on the soldiers,’ Lev-Rom said, ‘including, for instance, a box of 20-30 slingshots with metal balls; these can kill. There were also all sorts of knives and many similar things. These are what they call “cold” weapons, as opposed to live fire. It was quite clear that a lynch had been prepared.’
“Lev-Rom said, however, that it appears the army, ‘even though it prepared for many different scenarios, was not ready for this one. The army seems not to have known what type of people were there and what type of weapons they had. It was hard for Israel to conceive that the ship, sponsored by the country of Turkey, would have such weapons. Israel was prepared to deal with anarchists, and instead had to deal with terrorists – that’s the feeling here.’”
Here is an even more vivid account showing how unprepared the Israeli soldiers were:
“Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.
“However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.
“One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot,’ even though they sustained numerous blows.
“The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.
“The planned rush towards the vessel’s bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. ‘Throw stun grenades,’ shouted Flotilla 13’s commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship.
“The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandoes who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter. At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.
“Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters’ legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes.”
It is becoming ever more clear that Islamist terror attacks like this are fiendishly staged theatrical events in which the western media – and beyond them, western governments — play an absolutely essential role in the drama. If those media and governments refused to swallow the lies and instead called operations like this and the players behind it for what they actually are, such terrorist operations would not happen. The Islamist strategy of war against Israel is carefully calibrated to deploy the most effective weapon in its armoury in the cause of jihadi violence – the western media. Right on cue, western governments accordingly deliver their own script in condemning the victims of terror for defending themselves. And so, courtesy of the west’s fifth columnists, yet another nail is driven into the west’s own coffin.
Let’s see whether this time the western elites show any signs of waking from their lethal trance.
Update: I am told that the Jewish Chronicle website was taken down earlier (now restored) by a massive denial of service, apparently to shut down its balanced coverage of the Ashdod flotilla incident. The JC’s teccies, and the server hosts, say this hasn’t been caused by just one or two people — it’s clearly now co-ordinated and growing.
**Update 2: The journalist who wrote this account, Ron Ben-Yishai, cannot be accused of being an Israel government stooge: it was Ben-Yishai who in 1982 was first into the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra and Shatila in Beirut and blew the whistle on the massacre there that had been perpetrated by the Phalangists while Ariel Sharon looked the other way.
(Source)
And from Jonathan Schanzer, of the Weekly Standard:
The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That’s because the organizers belong to a nonprofit that was banned by the Israeli government in July 2008 for its ties to terrorism finance.
The Turkish IHH (Islan Haklary Ve Hurriyetleri Vakfi in Turkish) was founded in 1992, and reportedly popped up on the CIA’s radar in 1996 for its radical Islamist leanings. Like many other Islamist charities, the IHH has a record of providing relief to areas where disaster has struck in the Muslim world.
However, the organization is not a force for good. The Turkish nonprofit belongs to a Saudi-based umbrella organization known to finance terrorism called the Union of Good (Ittilaf al-Kheir in Arabic). Notably, the Union is chaired by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who is known best for his religious ruling that encourages suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. According to one report, Qardawi personally transferred millions of dollars to the Union in an effort to provide financial support to Hamas.
In 2008, the Israelis banned IHH, along with 35 other Islamist charities worldwide, for its ties to the Union of Good. This was a follow-on designation; Israelis first blocked the Union of Good from operating in the West Bank and Gaza in 2002.
Interestingly, the Union of Good may not only be tied to Hamas. Included in the Israeli list of 36 designees was the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). In 2006, both the U.S. government and the United Nations designated the IIRO branch offices in Indonesia and the Philippines for financing al Qaeda. French magistrate Jean-Louis Brougiere also testified that IHH had an “important role” in Ahmed Ressam’s failed “millennium plot” to bomb the Los Angeles airport in late 1999.
Something else you aren’t likely to get from the anti-Israel propaganda machine: the murderous prayers calling for the return of the “army of Mohammed”:
Here’s the same sort of group in, of all places, Cleveland, Ohio (hat tip Michelle Malkin):
Doug Ross has more on the “humanitarian” canard, as does John Hinderaker.
June 1st, 2010 at 7:31 am
Hey Ray
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Do support Zionism as a political theory?
June 1st, 2010 at 8:45 am
And weren’t these boats in International waters?
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And what was in the boats?
June 1st, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I believe in Israel’s right to exist.
June 1st, 2010 at 3:46 pm
From Charles Krauthammer (via Brad Wilmouth at Newsbusters) on Monday night’s Special Report:
(Link)
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:36 am
Ray, you said:
I also believe in that, but I also believe in the right of 1.5 million men women and children not to live in an open-air prison camp that is occasionally bombed by a first world military force.
Of course the Arab states aren’t helping, they use the Palestinians as a political football.
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Regarding your quote.
So were the people on the ships, in international waters, engaging in self-defence when the Israeli ships landed commandos on their boats?
Which “self defence” came first?
Why exactly are the Americans and UN helping the Gazans at all? If anything they are merely keeping them on life support. What good is a Gazan education if there are no opportunities to trade, to come and go as they please, etc, etc.
I like the way he says “in part with American tax money” not that the Americans were paying their UN dues(not that I agree with the UN’s existence) – I wonder if he could quantify that.
Here is something that has also been paid for “in part with American tax money”:
Total aid from the USA to Israel from 2001-2007 $19,509,734,000.
