ISRAEL TRUTH TIMES

A blog dedicated to investigating events as they occur in Judea and Samaria, in Israel and in the world, and as they relate to global powers and/or to the Israeli government, public figures, etc. It is dedicated to uncovering the truth behind the headlines; and in so doing, it strives to do its part in saving Judea and Samaria, and by extension, Israel and the Jewish People, from utter destruction at the hands of its many external and internal enemies.

Monday, May 31, 2010

.... AND HAD YOU SEEN THIS FOOTAGE? QUITE DAMNING FOR THE "PEACEFUL RESISTANCE" of those bloodthirsty killers..... plus... fighting a murderous enemy with paintball guns; whose brilliant idea??



Jack's reaction to the video:

These are called “peace activists” and “humanitarians.” Is this in the tradition of Ghandhi?

And UPDATE JUNE 1st; MORE PEACEFUL ACTIVISM ON THE PART OF THE PEACE FLOTILLA:





And had you seen this video as well?

And this one?



Here below  is an absolutely shocking account of what actually transpired aboard the Mavi Marmara. I am ashamed, just reading this. How could Tsahal be so stupid, betray its own soldiers to such a degree? We know where these orders come from: our DEFENSE MINISTER ( you mean, paintball defense, right?) Ehud Barak, the poison dwarf;  in connivance with the enemies of Israel.

TIME TO TURN THE TABLES, FOLKS; we cannot led defeatist leaders of this nature defend Israel any more: they will get us all killed!

contributed by Jack, thank you:


Below is an article by Israeli journalist Ron Ben Yishai for the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot in which he provides a first hand account of the Israeli operation to take control of the Turkish-led flotilla. The Israel Project hopes you find this of interest.
Ben Yishai, Ron, "A Brutal Ambush at Sea," YnetNews, May 31, 2010, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896796,00.html
For Video Footage of the Gaza Flotilla

A Brutal Ambush at Sea

Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of ‘peace activists,’ and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter
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 vessel’s bridge and order the Marmara’s captain to stop.
Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operation’s 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 “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows.
‘I saw the tip of a rifle’
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.
“I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell,” one commando said. “He fired at us and we fired back. We didn’t see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldn’t find him.” Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops.
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 soldiers’ 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 – 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.


And here, an update:

Sailor’s First-Hand Report: We Came to Speak; They Came to Fight

Sivan 19, 5770, 01 June 10 11:18
by Israel National News-IDF
(Israelnationalnews.com) One of the Naval Special Forces commandos who sustained a broken arm while under attack by the Mavi Marama ship’s passengers, reports, “Each soldier who descended was taken by three or four men and they simply exploded, beating him up. They lynched us. 
“They had metal clubs, knives, slingshots, glass bottles…At one point there was also live fire.
“I was among the last to descend, and I saw that the group was dispersed, everyone in his own corner surrounded by three or four men. I saw a soldier on the floor with two men beating him. I peeled them off of him and they came at me and began beating me with the clubs.  
“That’s how I broke my arm. At that moment I had no weapon in my hands, like everyone else who descended on the cables empty-handed. My paintball gun was behind me.
“They came and attacked me, I brought them down to the floor, I took a few steps back, I took out my paintball gun, they came at me, and I shot at their legs. One of the clubs destroyed my paint gun and I moved on to my pistol which was the only thing to hold against them. At this point my arm no longer functioned. 
“From the opening of the corridor, they were shooting at us the entire time with live fire”
The naval soldier also described how his unit was shot at from the entrance to the ship’s corridor: “I saw two from my group lying flat on the ground. From the opening of the corridor they were shooting at them the entire time with live fire, bullets. We identified a gun barrel, and one of us shot at the guy holding it. Afterwards we entered and he wasn’t there.  
"[They were] about 30 men; they simply came for war. We came to straighten things out, to speak to those who went downstairs, but each of us who descended was simply attacked.
“There were some from my group that were thrown to the lower floor, and the passengers took their equipment. They jumped to the water as a last resort. We were told that if they didn’t listen, we should shoot at their legs with the paintball gun. 'The pistol is only for if you really feel your life is in danger, which shouldn’t happen. It would be extremely abnormal.' But in the end, that is what happened. 
“We came with the intention of stopping the ship and taking it to Ashdod, and we did not come with the weapons we usually have; we came for something entirely different.”
© Copyright IsraelNationalNews.com




 And here is a superb response by our friend Mike Gusowsky, AKA Yekutiel Ben -Yaakov.

Mike, I salute you: you couldn't have said it better. Thank you.


Arabs Try to Lynch Israeli Paint-Gun Commandos – Myths and Facts about the Israeli Naval Operation
If it wasn't so sad it would make great material for a comedy. The Israeli government sends its most elite military unit - its navy seals - to overtake the Turkish terrorist supply ships as they penetrated into Israeli territorial waters with the stated intent of breaking the Israeli naval blockade around the terrorist Hamas entity that controls Gaza. That Israel sees it as a priority to continue blocking the free flow of weapons into Gaza is not the problem. However, the feeble tactics used by the Israeli government  to enforce the blockade needs to be studied and never again duplicated.Did Israel use disproportionate and excessive force? The absolute opposite is true – Israel armed its fighters with toy paint-guns, and gave specific orders to all troops not to open fire with their pistols unless their lives were in danger. In fact, the poor soldiers refrained from shooting back until  some of their commrades were already being lynched,  shot at, firebombed and stabbed.
The Israelis had spent tens of millions of shekels to set up hotel-suite jail cells, cake and coffee, and promised that they would not use unnecessary force to reroute the ships to the Ashdod port, where they would run a security check of all of the items and then transport the cargo, free of charge into Gaza. Israel also announced in advance that they would send all of the Turks and Europeans back to their countries of origin at Israel's expense. The European and Turkish Hamas sympathizers had two goals - to break through the blockade thereby easing present and future restrictions to transport and smuggle weapons freely into Gaza, and to embarrass Israel - knowing just how sensitive and obsessive Israel is about international public opinion. Israel also had two primary goals: To minimize damage to its image and to prevent direct passage into Gaza.  In Israel's suicidal and futile quest to be loved by the Gentiles and to look good in their eyes, Israel once again risked the lives of is finest soldiers and civilians, lowering them onto the boats, one by one, armed primarily with toy paint-guns. This was after having undergone weeks of mental preparation to be "sensitive" to the terrorists who were known to be on board along with their radical supporters who came along for the voyage.
Israel's futile attempt to look pretty was doomed to failure from the onset, as the Voice of Judea predicted and published Friday, three days before the dangerous debacle at sea that resulted in severe injuries to several Israeli soldiers and in the deaths of some 15 Hamas sympathizers on the boat. In the prophetic words of that Judean Voice issue: "Israel lacks the means to offset anti-Israel bias on campuses and in the international press. Whatever Israel does, she will be portrayed as the culprit. It is nothing more than extreme stupidity and a mere exercise in futility to enter that uneven playing-field, where the deck (no pun intended) is stacked against Israel. Whatever Israel does she will be treated like an Apartheid state. Thus Israel should focus on one thing and one thing only – the prevention of the ships entering into Israeli waters, by any and all means necessary. Israel needs to make it clear to any and all that if they penetrate Israeli waters, they will be immediately sunk." We continued in our Friday commentary -  "Nothing will be gained by placing our soldiers unnecessarily at risk by having them physically board the ships, and face off with terrorists and whatever unknown weapons and surprises await them. We have our limits and our borders and whoever penetrates them do so at their own risk. There is not a sane country in the free world that would have operated any differently than the way we have suggested when faced with a terrorist enemy who seeks to destroy them and to smuggle in weapons to annihilate them."
We even predicted the exact outcome: "Unfortunately Bibi lacks the backbone and the faith to do anything else but to play right into the hands of the terrorists, as he already promised to transport all of he ship's loads to Gaza, while on the other hand, he will not be able to avoid the bloody broadcasts of the Israeli commandos overtaking the boats – giving the Hamas the very victory that he is so frightened to deliver to them. This is the true danger of a secular head of state who lacks faith in G-d and the justice of his cause. For one who is scared of the prophetic scenario for Israel to "dwell alone" in separation and in isolation, and one who places his faith in Washington and who sees the Biblical isolation blessing as a dreadful curse, will inevitably lose out on all fronts and in all worlds. And we urge all to watch closely the unfolding of this saga at sea, because it is apparent that we will see yet another rerun of  frightened myopic Jewish leaders, who with all of their insane preparations to greet the enemy boats with kid's gloves  - it will all be to no avail. The same tons of supplies will be brought to Gaza and Israel will lose the media battle regardless."
What should be done? Firstly, we must not leave any doubt in anyone's mind that we will not risk one soldier unnecessarily, and we couldn't care less about international opinion. We must do what needs to be done  to protect the integrity of our borders and the lives of our people. And if you as much as think about entering Israel by sea, land or air, we will blow you to kingdom's come. Bad P.R.? Better to stay alive with bad P.R. that makes the world boil over with anger at us, than to die and "benefit" from the sympathy at Yad Vashem as they come to cry their  crocodile tears and place wreaths of flowers, wreathed with smiles and pity for the helpless Jewish victims. There is no way to buy the love of the Gentiles with misplaced mercy of fools. However, we can achieve respect and fear by taking the necessary steps to secure our borders thereby fulfilling the verse, "And the fear of the Jews has befallen the nations". Indeed the time has come to recover from our Jewish ghetto complex of seeking favor in the eyes of the Gentile, and to replace that with faith in G-d and Jewish power. That is the Jewish way, and the only way to restore Israel's deterrent factor lost at sea and lost when Israel fled Lebanon, surrendered Gaza, froze "settlement" growth, permitted Iran and Syria to pump weapons into Lebanon with impunity and forfeited her sovereignty over the Temple Mount. The situation will continue to deteriorate as long as Israel chooses to fight her battles with toy guns in the futile hope to gain favor in the eyes of her enemies.
The Saga at Sea and the Eaters of Stinking Fish
This latest saga at sea can only remind us of that famous Jewish story where a king sends his servant out to buy him fish. The servant returns with fish that stinks. The enraged king offers his servant to choose one of three punishments: to eat the fish, to pay for the fish, or to take 20 lashes. The servant, not wanting to fork over money, tries to eat the fish, but it is so disgusting, that he stops in the middle, and chooses to suffer the lashes. But the whipping is so painful, that he stops in the middle and finally offers to pay for the fish. And so, the servant ends up paying for the fish anyway, but only after suffering all the other punishments as well. The parable is clear: Israel is so worried about it's world image, that it bends over backward and risks the lives of its soldiers to show they are not aggressors. But in the end, they get condemned anyway, like eaters of stinking fish.


