Israeli commandos open fire on Gaza aid ship, at least 16 reported killed

[unapatriciated]

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/israeli-commandos-open-fire-gaza-aid (for video)

Israeli commandos open fire on Gaza aid ship, at least 16 reported killed
By David Neiwert Monday May 31, 2010 6:00am


More than 10 pro-Palestinian activists were killed during a raid by naval commandos halting an aid flotilla heading toward the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said Monday.

An official said the soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs as they boarded the six vessels.

The Israeli military said the violence turned deadly after one of the activists grabbed a weapon from one of the commandos. The weapon discharged, though it wasn't clear whether the activist fired it or if it went off accidentally.

Al-Jazeera TV reported by telephone from the Turkish ship leading the flotilla that Israeli forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain. The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

Turkey's NTV network reported that at least 30 activists were wounded.

'Massacre'
Some 700 pro-Palestinian activists are on the boats, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the incident as a "massacre," the official Wafa news agency reported.

The raid came just after daybreak, with the flotilla still well away from the Gaza shore. Israel had declared it would not allow the ships to reach Gaza.

In Istanbul, Turkey, police blocked dozens of stone-throwing protesters who tried to storm the Israeli Consulate.

[Sensitivity]

1. CROOKS & LIARS?? --- Someone is Lying for sure -- Israeli "spokesman" blames terrorist-supporting

activist for "viciously attacking" Israeli commandos.

Wonder if there will ever be an independent investigation that Israel will accept?

[xxqqqzme]

43. A bunch of aid ships

were sufficiently armed to take on Israeli commandos?

Really? That's what their story?

[HOLOS]

78. Israeli Propaganda

Israel has the audacity to call these aid-workers terrorists! Is a Nobel laureate a terrorist? A Holocaust survivor? School-teachers, swedish politicians, journalists? Israeli propaganda-tactics is so blatantly obvious, the have completely isolated the aid-workers not allowing them to even speak with their own families! They aren't releasing any information about the passengers on the flotilla, only what suits Israel. Propaganda!

[subsuelo]

82. and the Obama administration goes right along with it

[InfiniteThoughts]

52. hate to jump to quick conclusions ....

let the din settle down and we will come to know the fault at the middle of this latest controversy.

One thing though is for sure: no matter whose fault it was, this is dumb & stupid action resulting in one PR nightmare!

[JackRiddler]

65. Israel has every right to invade the homes of "independent investigators" anywhere in the world...

This is its sacred right of self-defense. If they resist, they are aggressors and Israel may shoot them dead. The world is its castle.

[Mari333]

2. ibtl, unfortunately

[Mari333]

3. oh and heres the livestream

http://www.livestream.com/insaniyardim

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. thanks for the live stream...I'm watching it now

link:

http://www.livestream.com/insaniyardim


.

[elias49]

4. Israel's very own pirates.

I think that in most enlightened societies, what Israel did would be called 'murder'.

[chimpymustgo]

23. You said it.

[Selatius]

27. More like privateering. Pirates don't operate under national charters. Privateers do, though.

In the old days, the English Crown would enlist the aid of ship captains and give them a charter to raid and sink Spanish galleons and loot their gold and silver cargo. And also, these were soldiers, not private citizens. This would be more akin to a British warship sinking Spanish merchant vessels directly rather than contracting out the work to private entities.

With that said, though, I doubt Israel has any use for the aid except to throw it all overboard. Israel is a wealthy nation and is not in want of more food or medical supplies, unlike the people in Gaza and the West Bank.

[femrap]

38. I just read

that the United States supplies the Israeli gov't with $7,000,000/day. Guess they just turn around and give that back to our arms dealers.

Yet we have homeless vets and hungry people.

WASF

[eecumings]

72. Thank you.

A moral US administration would cancel all aid to Israel immediately, something that should have been done after the Six-Day War.

[JackRiddler]

67. They should plead piracy as defense because what they did is much, much worse. The legal status...

The attack was waged from military ships of a sovereign state on civilian ships of a sovereign state.

In international waters, Turkish law applies on a Turkish ship.

Legally, Israel has one option: claim it was a mistake and hand over the soldiers for murder trial in Turkey. However, they have defended the attack as an official action.

Otherwise, Israel is now in a state of war with Turkey.

Under NATO Article 5, an attack on a NATO member is an attack on all.

Turkey is calling the NATO ambassadors together tomorrow to demand a response from NATO.

There will be giant protests in Turkey. The Erdogan government has a precarious relationship with the Turkish military. If it suppresses the protests, it is attacking its own base of power as an Islamist party.