Given that Israel is a modern, first world country with a vibrant economy, why are the Americans giving them so much military aid?
Is this blockade legal? Is not a blockade an act of war? What is Gaza? Is it a sovereign state? A protectorate of Israel? Why shouldn’t people be allowed to travel there freely?
What right does Israel have to blockade Gaza? Who are they to say who the Gazans can trade with, or what they can buy or sell?
What problem doe Egypt have with Gaza exactly? Should America be blockading Mexico due to the drugs and illegal immigrants who are pouring over the border?
I don’t know why Israel has a blockade, probably because they don’t want missiles fired into their country – not because they are racist.
As for the Arabs going to war for the Palestinians – I don’t think that is entirely the case – I think they were going to war for their own interest – if they had destroyed Israel in the 60′s I highly doubt they would have created a Palestinian state, they probably would have just carved it up for themselves.
Life for Palestinian refugees hasn’t been exactly easy for them in the Arab states they settled in Check out the details here.
The Arab states would rather they sit and stew as opposed to integrating them into their countries, and demanding the “right of return”. I wonder if I should demand the right of return to my Grandfathers Hungarian Farm, seized by the Communists.
As he states below, Israel is at war with Palestine currently – hence the blockade.
Left, right – it makes no difference the state apparatus continues along it’s path. How much of a change was there in US foreign policy after Obama came in?
As for the peace deal, I would have to look at it myself before I comment.
Or had there been an undeclared war on Gaza for many years before that?
Here is an interesting articleon whether or not Zionism as it is practised is equivalent to Colonialism.
He concludes that it is not.
In any case – this will not end well – better to end it sooner rather than later, whatever the outcome.
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:02 pm
One thing I noted…
So what happened in the intervening 8 years to lead Gaza to declare war on Israel?
So Gaza is a Sovereign State? able to declare war? What brought them to that point?
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:48 pm
From Wiki – but well referenced – te veneration of BaruchGoldstein – the perpetrator of the Hebron Massacre.
Veneration of Goldstein and celebration of the massacre
At Goldstein’s funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin claimed that even one million Arabs are “not worth a Jewish fingernail.”[16][17][18] Professor Samuel Hacohen declared Goldstein the “greatest Jew alive, not in one way but in every way” and said that he was “the only one who could do it, the only one who was 100 percent perfect.”[17][18] In contrast, mainstream Jewish religious leaders “rejected the suggestion that killing Palestinians with an automatic rifle” was authorized by the Torah.[16]
In the weeks following the massacre, hundreds of Israelis traveled to Goldstein’s grave to celebrate Goldstein’s actions. Some Hasidim danced and sang around his grave.[19] Although the government has said that those who celebrated the massacre represented only a tiny minority of Israelis, a New York Times report states that Israeli government claims may understate the phenomenon.[19] According to one visitor to the gravesite in the wake of the attacks, “If [Goldstein] stopped these so-called peace talks, then he is truly holy because this is not real peace.”[19] Some visitors kissed and hugged the gravestone, or even kissed the earth under which Goldstein was buried, declaring him a “saint” and “hero of Israel.”[19]
The phenomenon of the adoration of Goldstein’s tomb persisted for years, despite Israeli government efforts to crack down on those making pilgrimage to Goldstein’s grave site.[13] The grave’s epitaph said that Goldstein “gave his life for the people of Israel, its Torah and land”.[20] In 1999, after the passing of Israeli legislation outlawing monuments to “terrorists,” the Israeli army dismantled the shrine that had been built to Goldstein at the site of his interment.[20] In the years after the dismantling of the shrine, radical Jewish settlers continued to celebrate the anniversary of the massacre in the West Bank, sometimes even dressing up themselves or their children to look like Goldstein.[13][21]
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Interesting article on the rise of Israeli Fascism
June 4th, 2010 at 4:01 am
As Leslie H. Gelb, former head of the Council on Foreign Relations and former New York Times top foreign affairs correspondent, recently explained:
Israel had every right under international law to stop and board ships bound for the Gaza war zone late Sunday. Only knee-jerk left-wingers and the usual legion of poseurs around the world would dispute this. And it is pretty clear that this “humanitarian” flotilla headed for Gaza aimed to provoke a confrontation with Israel. Various representatives of the Free Gaza Movement, one of the main organizers of this deadly extravaganza, have let it slip throughout Monday that their intention was every bit as much “to break” Israel’s blockade of Gaza as to deliver the relief goods….
Blockades are quite legal. The United States and Britain were at war with Germany and Japan and blockaded them. I can’t remember international lawyers saying those blockades were illegal — even though they took place on the high seas in international waters. There would be a general violation only if the hostile actions against the ships took place in waters under the jurisdiction of another sovereign state. Thus, for example, if the Israelis stopped the ships in Egyptian waters, that would have been a violation.
This same point was elaborated upon Sunday night by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren:
“Under international law, when there’s a case of a military blockade against a hostile entity — and we are talking about a hostile entity… Hamas in Gaza, a country under Article 51 of the United Nations charter, has a right to defend itself. By the same articles of war, the United States blockaded Germany during World War II in the open seas….”
E.A. Blair wrote: > Which “self-defense” came first?
Israel’s.
June 27th, 2010 at 9:47 am
You’ll like this one Ray
Letter to the Editor Regarding the Pride Parades’ about face on allowing an Anti-Israeli protest group to be officially allowed to join the parade.
Maybe I’ll post it elsewhere as well…