.... And Jack's comment:

I hope this marks the end of Israel playing indifada games, using minimum violence as if we are dealing with civil disorders, riots at most. This is a war and in war, you attack enemy soldiers, you die. We constantly underestimate our enemy and we constantly set our goals too low; stalemate instead of victory, frustrating our enemies instead of vanquishing them. We have always had in mind that, when it ends, there will be minimal ill will so that we will be able to make peace. That is useless because there is no way to make peace with people whose most cherished goal is to destroy us.

But I don’t mean to be entirely negative. Some sort of peace is possible. Here is my peace plan (It’s an adaptation of the Roosevelt-Churchill peace plan): Invade and reoccupy; take down all the terrorist organizations, including the PLO, “de-Nazification of the territories, meaning, kill all the terrorists and their accomplices, abolish the Palestinian Authority, annex the territories and rebuild all the towns destroyed in the expulsion from Gaza and the Northern Shomron; give resident alien status to the “Palestinians;” replace the school books with Israeli textbooks and the radio and TV personnel and programming. Then, the Arab world can have peace right where they stand. No more agreements. This would be a unilateral offer, not an agreement. Don’t make war against us again and we promise not to take any more land from you. If we have to take land in order to repel attack or to prevent tunneling into Israel, we will annex it and keep it forever.

Will Europe boycott us? Europe has decided to surrender and is sinking fast anyway. There is no reason for us to go down with Europe. Will America distance itself from us as well? We have survived 4,000 years without America. We can do it again. Israel has to look eastward mainly, and forge partnerships with other countries that have decided to fight the global jihad-leftist alliance and not to appease it, countries like India, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Colombia and Honduras; maybe even Canada and Poland. And others might come to understand the folly of appeasing the mujahidin and will join us, if it is not too late.
Other Israelis agree with us:




http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137801 ( VIDEO!)

Israelis Protest at Turkish Embassy Following Flotilla Clash

Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 10:42
by Avi Yellin & Yoni Kempinski
(Israelnationalnews.com) Over 500 angry Israeli citizens demonstrated Monday night in front of the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv, calling on their government to act firmly against the militants of the Flotilla ships and against the Turkish government who many believe to be responsible for organizing the flotilla and successfully touching off a diplomatic crisis for Israel.
[flash:124793]
The “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” set sail last week for the Hamas-controlled Gaza region, claiming to be carrying humanitarian aid. Israeli Navy ships requested late Sunday night that the activists change course from Gaza to Ashdod, where they would be able to unload their aid material, which would then be transferred over land to Gaza after undergoing security inspections.
The activists refused and IDF troops attempting to board a ship were attacked by activists wielding knives, clubs and guns. Nine militants were killed and several soldiers injured - one from a gunshot wound - during the clashes that ensued, creating a new public relations crisis for the Jewish state.

Roni Bialer, one of the protesters demonstrating in front of the Turkish Embassy, spoke with Israel National News, stressing that the protest is made up completely of private citizens and is not connected with or endorsed by any organizations or political entities.

“We want the Israeli government to act strongly instead of apologizing for the number of militants killed,” said Bialer. “We must blame (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan. It does not make sense that Turkey sends a ship with [possible] arms and expects Israel to let it in. We want Israel to change its policy towards Turkey.”

Bialer further expressed support for Israel’s government and for the IDF, saying that the behavior of Israeli soldiers was necessary for the country’s defense. Grassroots voices throughout the country and several military analysts have noted that Navy officers did not take proper precautions by sending commandos to board the ships without the necessary back-up or cover. They pointed out that preparations for the operation should have taken into account that not all of the people on the flotilla were unarmed.

Turkey was until recently widely viewed as one of the Middle East’s more moderate regimes, like Jordan, Egypt and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, who enjoy arms and support from the United States while generally limiting their actions against Israel to anti-Zionist propaganda.
But in the last year, Turkey has moved increasingly closer to the more outwardly hostile Iran-Syria-Hizbullah-Hamas axis that opts for a more traditional military approach to destroy Israel. While Israeli government officials have exhausted attempts to reconcile with Turkey, many Israelis – such as the angry demonstrators in Tel Aviv – have called on their government to treat Turkey as an enemy state.

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Photo by: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Analysis: The flotilla fiasco
By DAVID HOROVITZ 01/06/2010
Why did IDF underestimate terrorists?
 
Obviously, many of those in the “Freedom Flotilla” were not engaged in a humanitarian mission. Had that been their prime motivation, they would have accepted Israel’s offer to escort them to Ashdod Port and arrange for the delivery of their supplies to Gaza, after security checks, over land. They also would have agreed without hesitation to convey a package from the family of the Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas for almost four years in Gaza, Gilad Schalit.

Obviously, too, many of those who sailed toward Gaza were not “peace activists.” While those aboard five of the vessels in the flotilla did not violently oppose the IDF soldiers who came to intercept them, the video footage released by the IDF in the course of Monday confirmed earlier official descriptions by Israel of soldiers being premeditatedly and ruthlessly attacked as they tried to board the largest of the vessels, the Mavi Marmara.

Inexplicably, only a small contingent of naval commandos was dispatched to take control of a ship carrying hundreds of activists. And the commandos came on board carrying paintball guns, apparently under the misconception that the takeover of the Mavi Marmara would be, if not a game, then certainly not a confrontation with an enemy.

The IDF’s intelligence was clearly deeply flawed. As the footage showed, the outnumbered, under-equipped and incorrectly prepared commandos found themselves not grappling with unruly peace activists or demonstrators, to whom they had been ordered to show “restraint,” but being viciously attacked before they had barely set foot on deck. The clips showed clusters of people swarming around each of the commandos, and beating them over and over with clubs and bars in scenes sickeningly reminiscent of the lynching of IDF reservists in the Ramallah police station 10 years ago.

There was footage of one of the “activists” stabbing a soldier, of a petrol bomb being thrown at the troops, a stun grenade. And the troops themselves reported being sprayed with tear gas, attacked with iron bars, knives and sticks, and of efforts, reportedly successful in at least one case, to grab the pistols some were also carrying. There were reports of gunfire directed at the troops, and of soldiers jumping into the sea to escape attack.

Soldiers were fighting for their lives, said the IDF spokesman, Avi Benayahu (in Hebrew). “It was a lynch. It was an ambush.”

The navy chief, Eliezer Marom, told an early afternoon press conference that the resulting toll of the dead and injured could have been “much worse,” that the confrontation could have ended even more unhappily.

But it also could have ended a great deal better. At this writing, Israel is facing a battle to maintain diplomatic relations with the flotilla-sponsoring Turks, condemnation from much of the Arab world, milder expressions of concern and criticism from Western nations, a concerted diplomatic campaign against it at the UN, and exacerbated fears of internal and regional violence.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak noted that the Mavi Marmara was under the control of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (the IHH), which he described as “a violent, extremist organization that supports terrorism.” Both he and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon stated with good reason that the entire “Freedom Flotilla” had been a deliberate “provocation.”

