While the Israeli government is
praising it's soldiers as heroes and saying they
were acting in self defence by firing on unarmed civilians flying
a white flag in international waters, one group involved with
the Freedom Flotilla has a quite different story.
A spokeswoman for Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Avital Leibovich,
claims that Israeli officers gave several warnings before boarding
the the Turkish boat, the Mavi Marmara.
Somehow, according to Leibovich, when the soldiers did board
the boat, they were then attacked by unarmed activists and relieved
of their guns - a claim that is not backed up by video
footage of the ambush.
Leibovich told reporters "We found ourselves in the middle
of a lynching,"
"We didn't look for confrontation but it was a massive
attack," she said. "What happened was a last resort."
This story is on its face ridiculous.
The following press release came from Freegaza.com
, one of the aid groups involved in the flotilla, in the wake
of the attack:
Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from
a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara,
and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck.
They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep. According
to the live video from the ship, two have been killed, and
31 injured. Al Jazeera has just confirmed the numbers.
Streaming video shows the Israeli soldiers shooting at civilians,
and our last SPOT beacon said, “HELP, we are being contacted
by the Israelis.”
As things currently stand 20 people are thought to have been
killed in the attack.
While the IDF and the Israeli government claim that their soldiers
were attacked by violent political agitators wielding knives,
several videos of those on board the boats and scenes from their
voyage reveal that they are peaceful civilians that could not
possibly constitute any threat to one of the most powerful armies
on the planet.
In the following clip American born pro-Palestinian activist
Huwaida Arraf, the Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation
co-coordinator for the flotilla, explains the mission of the
flotilla noting that "Israel is threatening to attack us,
to use force if necessary when it is obvious that we are average
civilians, we don't constitute any threat except for the fact
that we want to stand up for the right of the Palestinian people
to lead a life with dignity."
Arraf is also the co-founder of the International Solidarity
Movement (ISM), the stated mission of which is to "resist
the Israeli occupation of the West Bank using nonviolent tactics".
Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Arraf stated that: "No
one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any
sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction
supplies, and children’s toys. Our passengers include
a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson.
Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot
Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever
approach Israeli waters."
As this Reuters clip from almost two weeks ago highlights,
the activists and humanitarian workers were outraged at the
fact that the Israeli government openly announced that it would
use force against unarmed civilians if they attempted to break
the blockade against Gaza:
Here is another video of one of the activists involved with
the Freedom Flotilla, Irishman Shane Dillon, Mate on Challenger
1. The scenes aboard the boat clearly show that this was a humanitarian
mission, not some kind of dangerous guerilla fleet:
The boat in this clip, in addition to another boat, Challenger
II, are are flagged and registered in the United States which
means they are U.S. territory.
The
Free Gaza movement has stated "Therefore we
expect the U.S. government to intervene if U.S. property is
wrongly confiscated by Israeli authorities as they have threatened."
The ships, manned by 700-800 activists and politicians from
more than 40 countries, are carrying 10,000 tonnes of cargo
including building materials, medical supplies and paper for
schools. One boat is carrying a complete dental surgery including
drills, another has crayons and chocolate intended for Gazan
children. All the cargo has been paid for by public donations.
Other videos and images of the flotilla featured on the Witnessgaza.com
website show that the boats were clearly marked as humanitarian
vessels:
For elements of the mainstream media to publish, without any
challenge, comments by Israeli officials claiming that this
mission was violent or dangerous in any way shape or form is
utterly reprehensible.
Not content with violating every international humanitarian
agreement there is, the Israeli government with its latest actions
is now engaged in violation of the UN convention on the Law
of The Sea, which provides for "freedom of
navigation" and states that "The high seas shall be
reserved for peaceful purposes."
The Palestinian people have been preparing for over a month
to receive the aid boats, working on deepening the harbour in
Gaza:
Now thanks to the Israeli "heroes" that ambushed
and slaughtered sleeping humanitarians in the night, all that
hard work will go unrewarded.
While the Israeli government is