Netanyahu: Flotilla raid was self defense By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press Writer Rob Gillies, Associated Press Writer 3 mins ago TORONTO â Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says commandos who raided a Gaza aid flotilla, killing nine and injuring dozens of others, were under attack and acting in self defense. Netanyahu spoke after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Israeli leader was cutting short his visit in Canada Monday and canceling a visit planned Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington so that he could return home. Netanyahu says Israel wanted to check the cargo to ensure it contained no weapons. He says this was done successfully with five ships, but the sixth did not cooperate. He says hundreds of people on board that ship beat, clubbed and stabbed soldiers, and there was a report of gunfire. He says that forced soldiers to attack. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. JERUSALEM (AP) â Israeli police say 16 pro-Palestinian activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla have been sent to jail after a deadly confrontation at sea. Dozens of other activists are to be deported. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the activists were taken ashore and were jailed in the southern desert town of Beersheba after refusing to identify themselves. Israeli naval commandos stopped the six-ship flotilla early Monday, setting off a fierce clash that killed nine activists. Israel has said it will deport the roughly 700 activists in the flotilla. But those who refuse to cooperate will be jailed. About 80 activists have been brought to shore so far. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100531...kaW9uX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNuZXRhbnlhaHVmbG8-
More of the truth: "A Brutal Ambush At Sea" - The Spin Begins Tyler Durden's picture Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/31/2010 12:03 -0500 From ynetnews.com Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of âpeace activists,â and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter Ron Ben-Yishai Our Navy commandoes fell right into the hands of the Gaza mission members. A few minutes before the takeover attempt aboard the Marmara got underway, the operation commander was told that 20 people were waiting on the deck where a helicopter was to deploy the first team of the elite Flotilla 13 unit. The original plan was to disembark on the top deck, and from there rush to the vesselâs bridge and order the Marmaraâs captain to stop. Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operationâs commander decided to bring the helicopter directly above the top deck. The first rope that soldiers used in order to descend down to the ship was wrested away by activists, most of them Turks, and tied to an antenna with the hopes of bringing the chopper down. However, Flotilla 13 fighters decided to carry on. 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 âdonât shoot, donât shoot,â even though they sustained numerous blows. âI saw the tip of a rifleâ 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 vesselâs bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. âThrow stun grenades,â shouted Flotilla 13âs 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 riotersâ legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes. âI saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell,â one commando said. âHe fired at us and we fired back. We didnât see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldnât find him.â Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops. 2 errors During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover. It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight. Some passengers on the ship stood at the back and pounded the soldiersâ hands as they attempted to climb on board. Only after a 30-minute shootout and brutal assaults using clubs and knifes did commandoes manage to reach the bridge and take over the Marmara. It appears that the error in planning the operation was the estimate that passengers were indeed political activists and members of humanitarian groups who seek a political provocation, but would not resort to brutal violence. The soldiers thought they will encounter Bilin-style violence; instead, they got Bangkok. The forces that disembarked from the helicopters were few; just dozens of troops â not enough to contend with the large group awaiting them. The second error was that commanders did not address seriously enough the fact that a group of men were expecting the soldiers on the top deck. Had they addressed this more seriously, they may have hurled tear-gas grenades and smoke grenades from the helicopter to create a screen that would have enabled them to carry out their mission, without the fighters falling right into the hands of the rioters, who severely assaulted them. http://www.zerohedge.com/article/brutal-ambush-sea-spin-begins
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians According to this article, some of the israelis went in only with paintball rifles and pistols. I could see the palestinian supporters going ape shit when they see that the israelis "only" have paintball rifles which probably made them think they "could take the soldiers" down really easy.
LMAO.. every editor at the WSJ is of Jewish decent and you're going to believe the shit they have the junior staff spin out? You can't have objective reporting of the middle eastern conflict in the United States because all the news outlets have a huge conflict of interests. Family heritage and lobbying groups own this topic. If Iran did the same thing, it would be a great excuse start an "a new front in the war on terror". Its obvious you got every zionist politician in the United States on the phone censoring the shit out of this story. Major damage control. Israel @*@& up this time.
You are right Navin, it was self defence against Nobel Prize winners, holocaust survivors, European members of parliaments, women, Priests, Imams and peace activists. Your arrogance does not allow you to come out and apologize for your screw up. Your fascist mentality does not allow you to do anything but put the blame squarely on your victims. You could've got away with your killing if it was done against us and behind the scene. You could always claim that our children that you killed, and will kill, were/ will be carrying weapons of mass destructions aimed at you "Chosen Ones". This time it is different Navin, while you photoshoped these images, them bad Nobel Prize winners, holocaust survivors, Liberty Ship survivors, Priests and others came prepared with satellite transmissions to show the world that what us Palestinians have been saying all along about your sadist mental makeup was true and it was you who mastered the art of lying! And as we Palestinians have expected, you have not failed us, as a matter of fact, you have not failed your tendency to kill indiscriminately! The end result was the death and critical injury of Turkish, Irish, Greeks, Spanish, French, Canadian, American and other countries' peace activists in an act of piracy in international waters against defenceless sovereign ships. The best part...I mean THE BEST PART, is that you, and your like came out, as always, and following your sadistic tendency, blaming the victims. I Love you guys...You are the best!
^^^ self defense?!?!,Do you consider a person with a slingshot to be armed? The only "real" weapons on that ship were the ones that the Israeli soldiers brought down with them. Given that the raid was in international waters, the Turkish ship had in fact every right to repel the attack. Under international law, this could very well qualify as piracy or even worse an act of war (seizing a Turkish ship in international waters). i'm not saying the Israeli operation set out to kill innocent bystanders, but they used the wrong methods to intercept this boat. i'm upset at the blatant bias in the media reporting of this topic.