In such circumstances, facing such hostility, it is hard to fathom why the IDF so underestimated the challenge its soldiers would face, and thus erred so strikingly over both its choice of how to thwart the flotilla, and over the number of soldiers, and the equipment, it sent into the battle at sea.

That Israel would lose the “media war” – against what were largely depicted internationally as well-intentioned human rights activists trying to defy the Israeli blockade by bringing supplies to Gaza – was a given. Successive governments refuse to take the “second battlefield” seriously – criminally ignoring the imperative to allocate the appropriate resources so that Israel is equipped to effectively articulate its various challenges ahead of time, and in real time, in international, diplomatic and legal forums.

Israel is being further overwhelmed day by day in the newer world of social media: Those aboard the flotilla, and their supporters worldwide, are proving to be expert exponents of Twitter and other instantaneous social media channels (as my colleague Amir Mizroch details in an op-ed elsewhere in these pages). Official Israel, by contrast, could barely manage to depart from Hebrew long enough to manage a statement and an answer in English at its major press conferences during Monday.

Israel was also further hampered by the absence of its prime minister overseas. When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was finally heard later Monday, speaking to the press with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper alongside him, his powerful descriptions of the way IDF soldiers were confronted on the Mavi Marmara – “they were mobbed, clubbed, beaten and stabbed,” he said – showed how effective a carefully articulated narrative can be.

But so much for the arenas in which Israel is routinely inept. What was so worrying about Monday’s performance was the military misjudgment and misassessment – and the potential impact on Israel’s deterrent capability of the failure to efficiently overwhelm the forces arrayed against it on what amounted to an enemy vessel.

Israel is concerned with eminently good reason about the smuggling of weaponry into Hamas-controlled Gaza. It may have felt it had no choice but to intercept a flotilla carrying it knew not what to the Hamas terror state. Why did it not anticipate that the activists and supporters of “a violent, extremist organization that supports terrorism” would act precisely according to type?



See also related articles:
URGENT UPDATE HERE:
http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/06/we-have-been-had-this-is-so-damning-you.html

http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/06/there-is-only-one-solution-barak-has-to.html

http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/updates-on-flotilla-invasion-amazing.html

http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/updates-on-flotilla-to-gaza-invasion.html

http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/some-swiss-swiss-mp-on-flotilla-born-in.html

ISRAELI SOLDIERS WON'T BE ALLOWED TO TESTIFY IN TH...



UPDATE:

Report: Obama Nixed Anti-Riot Gear on Flotilla

Sivan 29, 5770, 11 June 10 09:49
by Maayana Miskin
(Israelnationalnews.com) Israeli troops avoided the use of non-lethal riot gear against passengers on last week's Gaza-bound flotilla in order to appease United States President Barack Obama, according to the World Tribune. Quoting “diplomatic sources,” the paper said Obama nixed the use of equipment such as tear gas to stop the flotilla and demanded that Israel “exercise extreme caution and restraint.”
The White House has not commented on the report.
The report claimed that Defense Minister Ehud Barak accepted Obama's demand, possibly due to his hopes that America will agree to sell advanced weapons to Israel.
It says that the American demand was made despite Israeli intelligence reports indicating possible danger aboard one ship, the Mavi Marmara, which carried primarily Turkish citizens, many of them members of the pro-terrorist IHH organization. Intelligence agents had found that many of the Turkish passengers were trained in weapons use and hand-to-hand combat; their assessments were relayed to the White House.
Ultimately, soldiers boarded the ships with paintball guns and pistols instead of traditional anti-riot gear such as tear gas and rubber bullets. They were quickly overpowered by passengers on the Mavi Marmara, who were armed with clubs and knives. After two soldiers were critically wounded and dragged below deck, a commando opened fire , killing nine passengers and successfully ending the attack.
Obama did not condemn the IDF response, but since the flotilla incident, he has sought to ease tension with Turkey, and has called on Israel to ease its blockade on Gaza.

UPDATES ON THE FLOTILLA TO GAZA INVASION, PART II : ALL ABOUT THEIR LIES AND DECEPTIONS.

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Special_Alert_Flotilla_Battle_Unleashes_Anti-Israel_Wave.asp


Special Alert: Flotilla Battle Unleashes Anti-Israel Wave

Will the media report accurately and fairly as anti-Israel activists violently resist an IDF naval boarding with tragic results?


In the early hours of Monday 31 May, Israeli naval commandos boarded a flotilla of vessels heading for Gaza. What happened next has created a major media storm as, according to reports, over a dozen anti-Israel activists have died and many more injured, including Israeli soldiers.
Israel's critics have been quick to condemn the incident, using it to inflame anti-Israel sentiment. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has already termed what is undoubtedly a serious incident as a "massacre". Will this be the latest in a long list of incidents that have been distorted and misrepresented to cause Israel the maximum amount of damage to its image?
Connected to Terror: Who is Behind the Flotilla?
The organizations and passengers behind the Gaza flotilla have been variously described as "peace activists" and "humanitarian organizations". This could not be further from the truth. The primary objective of this flotilla was not to deliver aid packages to Gaza but to spread anti-Israel propaganda in cooperation with Gaza's Hamas rulers.
Playing a central role in the flotilla is the Turkish IHH organization, which besides its legitimate philanthropic activities is also, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a supporter of radical Islamic networks, including Hamas, and at least in the past, even global jihad elements.
See here and here for detailed information on the IHH.
Amongst the other organizations involved in the flotilla is the International Solidarity Movement. The ISM has a shameful record of placing foreign nationals in danger through encouraging 'direct action', which resulted in the death of American citizen Rachel Corrie. In 2003, ISM's extreme ideology was underscored when terrorists, originating from the UK, used ISM as a cover to attack Mike's Place bar in Tel Aviv, murdering three people. More recently, ISM has been a leading force in the violent protests against the security barrier at Ni'lin, while an ISM activist has been jailed in the US, charged with "giving about $20,000 to a group he knew supported Hamas."
An Al-Jazeera report from May 28, translated by MEMRI, shows activists on board before departing for Gaza, chanting Intifada songs aimed at Jews and praising martyrdom. Chants include "Intifada, intifada, intifada! Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews! The army of Mohammed will return!" relating to a seventh century massacre of Jews in Khaybar by early Muslims.



Is the clip below showing an IDF soldier being attacked with a crowbar "symbolic resistance"? 

In addition,  IDF forces apprehended two activists holding pistols. The activists took these pistols from IDF forces and apparently opened fire on the soldiers as evident by the empty pistol magazines. This goes  some way to explaining the number of casualties as live fire was exchanged as IDF forces found themselves under severe threat as evidenced by the number of injured Israeli soldiers and the types of injuries. One soldier suffered a serious head injury, two others were injured by gunshots and one more was stabbed.
Click here to see Israeli TV footage of Israeli soldiers under attack.

Propaganda Not Humanitarianism

If there was any doubt that these organizations were unconcerned with universal human rights, this was confirmed by the rejection of a request from the family of Gilad Shalit for activists to pressure Hamas to allow international organizations to bring letters and food packages to the kidnapped soldier in exchange for the family's support for the international expedition's attempt to dock in Gaza.
In fact, Israel offered to transfer the supplies on the flotilla to Gaza from Ashdod port through official channels, an offer that was rejected in favor of confrontation on the part of the anti-Israel activists. As flotilla organizer Greta Berlin stated: "this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it's about breaking Israel's siege."
The flotilla was clearly warned by the Israeli Navy in advance of the boarding and the offer repeated by the IDF.
A Legitimate and Legal Operation
IMRA asked Hebrew University international law expert Dr. Robbie Sabel about the legality of the IDF action in international waters.
Dr. Sabel explained that a state, in a time of conflict, can impose an embargo, and while it cannot carry out embargo activities in the territorial waters of a third party, it can carry out embargo activities in international waters.
Within this framework it is legal to detain a civilian vessel trying to break an embargo and if in the course of detaining the vessel, force is used against the forces carrying out the detention then that force has every right to act in self defense.
Dr. Sabel noted that there is a long history of embargo activities in international waters.
Indeed, according to the San Remo Manual that governs international humanitarian law, it is permissible under rule 67(a) to attack neutral vessels on the high seas when the vessels "are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture."
Will the Media Report Fairly?
The initial pictures and reports of this incident (supplied mainly by the less than objective al-Jazeera and Turkish media) do not paint Israel in a positive light, not helped by the fluidity of the situation and conflicting information.
It is the duty of the international media to report fairly and accurately. We have been here before, from incidents ranging from the al-Dura affair, the Jenin "massacre" and many other libels perpetrated by a media all too willing to take the side of those who seek to harm Israel.
We hope that the media will not repeat its past mistakes. While a clearer picture of today's events may eventually emerge, the damage has already been done in the first few hours of reporting. Retractions and corrections will do little to soften the blow.
Will the media take at face value the statements and anti-Israel propaganda of groups who were committed to causing an incident of this nature? Will the media join in the automatic knee-jerk anti-Israel reaction that is all too often the norm?
Keep an eye on your local media to ensure that the facts behind this tragic incident are not drowned by a wave of anti-Israel sentiment.
At the time of writing, the situation remains fluid. This material will be updated as and when new information becomes available. Keep checking this page for the latest information on this breaking story.
HonestReporting. com
Contributed by Jack, thank you. 