Erdogan has no choice but to be insist on a response to this attack. That won't be an armed response, obviously, but the issue of NATO member aid to Israel will be put on the table.

The US will have to choose between NATO and its very high volume of military and civilian aid to a rogue state that committed murders of neutral-state civilians in international waters.

NATO is on the line.

[truth2power]

69. Israel is a rogue state. Those soldiers should be tried for murder.

[rucky]

5. "Still signs of live fire despite the white flag"

http://www.livestream.com/insaniyardim

[Poll_Blind]

9. Over 7,000 people viewing that at the moment! Wow, thanks for the link! n/t

PB

[wial]

11. yeah I saw that too

pretty hard to explain those occasional methodical shots away, many minutes into the raid.

I think Israel has shown its true colors this time. Not for the first time either.

A few things important things to remember though: the current government in Israel could be replaced by the Israeli people, not all of whom are as asinine as Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also, one of the motives for allowing the creation of Israel was England's old "divide and conquer" policy. England and the other European powers including the United States had utterly brutalized the world during the colonial period, slaughtering people in numbers that dwarf the Holocaust, humiliating the rest (Turkey was an early example) and now all those peoples were gaining independence. Meanwhile, the Holocaust had just happened, and in an important sense the highly educated Jews had common cause with all the other peoples so cruelly treated by the Europeans. (I do understand most Israelis are not European Jews btw). What better way to keep the traumatized third world in turmoil than to stick it with one last act of overt colonialism: the formation of the Israeli state.

It worked well for England in Northern Ireland, setting the Celtic Irish against the Celtic Scots: why not try the same thing with the Semitic Arabs and Semitic Jews?

Of course not everyone saw it this way -- just the mathematically minded rulers of England who saw an easy way to keep the world from turning on them. Many countries around the world supported Germany in WWII simply because they hated England so much. Burma is a prime example. So England had reason to fear. The English propagandists successfully turned that rage against history's traditional scapegoats when they set up Israel as bait.

So when Israel shoots unarmed Muslim activists before dawn, in the final analysis, ironically, it's Indo-European supremacists to blame. Those are Israel's true colors, those of Indo-European supremacy. Israel is pathetically being duped by an age-old evil power, which always used Jews to deflect blame.

[Poll_Blind]

15. +1 Yup. There are many other ways to view such a complex situation but...

...I can't find much to disagree with in your post. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

PB

[Usrename]

25. The only question is Israels relationship with the US.

Is Israel in charge or not? Is the tail wagging the dog or is Israel being forced down a particular path by the US placing a ring through their nose? In either event, the US/Israel relationship is at the forefront of destroying modern civilization. We are desperately trying to create a separate sub-species of non-human persons who have no basic rights.

[femrap]

41. Yes...thank you.

A good summation of a complicated situation.

I might add that by putting making Israel the home of the Jews, it instigated 'non-ending war' with the arms dealers selling to both sides. A great money-making proposition for the truly evil and sociopaths of the world.

[Raksha]

63. Interesting analysis. I've been doing a lot of thinking about Indo-European supremacy lately,

in a somewhat different but related context (the Holocaust).

Re "So when Israel shoots unarmed Muslim activists before dawn, in the final analysis, ironically, it's Indo-European supremacists to blame. Those are Israel's true colors, those of Indo-European supremacy. Israel is pathetically being duped by an age-old evil power, which always used Jews to deflect blame."

Your analysis makes a lot of sense to me, much as I desperately wish it didn't.

[Knight Hawk]

77. Interesting take on it

Practically all the leaders of Israel are European Jews ,there has been only one Middle Eastern Jew who has been in the Israeli cabinet in the last 10 years,a Tunisian Jew ,I believe.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

6. Aljazeera showed video of attack

released by Israelis. Shows view from helicopter and people running around deck after troops land on deck.

19 dead.

[Common Sense Party]

32. Or 2 dead. Or 10.

The story keeps changing.

[Moochy]

7. K&R before the official unremembering begins

[FLAprogressive]

58. I'm surprised this hasn't been dungeoned....the whitewash here is sickening.

[Moochy]

60. its the designated thread

whitewashing murder is hard work.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Douglas Carpenter]

10. it might be more productive to ask the mods to keep this in the General Forum

for the most part they are only following procedures established by DU Admin

[Moochy]

12. And the tooth fairy might come over tonight

seems more likely than this thread surviving for much longer outside the I/P "let's pretend Israel can do no wrong" dungeon..

[cali]

17. In all fairness, I've had quite a few threads about Israel that the mods

allowed to stay up, here in GD.

