“Freedom Flotilla” Boarded by IDF After Attempting to Run Blockade

Early today, or late yesterday (depending on where you live), Israeli Defense Forces stopped and boarded a convoy of boats carrying aid, protesters, and activists to the Gaza Strip. Gaza is currently under blockade by Israel, and the IDF warned the flotilla to stop. The New Delhi Chronicle reports: “Israel has long been blocking ships into Gaza, an area were Palestinian freedom movement Hamas has an influence. This recent example is also a part of it. It is reported that the Israeli Navy has warned the flotilla not to advance to Gaza; instead the military suggested the vessel to shore at the Israeli port of Ashdod.”

It is also clear that the passengers weren’t just peaceful protesters. Ben Knight with ABC News reports: “It is understood Israeli forces boarded the Mavi Marmara and opened fire after passengers attacked them with axes and knives. ‘Our young navy servicemen were given clear instructions to do the interception as quietly as possible, almost as a police action,’ Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. ‘But when the interception started, our service men were attacked. We’ve got unfortunately 10 wounded on our side.’”

Edmund Sanders, with the LA Times reports: “Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called the flotilla an ‘armada of hate and violence’ that launched a ‘premeditated and outrageous provocation.’ He said Israeli soldiers found evidence that “weapons” had been prepared in advance, but he did not specify whether those weapons included guns. Israel’s military said that protesters managed to grab two guns from Israeli soldiers and use them against the commandos, prompting soldiers to return fire. An Israeli commando, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he and other Israeli soldiers who rappelled onto the boat from a helicopter were immediately attacked by about 30 people on board. ‘They beat us up with metal sticks and knives,’ he said. ‘There was live fire at some point against us. … They were shooting at us from below deck.’ He said activists tossed some of the soldiers from the top deck to the lower deck and the soldiers jumped in the water to save themselves. Activists grabbed some soldiers and tried to hold them hostage, stripping them of their helmets and equipment, he said.”

It looks like they were given ample warning. The Cutting Edge reports: “‘It was a provocation,’ said Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon said during the morning press briefing. ‘On the deck we found weapons which were used against the forces. The organizers’ intent was violent and the results were unfortunate. ..Israel regrets the loss of life. We called the organizers once and again the stop the provocations. We asked to transfer the aid in legitimate means. We promise that the aid will be transferred through the Red Cross and through our people.’ Ayalon added, ‘After the repeated calls, which were unanswered by the people on the boats, they were told that they would not be able to break the blockade. The organizers failed to obey the army’s non-violent calls.’ Said the Israeli official, ‘No sovereign state would tolerate such violence against a law-abiding state and its people. We call on all relevant elements to work together to solve the situation.’”

But wait, there’s video:

And check out the violence the IDF faces before they even set down (please note that the title says they killed dozens – not true):

There’s a clip that supposedly shows the activists before they left “chanting intifada” and praising martyrdom, but I couldn’t get it to play.

So yes, it is tragic that this happened. Loss of human life is never acceptable. But do you expect Israel to let a convoy run through their blockade, that may carrying weapons to terrorists? Israel was well within its rights to ask the convoy to stop at a port, where the aid could be examined, and then brought in across land. And what responsibility does the convoy have in this mess? They knew there was a blockade, and that they were going to try and run it. They didn’t follow Israel’s command to stop at a port. And when the IDF boarded the unresponsive vessels, they were attacked. Honestly, what do you expect?

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Update 6/9/10

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The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet has published photos of Israeli commandos being beaten and carried below deck by activists. It’s an interesting move for the Hurriyet, because it thinks this is a blow to Israeli morale, and somehow hurts their image. On the contrary, to me it proves that the Israelis met resistance with weapons (a fact that was disputed), and really humanizes the IDF commandos. I don’t expect these photos to change the hearts of those who are dead-set against Israel, but they are useful facts in the war against propaganda.

Speaking of propaganda, I have to ask Reuters what their game is. It just came to my attention that Reuters published a cropped version of one of the photos, and the way they cropped it actually hides a knife that one of the activists was holding, as well as a nasty smear of blood, presumably from the soldier depicted. Compare, if you will:

You’d think that if it’s someone’s job to edit photos for a living, they would have this kind of “accident”. It’s classic fauxtography. And when you consider that it happened in another photo of this raid, what conclusions can you come to? In this second set, another knife has been edited out for reasons unknown. It seems to be a pretty important part of the story to me.

Apparently, Reuters has a history of this kind of thing. “This is the second time Reuters has been accused of manipulating photos. In 2006 a Reuters photographer, Adnan Hajj, doctored several photos of the destruction caused by Israel’s bombing of Beirut. In one he added smoke to a panoramic picture of South Beirut to make the damage look more severe than it was. In a second photo, he showed a woman whose home had supposedly been destroyed in the same raid, but an investigation revealed that the woman’s house had been destroyed prior to the Israeli strike.” – Ed Barnes with Fox News

And here’s a better angle on the chaos that erupted when the Israelis boarded the boat:

Special thanks to noir on politicsforum.org and littlegreenfootballs.com.