PS: who is the organizer and spokesperson of the flotilla, Greta Berlin?

This sickness of a woman is greta. A unkempt piece of garbage in the form of a human:




http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com/2005/09/at-least-im-jew-greta-berlin.html


Now you can see whom we are dealing with, a sick, self-hating   dog that somehow ended up in the body of a Jewish woman. But I  am quite sure, when her time comes for the next world ( Bimehera beyameinu) , she will revert to what she always was: a filthy bitch ( that is the correct word for a female dog). Woof woof!!


More information:
  • 2006 Danish Research: IHH Tied to Al-Qaeda
Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 06:41
(Israelnationalnews.com) IHH, the Turkish group which organized the armada to Gaza which was intercepted by the Israeli navy Monday, had ties in the 1990s to the Al-Qaeda terror network and World Jihad, according to a 2006 study by the Danish Institute for International Studies. The Intelligence and Terror Information Center said senior American researcher Evan Kohlmann's study dealt in the involvement of Islamic charities with aid to terrorism.
Turkey started investigating IHH in 1997 and raided its offices following word it had bought automatic weapons from Islamic extremists. Analysis of documents found with weapons and a jihadist flag revealed that IHH members planned to take part in jihadist efforts in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya.
 See also:

  • http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e107.htm

And this:
  • Radical Islam Behind the Flotilla Organizers
Sivan 19, 5770, 01 June 10 11:29
by Hillel Fendel
(Israelnationalnews.com) The Turkish organization IHH (a Turkish acronym for “humanitarian relief fund”), the force behind the boats attempting to reach Gaza, has a radical Islamic anti-Western orientation and a history of ties with and fund-raising for Hamas.
A report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) states that in addition to its legitimate philanthropic activities, IHH supports radical Islamic networks, including Hamas, and has supported global jihad elements. In fact, IHH’s “orientation is radical-Islamic and anti-American, and it is close to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’ parent movement. IHH supports Hamas and does not hide the connection between them.”  
Established in 1992 and active in supporting orphans, establishing schools, building mosques, supporting human rights, and the like, IHH has begun in recent years expanding its activities to European countries.
In practice, ITIC states, “besides its legitimate humanitarian activities, IHH supports radical Islamic terrorist networks. In recent years, it has prominently supported Hamas, [and there is] reliable information that in the past IHH provided logistical support and funding to global jihad networks.”
IHH supports Hamas propaganda campaigns in Turkey by organizing public support conferences there, at which senior IHH figures have expressed their support for Hamas and strategy of armed struggle, and their opposition to the policies of the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority.
ITIC further notes that IHH is a member of the Union of Good, an umbrella organization of more than 50 Islamic funds and foundations around the globe that channels money into Hamas institutions in the PA-controlled territories. In January 2008, Israel outlawed 36 associations belonging to the Union of Good, including IHH.
IHH also operates widely throughout Gaza. In January 2009, IHH head Bülent Yildirim met with Khaled Mashaal, chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, and Mashaal thanked him for the support of his organization.
In 2006, the Danish Institute for International Studies conducted a study on Islamic charity funds and support for terrorism. Over 20% of the study deals with IHH, and it found that IHH had connections with Al-Qaeda and global jihad operatives. In December 1997, Turkish authorities raided IHH offices in Istanbul, finding weapons, explosives, instructions for making homemade bombs, a flag with a jihad message, and documents indicating that IHH members were planning to take part in jihad activities in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya.
IHH purchased three ships – including the Mavi Marmaris - of the original nine slated to take part in the “humanitarian” effort to Gaza. Its participation in the flotilla is “part of the massive aid it gives Hamas and its desire to make propaganda capital for Hamas and itself,” ITIC states.  On May 21, Muhammad Kaya, head of IHH’s branch office in Gaza, said there was a plan to send flotillas to the Gaza Strip every month.
The ceremony marking the departure of the Mavi Marmaris from Istanbul was organized by IHH. Participating were Ra'ad Salah, head of the northern faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel, as well as Kazem Sawalha, a Hamas activist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood who found refuge in Britain. The large crowd held flags of Turkey, the PA, Hamas, and other organizations affiliated with Hamas and radical Islam.

  • And from SOLOMONIA:
http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2010/06/gaza-flotilla-day-2/index.shtml
...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...

Note that " A report Tuesday night said that security officials had found on one of the Gaza flotilla ship more than 1 million euros, apparently to be delivered to Hamas. The report, on Channel 2, said that weapons had been discovered as well."( A7)



 And this newly released footage:



And see this update, June 2, 2010:

Officials: 'Activists' Were Al Qaeda Mercenaries

Sivan 20, 5770, 02 June 10 03:45
(Israelnationalnews.com)
At a meeting, members of the cabinet were told by security officials Tuesday night that the Gaza flotilla ships held at least 40 professional mercenaries, some affiliated with Al Qaeda, apparently hired to engage IDF soldiers in combat. The terrorists were found with significant amounts of urban warfare equipment. On the Marmara, the ship where nine terrorists were killed, most of the activists were sent below deck, while the mercenaries remained on the roof to battle IDF troops.



See also my latest posts about the topic:


1.UPDATES ON THE FLOTILLA TO GAZA INVASION ....


2. SOME SWISS!....
3.... AND HAD YOU SEEN THIS FOOTAGE?....









  • QUESTIONS THAT DEBKAFILE IS ASKING - very pertinent, indeed; after reading this piece, it makes you wonder about the preparedness of the IDF. Who is responsible for this huge blunder: our permanently deficient poison dwarf, Barak? Or Ashkenazi? Or the supreme court with their antinational rules? And why such deficient intelligence: doesn't Ashkenazi read English?


 Why was Israeli raider force unprepared for violent resistance?
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis May 31, 2010, 7:40 PM (GMT+02:00)
Turkish activists were fully prepared, Israel troops not
More questions than answers came from the IDF video shots of the violent reception for Israeli naval commandos when they raided the Turkish ship early Monday, May 31 to prevent the pro-Palestinian flotilla from reaching Gaza Port and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory.
Prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who cancelled his trip to the United States and is flying straight home from Canada, will have to fill in the gaps left by his official spokesmen.
Released finally 12 hours after the event, the IDF shots failed to explain the big mystery of how soldiers armed with paint balls and pistols managed to kill more than 10 pro-Palestinian activists (The final figure is still not clear. Ankara reports 15 Turkish dead) and injure at least 34 aboard the Turkish Marmora.
Together with six injured soldiers - two in critical condition - the wounded activists are being treated in Israeli hospitals.
Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi, and Navy commander, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Marom, reported that a fierce clash developed aboard the ship as the soldiers dropped on deck from helicopters and were mobbed by passengers. The activists fired pistols, but it is not clear if the guns were in the peace activists' luggage or snatched from the soldiers.
Neither is it clear how civilian protesters were able to disarm elite fighters of the Navy's Shayetet 6 unit.
The soldiers performed their mission of preventing the flotilla from docking in Gaza Port and opening the door to large-scale weapons deliveries - but at what cost?
Surely the operation's planners must have taken into account that the 600 mixed nationals aboard the Turkish vessel, the hard core of international Palestinian agitprop against Israel, would not receive the soldiers with flowers and white flags, any more than the demonstrators at Iblin and Naalin hand out to the Israeli Border Police breaking up their riots week after week.
The Border Police was bettered qualified to handle themselves against the arsenal the activists aboard the Turkish vessel used against the navy men, of firebombs, stun grenades, broken glass, slingshot, iron bars, axes and knives - and with far less risk of loss of life.
Also underestimated was the number of troops needed to commandeer the Turkish ship, control the wheelhouse and turn it round to Ashdod port. Each commando who shinnied down the ladder from a helicopter was besieged and separated from the unit, then beaten, stabbed and assaulted with flying objects. Some were pushed down into the hold and stripped of their anti-flak vests first. The soldiers reported they barely escaped lynching or possibly being taken hostage.
Any Israeli police officer dealing with Palestinian rioters knows that the first rule is never to get separated from the main force. The Shayatet 6 elite troops lacked this experience.
This error was compounded by the planners seriously underestimating expected resistance and sending the men in armed only with paintballs and pistols with orders to shoot only if their lives were at risk. They did open fire, but only after half a dozen of their number were badly hurt.
The entire episode bespeaks faulty intelligence on what was going on aboard the six vessels bound for Gaza, although the information was available from daily live broadcasts and easy access to visitors.
And another question:  The IDF is famous for its innovative electronic warfare capabilities. So why were the signals and images coming from the convoy not jammed as promised and allowed to reach world TV screens hours before the authorities responsible for Israeli information woke up?
And finally, why did the interception take place 80 miles out to sea in international waters, thereby fueling the complaint that Israel broke international law? The blockade zone is 20 nautical miles deep from Gaza. An Israeli raid at that limit would have been easier to justify.





