Israel attacks Gaza aid convoy in International Waters, 9 reported dead

[Wildcat 10]

Palestine Solidarity Campaigner tells her story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkB_f6K_IYU

 

Ps see info on the video for details.

[Kingmaker2 10]

 

I suspect the most likely outcome as those aboard said they will offer no resistance is they will be stopped inside or close to Israeli waters and escorted to Ashdod where the Israelis will then decide which aid goes through.

 

I think this time the Israeli will rule out the commando raids and instead opt to disable the ships engine or propeller and then tow the ship into Ashdod.

[Wildcat 10]

I think this time the Israeli will rule out the commando raids and instead opt to disable the ships engine or propeller and then tow the ship into Ashdod.

 

They could and should have done that the first time.

[chuffinel 10]

I used to have a fairly balanced oppinion on the Israel/Palestine affair but over the last few years and a lot of research there can be no denying that Israel is the main antagonist and has committed many crimes during this conflict.

Even without the conflict the treatment of arabs in palestine by the jewish population is unbelievable and is purely down to land grabbing of which the people of palestine have a right to be angry since they were forced out of their homes and land so that the jews could have a homeland of their own.

Now many arabs are displaced without real citizenship and have few rights within Israeli controlled palestine.

For more info try this website http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp in particular thevideos and reports are of great interest.

 

Now back to the current issue i think the Israelies were well out of order attacking ships in international waters is an act of piracy and should be condemned by all nations.

The reason they did this was because the aid ships slowed down so that they would not enter the blockade zone before daylight, and it goes to show what contempt the Israelies show for international law that they would rather try to keep thier attack a surprise rather than a semi-legitimate day light boarding within waters they are known to control.

 

Once upon a time ..................the end. Fill in the gaps to complete your very own version of this fairy story.

Edited June 5, 2010 by chuffinel

[Wildcat 10]

Mark Steel's take on this is direct and to the point:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-of-course-they-were-asking-for-it-1988684.html

[chuffinel 10]

I think this time the Israeli will rule out the commando raids and instead opt to disable the ships engine or propeller and then tow the ship into Ashdod.

 

Maybe a shot across the bow and then one through the wheelhouse would work better.

[Wildcat 10]

Maybe a shot across the bow and then one through the wheelhouse would work better.

 

That would seem to be how they killed their first victim. It didn't work so well.

[chuffinel 10]

That would seem to be how they killed their first victim. It didn't work so well.

 

I would tend to agree, especially for the person at the sharp end.

Probably got the attention of the other ski-masked "peace" activists though.

Incidentally, why were they wearing ski masks anyway ?

Did they think that they were on a cruise to the mountains rather than the desert. ?

[WiLd_TiGeR 10]

well those activists were assasinated,without faking passports this time,but rather with cold blooded delibrate attack from Israeli pirates,a new report in the guardian revealed by the close examination of the bodies , some has shot for more than 30 times on a very close range.Those who are defending israeli actions should be ashamed for supporting such actions.read this

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-activists-autopsy-results

 

 

 

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

 

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

 

The findings emerged as more survivors gave their accounts of the raids. Ismail Patel, the chairman of Leicester-based pro-Palestinian group Friends of al-Aqsa, who returned to Britain today, told how he witnessed some of the fatal shootings and claimed that Israel had operated a "shoot to kill policy".

 

He calculated that during the bloodiest part of the assault, Israeli commandos shot one person every minute. One man was fatally shot in the back of the head just two feet in front him and another was shot once between the eyes. He added that as well as the fatally wounded, 48 others were suffering from gunshot wounds and six activists remained missing, suggesting the death toll may increase.

 

The new information about the manner and intensity of the killings undermines Israel's insistence that its soldiers opened fire only in self defence and in response to attacks by the activists.

 

"Given the very disturbing evidence which contradicts the line from the Israeli media and suggests that Israelis have been very selective in the way they have addressed this, there is now an overwhelming need for an international inquiry," said Andrew Slaughter MP, a member of the all party group on Britain and Palestine.

 

Israel said tonight the number of bullets found in the bodies did not alter the fact that the soldiers were acting in self defence. "The only situation when a soldier shot was when it was a clearly a life-threatening situation," said a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London. "Pulling the trigger quickly can result in a few bullets being in the same body, but does not change the fact they were in a life-threatening situation."

 

Protesters from across the country will tomorrow march from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy to call for Israel to be held to account for its actions.

[Bozo 10]

I think this time the Israeli will rule out the commando raids and instead opt to disable the ships engine or propeller and then tow the ship into Ashdod.

 

Certainly those on board the Rachel Corrie will not go voluntarily to Ashdod. This mornings news is indeed suggesting the Israelis will disable the ship somehow.

[Bozo 10]

The way Hanin Zoabi was treated in the Knesset, physically attacked by and then dragged herself away from the podium because she had gone over the minute allotted to her because of the heckling, gives a worrying insight in to the way Israels democracy works. She has received death threats since speaking in the Knesset.

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3898073,00.html

 

http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=6036

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/gaza-flotilla-survivor-haneen-zuabi

 

There was on Thursday (not sure if it is still there) a facebook group calling for her assassination featuring a cartoon of her with a target on her head and 'kill u' written at the bottom.

 

This was certainly left up for several hours and listed over 500 members.

 

EDIT - page has been removed but report with screenshot here:

 

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/06/facebook-page-issues-assassination-threat-to-palestinian-knesset-member-who-was-on-flotilla.html

Edited June 5, 2010 by Bozo

[Jason Bourne 11]

There was on Thursday (not sure if it is still there) a facebook group calling for her assassination featuring a cartoon of her with a target on her head and 'kill u' written at the bottom.

 

This was certainly left up for several hours and listed over 500 members.

 

Imagine the world response if an Arab facebook group openly called for the killing of an Israeli minister...

 

The world's media would be outraged, the world's politicians would be outraged and the Israelis would have scored yet another PR victory.

 

But, like I say, one rule for the Israelis...

 

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