....

  • And this piece by Moshe Feiglin: How right he is!

contributed by Nurit, thank you.

Yisroel MendelsonMay 31, 2010 at 9:36am
THIS SUMS IT ALL UP!

The Gaza Flotilla and the Gallant Rapist
By Moshe Feiglin

Do you remember the gallant rapist? The criminal who would offer his victims a ride home after the rape? He apparently thought that his "good manners" would make his crime seem less reprehensible. In the end he was apprehended and sentenced like all the other rapists.

Today, Israel is the gallant rapist. We declared to the entire world that Gaza is not ours, but theirs. The world was not particularly convinced, so we expelled all the Jews from Gush Katif in Gaza and destroyed their homes. We even dug up their dead for reburial "inside Israel." Let there be no mistake, dear world, Gaza is not ours. Look, we have even retreated from there - with sensitivity and determination, of course.

Now, the world is convinced. Gaza is really not ours. But just a minute: If Gaza is not really yours, why are you blockading it from the sea and the air, allowing entry only from your territory following your security checks? What are you trying to do? To gallantly rape the "Palestinians" and convince us that they consent?

If Gaza is yours - stay there and fight! If it is not yours, get out of there and do not interfere in their lives! You can't do both. You can't simultaneously rape and be well-mannered. Oh, you say that they are trying to smuggle weapons into Gaza? Well, what's the problem with that? Who are you to tell them what to bring into their territory? Aren't you constantly arming yourselves as you please? If the state of Gaza will declare war on you, then defend yourselves. But don't tell us that you left while you are still ruling there by remote control. What right do you have to prevent them from building their own army?

What? They actually did start a war and they are constantly shooting at you? OK, then re-conquer Gaza and administer a military government, like the Allies did in Germany. What? That's impossible because you convinced your citizens that it is good to disengage from Gaza? Hmmm.

We tried to fool the world, and first and foremost- ourselves. Now the entire house of cards is collapsing on our heads. The question is not who is more well mannered, us or them. The question is not how much violence was used to stop the flotilla. The question is who is the rapist. The question is who is just, who is the good-guy and who is the bad-guy in this story. Israel in flight from its identity lost justification for its existence - not just in the Land of Israel but on the face of the entire globe. It maneuvered itself into the position of the most despised nation on earth. Achmadinijad can travel Europe freely. Tzippy Livni and Bogi Ya'alon dare not land there.

If we would have adopted the stance of the just, we could have acted according to the maritime international laws that were determined by Great Britain when it ruled the seas. Call to stop. First shell in front of the ship's nose. Second shell into the ship, and the story is over. But this law is for legitimate ships, not pirate ships, like us. It will not help us to base our justness on good manners. We will always turn out to be rapists in the end. It won't work even if we enlist the most professional soldiers in the world for the mission.

"I don't see Israel as a Jewish state, but rather as a state of all its citizens," said former Chief Justice Aharon Barak, and we lost the most important weapon of all - our sense of justice. The problem is that the other side did not lose its sense of justice. For the Arabs, the Land of Israel is not merely real estate or some sort of security shelter. For them, this Land is holy and they are fighting for it (and rightly so!). But you cannot fight for a land that by your own admission is not yours.

The only option open, then, is self-defense. Even rapists are allowed to defend themselves. And that is how Israel has become the state of roadblocks, barbed wire, security guards at the entrance of every café, iron domes, cement blocks, concertina, atomic detectors and mobile bomb shelters. We outfitted our elite units with tear gas and other ridiculous toys. Now we can explain to the parents of the naval commando how the best fighter in the world was injured by a club to his head.

We have cloaked ourselves in a gown of cement and barbed wire to preserve the lie that Jews can return to their ancient homeland after 2000 years with a false identity: Israeli instead of Jewish. They can forget who they are and the dreams of their ancestors and be just a normal nation - a nation like all the nations. Just like in the Gulf of Mexico, we are trying to bottle up the murky reality that is gushing to our surface with an iron dome. But we cannot cover up for the sense of justice that we have lost.

If we had retained our sense of justice, we would not be waiting for Turkey to expel our ambassador, being portrayed as the guilty rapist along the way. On the contrary, we would have recalled our ambassador from Turkey and expelled its ambassador for its declaration of war on our sovereignty. But we cannot do that, because the Turks are right. After all, we declared that Gaza belongs to the Arabs, didn't we? So what right do we have to blockade a Turkish ship outside our territorial waters?

When, in the last 20 years, have you heard an official Israeli representative - the prime minister, our ambassador to the UN or our Foreign Minister utter the simple words, "This is our land?" You can't remember? That is because it simply didn't happen. Israel is fleeing its Jewish identity and cannot even say this simple sentence.

We must return to our basic sense of justice - the justice that sustained us during our long exile and the only factor that explains why we are not rapists and why this entire Land - including Gaza, is ours and only ours. When we return to that point, we will be able to truly establish our sovereignty in this Land. As long as we continue to attempt to escape our identity, Israel will continue to slowly crumble as it hides behind its barbed wire, road blocks and most advanced defense technology in the world.





  • And here is TAMAR YONAH'S BLOG:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/3#4241



  • And Caroline Glick's piece, great as usual:




Reclaiming our language from the Left

Courtesy of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Thursday Israel will again be the target of a jihadist-leftist propaganda assault. A flotilla of nine ships which set sail for Gaza from Cyprus earlier this week is scheduled to arrive at our doorstep.
The expressed aim of the flotilla's organizers is to unlawfully provide aid and comfort to Hamas - an illegal terrorist organization. Since it seized power in Gaza three years ago, Hamas, which is openly committed to the genocide of world Jewry and the physical eradication of Israel, has transformed the Gaza Strip into a hub of the global jihad. It has been illegally holding hostage Gilad Schalit incommunicado for four years. And it is continuously engaged in a massive, Iranian-financed arms buildup ahead of its next assault.
Beyond providing aid to Hamas, the declared aim of the "Free Gaza" movement is to coerce Israel into providing Hamas with an outlet to the sea. This too is in contravention of international law which expressly prohibits states and non-state actors from providing any support to terrorist organizations.
IN SENDING out the latest group of ships, Turkey and its Irish, Greek and Swedish partners seek to appropriate the imagery of the Jewish pre-statehood struggle for independence from Britain. In a bid to appease Hamas's jihadist precursors, in 1939 Britain's Mandatory authorities broke international law and prohibited Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.
The League of Nations' letter of mandate for Britain specifically enjoined the British to facilitate Jewish immigration to the land of Israel. Yet following the Arab terror war from 1936-1939, the British issued the White Paper that all but prohibited Jewish immigration. This move blocked the one place on Earth where European Jews were wanted from accepting them and so trapped 6 million Jews in Hitler's Europe.
In the aftermath of the war, the British maintained their prohibition on Jewish immigration. To fight this British policy, the Zionist leadership in pre-state Israel organized the Aliya Bet program of illegal immigration. Jewish agents scoured the world for ships large enough to bring Europe's Jewish refugees to the land of Israel.
The ship most emblematic of the era was the Exodus. The Exodus which set sail from France in July 1947 with 4,515 Jewish Holocaust survivors on board was the Zionist response to a new British policy to force illegal immigrant ships to return to Europe.
The British rammed the Exodus in Haifa. They boarded and killed three Jewish defenders. They then forced its passengers to board British prison ships that would return them to Europe. French authorities denied the ships the right to land in France, so the British sailed on to Hamburg, Germany, where the refugees were forced to disembark.
The international outcry against Britain in the wake of the Exodus affair shamed London into cancelling its new policy. It also paved the way for Israel's independence 10 months later.
Now the Turkish, Greek, Swedish and Irish governments are colluding with Hamas to purloin the imagery of the Exodus and the heroism of the Jewish people in the years leading up to statehood and project that imagery onto a terrorist organization that seeks to complete Hitler's work. They further seek to invert reality by portraying Israel, which in accordance with international law is trying to contain and defeat Hamas, as a combination of the German Nazis and the British imperialists.
SO FAR, they are getting away with it. So far, for their efforts on behalf of a genocidal terrorist organization Erdogan and his ilk are being extolled as human rights champions. Barring any unexpected events, Israel will suffer yet another public relations disaster on Thursday when the ships approach Gaza.Caroline Glick




  • And finally, here is the known radical CRACKPOT leftist , Norman Finkelstein, CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK. And of course, Russian TV rushes to interview this known enemy of Israel.

Interesting how both lunatics, Norman Finkelstein and Greta Berlin, call other Jews lunatics . Amazing how blind to their own shortcomings these two characters are..... I guess associating with the scum of the earth, and being scum oneself, will do that to you.

UPDATE:

  • UPDATE:

Maybe after all the lunatic is right; Israel IS insane - it sure appears that way ; read this:

MK Zoabi Released from Flotilla Custody

Sivan 19, 5770, 01 June 10 09:00
(Israelnationalnews.com) Because of her parliamentary immunity, Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi (Balad-National Democratic Assembly) was released after being investigated for her role in the voyage of the Turkish ship boarded by Israeli commandos Monday as it tried to break the naval blockade on Gaza.
In the wake of her participation, a number of Knesset members and public figures called for her not to be allowed to return to the parliament. Member of Knesset Danny Danon (Likud) asked to have Zoabi arrested and brought immediately to the Shabak Israel Security Agency for interrogation; a request that apparently received a negative response.

URGENT UPDATE HERE:
http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/06/we-have-been-had-this-is-so-damning-you.html

UPDATES ON THE FLOTILLA TO GAZA INVASION : amazing how against Israel, old enemies Greece and Turkey unite! Is this the beginning of the WAR?? ...And the media disinformation continues...slanted against Israel, of course. LOTS OF VIDEOS!

 Jerusalem Post




 
Print Edition
Photo by: ASSOCIATED PRESS
IDF: Soldiers were met by well-planned lynch in Gaza waters
By YAAKOV KATZ 31/05/2010
Army says at least 10 activists killed, dozens injured, six Navy commandos wounded as protesters open fire in violent Israeli takeover of Gaza flotilla.
 
International activists aboard the flotilla of ships on their way to the Gaza Strip opened fire on IDF soldiers who boarded the ships to prevent them from breaking the Israeli-imposed sea blockade, the IDF said Monday.
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.


RELATED:
Analysis: Why Israel's media defense will be washed away by the flotilla
Flotilla delayed by glitches again
Analysis: Israel can learn from its adversaries to harness media
Haniyeh: Gaza flotilla a triumph
Report: Abbas plans to visit Gaza

 According to IDF reports, at least 10 acitivists were killed during the ensuing clashes as well as six Navy commandos, some of them from gunfire and at least one in serious condition with a head wound. Foreign reports claimed that the number of dead was close to 15. Some of the wounded were evacuated to Israeli hospital by Air Force helicopters.

 Upon boarding the ships, the soldiers encountered fierce resistance from the passangers who were armed with knives, bats and metal pipes. The soldiers used non-lethal measures to disperse the crowd. The activists succeeded in stealing the weapon from one of the IDF’s soldiers and reportedly opened fire, leading to an escalation in violence.

 “It was like a well-planned lynch,” one IDF officer said. “These people were anything but peace activists.”


 The IDF said that the ships would be taken to the Ashdod Port where, despite the violence, the cargo that are carrying will be inspected and then transferred to the Gaza Strip via land crossings. Israeli Navy commander Vice-Admiral Eliezer Marom was commanding over the operation from sea.

The Navy made initial contact with the flotilla at 11 p.m. on Sunday ordering the ships to follow them to Ashdod Port or otherwise be boarded.

The actual boarding of the ships took place at 2 a.m. Monday and was yet to be completed by 8 a.m.

Activists aboard the ships repeatedly said they would not respond with violence to the navy's interception of their flotilla prior to the boarding.

Al-Jazeera reported Turkish leaders called an emergency meeting to discuss responses to the attack at sea. The Israeli ambassador in Turkey was called in to offer explanations, according to a report.

Hamas Prime Minister Haniyeh came on Al-Jazeera to condemn the “brutal attack” and called on the UN to intervene on the activists' behalf.

The ministry condemned Monday's raid on the ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists, called it unacceptable and demanded an "urgent explanation" from Israel. It says Israel violated international laws and will suffer consequences.

AP contributed to the report.



Turkey threatens reprisals after 20 dead reported on pro-Palestinian flotilla
DEBKAfile Special Report May 31, 2010, 9:48 AM (GMT+02:00)

Turkish ferry Marmora leads failed flotilla for Gaza


Foreign sources report up to 20 dead on the pro-Palestinian aid flotilla intercepted by Israeli naval commandos at sea report at least two passengers killed, Turkish sources say 10, up to 50 injured in clashes on board early Monday, May 31 80 miles at sea. Nationwide alert for disturbances declared in Israel. Israeli helicopters are ferrying injured to hospitals, passengers and six Israeli soldiers.
Turkey threatens Israel would suffer incalculable consequences, raising Ankara's hostility to Israel to a new level. The convoy was sponsored by Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan with two objectives: to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver aid to its inhabitants.
The troops dropped by helicopters were said to have used gas canisters and gunfire against the passengers aboard the Turkish lead-vessel of the six-boat convoy after a soldier was knifed, leading to pandemonium aboard. The six boats remaining in the convoy are being escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod. One source says the Israeli Arab Muslim extremist Raed Salah was among the casualties. The wounded will be treated in hospital. Other passengers will be deported through Ben Gurion international airport.
Israeli will deliver its aid cargo to Gaza overland after inspecting its contents.



Hours after the incident, the Israeli military spokesman had still not commented on the Arab and Turkish accounts.  It was not clear for instance why Israel failed to jam the images broadcast from the boats.
Police have shut down Temple Mount, closed roads leading to Israeli Arab region and placed jails holding terrorists under tight security.
The Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Turkish foreign minister as protesters gather outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.




Haaretz:
At least 10 activists killed as Israel Navy opens fire on Gaza aid flotilla IDF says 10 killed, 2 commandos wounded, troops attacked when trying to board ships; Turkish TV says over 60 pro-Palestinian campaigners wounded after aid convoy bound for Gaza ignored Israel's order to turn back. 

Arutz7:

IDF: Flotilla Passengers Were Violent and Stabbed Soldier

Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 12:19
by Rachel Sylvetsky and Eli Stutz
(Israelnationalnews.com) The IDF reports that the crew of the Gaza-bound flotilla lay in wait for the IDF to board their vessel and then attacked IDF soldiers violently. One soldier was stabbed in the stomach with a sharp object, according to the IDF statement. The soldier is in moderate condition and was transferred for medical treatment by helicopter to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Doctors there determined he would require surgery. Two other soldiers were also wounded and were transferred to Tel Hashomer hospital.
[flash:124782]
Other people wounded in the operation were transferred to various hospitals in Israel via helicopter. Several news agencies including Turkey's news agency are claiming that Israeli forces wounded dozens of the crew and that two were killed. Footage from the operation has already reached some news sites. In the footage, Israeli soldiers wearing gas masks can be seen. In one video, an IDF doctor can be seen treating one of the wounded.
More On This Story:
Late Sunday night, the Israeli Navy surprised the six-boat flotilla bound for Hamas-controlled Gaza in international waters and hundreds of IDF soldiers who came by air and sea boarded the ships and announced to all passengers that they are under arrest.
One of the crew said that one “Navy warship” had contacted the six boats in the flotilla and asked them to identify themselves. They were told the Navy would board the boats if the ships's crew and passengers do not agree to head for the Ashdod port instead of the Gaza Coast, where Israel maintains sovereignty under the Oslo Accords and does not allow ships to approach without searching them for arms.
International law allows for countries to ask suspicious boats to identify themselves. The vessels' passengers did not cooperate and called the move "scare tactics" on their streamed broadcasts.
The IDF searched the boats for arms immediately after the takeover. The soldiers were forced to use tear gas after they were attacked with knives, daggers and cudgels, putting their lives in danger. Unofficial reports that ten persons have been killed and another ten wounded were admitted to Rambam Hospital in Haifa were changed by the Arab television station Al Jazeera, to two killed and four wounded. An Al Jazeera reporter on one of the boats reported hearing gunshots.
The IDF has not issued a complete report on casualties or wounded in the operation. However, hospitals were put on alert to accept possible wounded.
The IDF released a terse statement shortly after midnight Sunday, stating, "Israeli Navy soldiers left this evening in order to stop the flotilla's provocative trip to Gaza. During the last few days, the soldiers have been conducting drills to ensure the mission's success."
Turkey's government called an emergency meeting to discuss the IDF action. Defense Minister Barak is holding ongoing meetings with his advisors.
The flotilla activists, some of whom are identified with terrorist Muslim groups, did not expect a confrontation with the Navy until Monday morning, when the flotilla expected to near the Gaza coast.
The flotilla sailed on Sunday, more than two days later than planned and without two of the ships that did not join because of malfunctions but which were expected to set sail after repairs.
“We fully intend to go to Gaza regardless of any intimidation of threats of violence against us,” said activist Huwaida Araf from the ships. “They are going to have to forcefully stop us.”
Israel was determined not to allow the boats to reach Gaza and set a precedent that would break Israeli sovereignty over the waters in order to prevent terrorists and arms from being smuggled from the Mediterranean Sea as they are from Egypt.
The flotilla included three ships of passengers and three cargo ships with aid. The Israeli military and Foreign Ministry  accused the activists of being more interested in trying to stage an anti-Israel stunt and strengthen Hamas rather than trying to help Gaza Arabs. Government spokesmen pointed out repeatedly that aid always can be shipped to Gaza through the Ashdod port, and that the alleged “humanitarian crisis” is a ruse because Israel oversees daily shipments of hundreds of tons of food, merchandise and supplies.



And the enemy version - of course they are totally innocent, as usual! Al-Jezeera version:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel
More on the voyage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid
See also:
http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/some-swiss-swiss-mp-on-flotilla-born-in.html

about another suspect key figure in the story, the "Swiss" MP Josef Zisyadis, and who he really is. It's not Switzerland, it's a fifth column within Switzerland!






UPDATES:

  • Aftershocks and Repercussions of Flotilla Operation
Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 09:33
by Eli Stutz
(Israelnationalnews.com) The aftershocks of the Israeli boarding of the Gaza-bound flotilla are being felt in Israel and abroad:In Canada, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who there for a state visit, is receiving updates on the incident despite the fact that it is late night time there. He is in consultation with the heads of Israel's security establishment and is expected to deliver a response to the situation in the coming hours. He spoke with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who held an emergency meeting with the IDF Chief of Staff, General Gabi Ashkenazi. Also, Barak spoke with the head of the Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, and the Turkish Secretary of Defense, Foreign Minister, and Ambassador in Israel.
In Istanbul, Turkey, hundreds of people are protesting Israel's Gaza flotilla operation outside Israel's consulate. Israel's ambassador to Turkey has been summoned for a rebuke by Turkey's foreign ministry, which blames Israel for the incident, calling it, "an unprecedented criminal act which has sent Israel-Turkey relations into a tailspin."
In Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will hold a press conference at 10:30 AM in Jerusalem on the flotilla operation. Opposition leader, Tzippi Livni, has offered to assist the government in its PR efforts.
Security forces and Magen David Adom are preparing for possible violence across Israel due to the IDF flotilla operation. In Gaza, Hamas terrorists are calling on Arabs to take to the streets and to, "take revenge on Israel." The country is on its highest alert. Israeli Arab MK Taleb A-Sanaa issued a press release Monday in which he called IDF soldiers “Nazis” for stopping the pro-Gaza flotilla. PA Chairman Machmoud Abbas as announced three days of mourning for the Flotilla "victims".
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is convening an emergency meeting in Jerusalem on the flotilla operation. The Foreign ministry may call for Israelis in Turkey to leave the country, and for other Israelis to cancel their travel plans to Turkey, due to the risk of violence. Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Gal will hold a briefing for Israel's foreign ambassadors at noon today. Israel plans to demand that Turkey take responsibility for its citizens who are on Israeli ground.

  • IDF Soldier Critically Injured
Reported: 10:45 AM - May/31/10


The IDF reports that at least one soldier has been critically injured in clashes with pro-Arab activists aboard the Gaza bound flotilla. Four other soldiers sustained moderate to light injuries.
The IDF spokeman's office confirmed that the pro-Arab activists used live fire on the soldiers even though they depicted themselves as "peace activists".
  


  • From Ynet:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896555,00.html

Israeli Arabs call general strike over Gaza flotilla takeover

(Video) Acting Higher Arab Monitoring Committee head calls incident 'massacre'. Deputy of Islamic Movement official Sheikh Raed Salah, rumored to have been injured in takeover, says 'this was an assassination attempt'...

See video. 


  • Ongoing updates on Debkafile


http://www.debka.com/



  • From this new blog I just discovered:

http://docstalk.blogspot.com/2010/05/father-capucci-joins-freedom-flotilla.html

Very interesting that the CATHOLIC CHURCH should also be involved. Of course it was to be expected. That "peace loving" Catholic Church, we do know it by now, don't we??


  • http://www.theaugeanstables.com/

    May 31, 2010

    Notes from Danny Ayalon’s Press Conference Statement

    Filed under: Arab-Israeli Conflict, flotilla — Richard Landes @ 3:31 am —
    From the Foreign Ministry (live feed no longer operative, should be posted soon)
    premeditated ambush
    linked to global terror
    found weapons (at least two guns) prepared in advance and used against our forces.
    violent in planning and execution
    outcome the responsibility of the organizers
    their intent not humanitarian, not interested in kidnapped soldier
    wanted to establish corridor of weapons trafficking to Hamas

    • http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/israeli-navy-attacks-gaza-flotilla-many-dead-and-injured/

    • Slanted news against Israel, but new info - THIS FOOTAGE IS FROM TEHERAN!!

    • From Women in Green


    תגובת נשים למען עתיד ישראל (נשים בירוק) וועדי פעולה יהודה:
     

    עם ישראל מאוחד בגיבויו לפעולה ההכרחית של צה"ל לעצירת הפרובוקציה וההונאה של הערבים ופעילי השמאל הקיצוני במשט.

    ההכנות שלהם, והאלימות שהם הפעילו בשימושם בנשק חם וקר נגד חיילי צה"ל, מוכיחים עד כמה הם אינם פעילי "שלום" אלא מחרחרי מלחמה החפצים בהשמדת ישראל.

    סוף סוף ממשלת ישראל עצרה את הסחף המסוכן של התקפלות וויתורים.
    חזק ואמץ לחיילינו ורפואה שלמה לפצועי צה"ל.

    לפרטים: יהודית קצובר 050-7161818 נדיה מטר 0505500834

    Reaction by Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) and the Judea action committee

    The People of Israel are united in their support of the IDf's necessary action to stop the provocation and the fraud of the Arabs and the extreme left activists on the boats.

    Their preparations and the violence they used against our IDF soldiers, using weapons like knives, gas, metal bars and some even say live ammunition- all prove that we are not talking about "peace" activists but rather about war agitators who desire to destroy the very existence of the State of Israel.

    Finally the government of Israel stopped its dangerous road of capitulation and concessions.
    Chazak Ve'ematz (Strength) to our dear soldiers and refua shleima (quick recovery) to the soldiers who were wounded.

    For details: Nadia Matar 050-5500834  Yehudit Katsover 0507161818

    Comment: AND FROM ME TOO!!!DS 

     

    • Our friend Shifra Hoffman's comment:

    VAT Welcomes Israel's Show of Strength

    Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 03:21
    (Israelnationalnews.com) Victims of Arab Terror International announced that it applauds the Israeli action that "prevented the maritime renegades from violating both moral and international law."
    VAT President Shifra Hoffman welcomed Israel's show of strength, saying, "Peace will come when Israel is strong, believes in G-d, and does what it has to do to protect its land and people."
    "There cannot be peace when there's terrorism, and Prime Minister Netanyahu must take the recent events, including the PA's threat to stop the proximity talks, as a Divine sign that the peace charade must be stopped.



    • http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137785 -
    • VIDEO OF PRESS CONFERENCE OF DANNY AYALON!
    • http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896607,00.html






    • Navy Prepared to Face Anarchists, Met Terrorists Instead

    Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 03:53
    by Hillel Fendel
    (Israelnationalnews.com) Army Radio reporter Gal Lev-Rom, on board one of the Israeli Navy ships that stopped the anti-Israel flotilla, reported on the “peace activists” preparations to lynch Israeli soldiers and on the large weapon stocks they brought.

    Lev-Rom said that at one point around midnight, “our ships started calling upon them to stop, or else the full responsibility would be upon them.” It was similarly publicized in news sources around that time that Israel said it would give the boats time to adhere to the instructions before its forces would begin to board them.

    “There was no answer other than curses in English and Arabic,” Lev-Rom said. Around  4 AM, the commandos started boarding the boats, rappelling onto them by ropes and armed only with pistols. At that point, Lev-Rom said, “the demonstrators on board attacked the Israelis with light weaponry, including knives and clubs, in true lynch-like fashion. The commandos are certainly well-trained, but it’s quite hard to fight back when it’s 6-10 people against one. They started beating our soldiers with bats and sharp objects and the like, and even some pistols were taken and fired at our soldiers.”
    Lev-Rom noted that the army is checking a report that rifles were fired at the Israelis. “The fighting occurred on deck, but one soldier was thrown down to a lower floor, and another soldier had no choice but to throw himself off the boat into the water. From then on, the soldiers had no interest other than to protect themselves and their comrades. Their actions, from all indications, were without reproach, as well as very heroic. Several soldiers were only seconds only away from death before their fellow soldiers saved them.”
    “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.”
    A total of 38 wounded were taken to four different hospitals in Israel, including seven Israeli soldiers. Among the latter are two in serious condition and three in moderate condition. No specific reports were issued on the 31, other than they are being treated in Sheba-Tel HaShomer, Ramban in Haifa, Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and Beilinson in Petach Tikvah.
    The IDF issued a statement saying that, “As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity [by the ships’ passengers], naval forces employed riot dispersal means, including live fire. Reports from IDF forces on the scene are that it seems as if part of the participants on board the ships were planning to lynch the forces… The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose.” 


    • http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=176998
    Print Edition
    Photo by: ASSOCIATED PRESS
    Barak: Flotilla organizers to blame for 15 dead activists
    By TOVAH LAZAROFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN AND JPOST.COM STA 31/05/2010
    Defense minister says soldiers tried to disperse Gaza protesters peacefully; IDF chief stresses only 1 of 6 ships carried extremists; Navy cmdr. praises soldiers bravery.
     
    Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a press conference on Monday that while he was sorry for lives lost, the organizers of the Gaza-bound protest flotilla were solely responsible for the outcome of the fatal IDF raid earlier in the day. Fifteen activists were killed and dozens wounded in the violent clashes.

    Barak said that the soldiers tried to disperse the activists aboard the ship peacefully but were forced to open fire to protect themselves.

    He called the flotilla a provocation, specifically called the IHH, an Islamic aid organization, "extremist supporters of terror."

    The defense minister also called on Arab and Palestinian leaders not to let this "provocation by irresponsible people" ruin the progress made in proximity peace talks.

    Ashkenazi: Soldiers acted in self defense

    IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday that the violence aboard the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships of the Gaza-bound protest flotilla, was instigated by those aboard the ships and that soldiers who opened fire were defending themselves.

    Ashkenazi noted that the Mavi Marmara, the only ship on which violence took place, was different than the other five ships of the flotilla. He said that five ships carried humanitarians and peace activists but the Mavi Marmara was sponsored by the extremist organization the IHH and those aboard acted in "extreme violence."

    Navy chief praises soldiers 'bravery'

    Israeli Navy commander Vice-Admiral Eliezer Marom said Monday that IDF soldiers that raided Mavi Marmara acted with "perseverance and bravery."

    Marom said that the soldiers lives were in danger and that they fired their weapons in self defense. He added that given the situation, many more than ten people could have been killed if the soldiers had not acted with the proper sensitivity.

    Ayalon: Flotilla was 'an armada of hate and violence'

    Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that the flotilla of ships "was an armada of hate and violence."

    Speaking at a Jerusalem press conference on Monday morning. "It was a premeditated and outrageous provocation" and its organizers had ties to global Jihad, al Qaida and Hamas, said Ayalon.

    "Their intent was violent, their methods were violent and their results were unfortunately violent," Ayalon said.

    "Israel regrets the loss of life and did everything it could to avoid this outcome," Ayalon stressed, adding that Israel had offered to transport the humanitarian cargo on board the ship to Gaza.

    "The organizers on the ship did not heed the calls of our forces this morning to peacefully follow them and bring a peaceful closure to this event," said Ayalon, iterating that the successful arrival of the flotilla in Gaza would have created "a corridor of arms smuggling."

    The Foreign Ministry has convened a noon meeting of all ambassadors in the country. The Turkish ambassador was requested to arrive half-an-hour early for a private conversation.

    Political echelons, security and police hurried to respond on Monday to deadly clashes that took place earlier in the day between Navy commandos and members of a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza.

    Livni offers help with diplomatic crisis

    Kadima chair Tzipi Livni called Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to offer her help in dealing with the diplomatic crisis Israel was likely to face in the aftermath of the violent incident.

    Livni's party mate Kadima Council head Haim Ramon attacked Netanyahu's government for mishandling the Gaza flotilla affair.

    In Canada, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was getting constant updates on the clashes, a foreign ministry spokesman told Army Radio. Netanyahu is in Canada as part of a trip that has him slated to meet Tuesday with US President Barack Obama.

    The IDF and police were preparing for the possibility of demonstrations and violence among Palestinians as well as Israeli-Arabs on Monday, amid reports of up to 15 dead.

    Northern District police chief Cmdr. Shimon Koren completed an evaluation of the security situation in the North on Monday morning, and ordered a high state of alert and instructed police officers to be ready "for the possibility of any scenario or attempt to cause a disturbance."

    Also Monday morning, Israeli NGO Gush Shalom was set to demonstrate in support of the "Free Gaza" convoy, according to an email circulated by the group.

    The demonstrators intend to converge outside the center in Ashdod where the detained international aid activists are supposed to be held.

    Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch cancelled a planned appearance at an anti-violence march in Lod scheduled for Monday. The march will go ahead as planned.







    • According to the Vatican, AsiaNews





      http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Israel-attacks-ship-carrying-aid-to-Gaza.-At-least-10-dead-18546.htm
    • 2 IDF SOLDIERS WERE ALSO KILLED! If so, my sincere condolences to all their loved ones. May G-d avenge their blood .



    » 05/31/2010 09:53
    TURKEY - ISRAEL
    Israel attacks ship carrying aid to Gaza. At least 10 dead
    The Israeli commandos used helicopters and patrol boats to attack the ships. There were also two deaths among the IDF soldiers. Israel temporarily censors the news. Vessels carrying cement, wheelchairs, water purifiers and prefabricated houses to contest the blockade on the Strip. Thousands of Turks demonstrateoutside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.










    » 05/31/2010 12:46
    ISRAEL - TURKEY
    State of alert throughout Israel. "Brink of war or new Intifada"
    by Joshua Lapide
    Toll from attack rises to 19 dead. Roads to the West Bank and the Gaza crossings closed. Access to Temple Mount mosques forbidden. Raed Salah, Palestinian leader of the northern Israel is seriously hurt. Arab and Israeli strikes in Gaza. Abbas declares three days of mourning and calls the Israeli operation "a massacre". Israel claims aid ships were "a provocation" with links to terrorism. Anti-Israeli demonstrations in Istanbul. Ankara withdraws its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

    • Germany: Israel's reaction seems disproportional
    Spokesperson for German chancellor Angela Merkel Ulrich Wilhelm said that Israel's response to the Gaza aid convoy seems to be disproportional .  Wilhelm added that Germany's governments have always recognized Israel's right to self-defense, but that it had to be carried out in a logical manner. (AFP)  


      Comment: 

    HERE THEY GO AGAIN! HAVEN'T THE GERMANS LEARNED, ONCE AND FOR ALL, THAT THEY HAVE LOST ALL ETHICAL AND MORAL RIGHT TO JUDGE AND CRITICIZE THE JEWISH PEOPLE , FOR EVER AND EVER, IN 1939-1945? DO WE HAVE TO REMIND THEM OF THE 6 MILLION PLUS INNOCENT JEWS THEY KILLED IN COLD BLOOD?  THE LEAST THING THEY CAN DO AT THIS POINT IS PUT UP AND SHUT UP. THAT IS THE VERY LEAST. 
      
    And France's comments not to be outdone:

    Sarkozy Condemns Israeli Response as 'Disproportionate'

    Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 02:45
    (Israelnationalnews.com) French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned what he called "the disproportionate use of force" by Israeli soldiers against the Gaza-bound flotilla.
    His office issued a statement saying that "The President expressed his surprise at the tragic consequences of the Israeli action."

    Come on, Sarkozy, have you no shame? What about Vichy? What about the 76,000 innocent Jews, if not more, that your country willingly and knowingly sent to their deaths? What about Ilan Halimi? What about the daily attacks on Jews in your country under your very own presidency? Do we hear any protest there?

    Please spare us the moralizing and shut up, you too.


    .... Hmmm: just as we speak: Is this also DISPROPORTIONATE, or did you somehow fail to pay attention - right in your own backyard and under your watch?

    Head of Anti-Semitism Watchdog Group Targeted in France

    Sivan 18, 5770, 31 May 10 06:56
    by Maayana Miskin
    (Israelnationalnews.com) The head of a French anti-Semitism watchdog group was targeted early Monday in an arson attack when attackers torched Sammy Ghozlan's car outside his home in the Paris suburb of Blanc-Mesnil.
    Ghozlan has filed a complaint with police, who are investigating.
    The arson was “an anti-Semitic attack and intimidation,” Ghozlan said. He told the European Jewish Press that he had not received any threats prior to the attack, and that no individual or organization has claimed responsibility.
    Ghozlan, a retired French police captain, heads the Bureau National de Vigilance Contre l'Antisémitisme (National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism). He aims to protect Jews in neighborhoods known for anti-Semitic violence by ensuring that attacks are reported.
    He has also pushed police to look into anti-Semitism as a motive for attacks on Jews, and has drawn attention to anti-Semitic incitement.
    Anti-Semitic attacks nearly doubled in France in 2009, with Jewish organizations counting 832 attacks on Jews compared with 474 in 2008. The increase was apparently linked to Israel's counterterrorism offensive in Gaza in early 2009; by summer, the number of attacks had dropped to previous levels.)



     See also my latest post on the topic:
    http://israeltruthtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/updates-on-flotilla-to-gaza-invasion.html