[AnArmyVeteran]

28. Why is talking negatively about Israel somehow anti semitic?

I have noticed in almost every forum and in the media if someone dares to criticize Israel they are labeled as anti semitic. Why is it taboo to ever condemn them for their actions? The right wing goes ballistic when you even mention their beloved Israel in a negative light giving the impression everything Israel does is an order from 'god'.

Frankly, I don't get the fascination people have with all the shrines or rocks that lead people to kill one another. I wonder if any real 'god' would condone people killing because a place on the planet is somehow 'holy'? How can anything be 'holy' if it inspires so much hatred, division and killing?

I don't get it. I don't need to take a pilgrimage to look at a bunch of rocky hills or man-made buildings to affirm any beliefs I have. But if others have that need so be it...

[sasquuatch55]

37. +1,000,000,000

nt

[mzteris]

42. this is the thing that pisses me off most of all.

One can not dare to criticize the act of some individuals who happen to have an ethnic/religious heritage nor the "government" because that govt happens to be "Israel".


FYI - I don't give a rats ass about anyone's "religion" - I think they're ALL (all religions) at the bottom of some of the most heinous behaviours in the world.


And I don't think one's "ethnicity" nor their history of oppression gives one a "pass" on acceptable behaviour.

Of course now I will be attacked for being "anti-semitic" - even though last I remember of my anthropology - Palestinians are "semitic", too.

It really torques me that I'm not allowed to express my opinion of people's behaviour, without being accused of being "anti-jewish" when imo, "jewishness" hasn't a damn thing to do with it.

[newspeak]

53. There are people in Israel who want peace, have worked for peace

But, after the assassination of Rabin by a zealot, why did the Israeli people turn to neocon war hawks? It's like there is a group of psychotic people who have war on their agenda, they do not care who is killed--either for profiteering or fantasyland prophecies.

[truth2power]

70. It's not just the right wing. n/t

[AnArmyVeteran]

79. You're right. I meant to say the right wing gets especially crazy

but a lot of people of all political beliefs defend Israel whether they are right or wrong.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[11 Bravo]

14. Uh oh, you said "Israel". This is dungeon-bound.

[Ned Bro]

16. And.....we're supposed to ramp up the sanctions on Iran, right?

Because it might be wanting to build nuclear weapons, and it oppresses people.

Got it.

[msongs]

19. after 40 yrs wandering the desert god said kill all the people and steal the land, so they did nt

[cali]

22. and who might they be?

this kind of idiot crap is exactly why these threads get shunted to I/P.

[howard112211]

24. Hmm.

The post you are replying to is phrased in a particularly inflammatory way. Of course "they" refers to jews, no other possible way to read it.

However, I wonder: Do you think that, from the angle of trying to maintain an objective view on the I/P conflict, it is an accurate asessment of the situation to state that the elements of jewish belief that declare that particular geographical region the holy land and that declare the jewish tribes as god's chosen people to inhabit those areas have played absolutely no role whatsoever
to the way the conflict has unfolded since the foundation of the state of Israel?

What the post you are replying to is saying, after subtracting the sarcastic rhetoric, is that the motivation behind the behavior
of the current, and possibly of past, Israeli governments is rooted in large parts in a certain type of jewish theology. To reach such a conclusion, be it right or wrong, is not extremely far fetched, simply from the the exact text of the old testament.

I take it from your post, that you think this is a false observation? So are you saying that religion plays only a minor role, or no role at all?

[cali]

29. yes, I do think it's a largely false observation

I think that the role of religion, if not minor is by no means as major as other things.

[cprise]

76. Religion is a system of ritualized "knowledge"

And the most successful ones employ absolutes whenever possible such that they have "all the answers".

So religion only looks and acts like a force that suppresses questioning and research.

[spanone]

20. 'aid ship' this is murder.

[ShamelessHussy]

21. Israel is doing basically the same thing we did to the native americans

except with more firepower.

:'(

[HughMoran]

26. a quiet K&R

without comment...

[Tarc]

30. Wanton, thuggish terrorism

We need to cut ties, immediately.

[BrklynLiberal]

31. Juan Cole has an amazing piece about this....

http://www.juancole.com/2010/05/israeli-commandos-kill-as-many-as-10-16-aid-activists-wound-over-30-as-they-board-capture-gaza-aid-flotilla.html

[mod mom]

46. worth a full read!

[Laughing Mirror]

33. Israeli TV channel 10 reporting 19 killed, 26 wounded

as being reported in Le Monde. Most of the dead were Turks, and two Algerians.

[WinkyDink]

34. Maybe Israel should just deny medicines, like the US does.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Well ths thread lasted longer than mine. And I just wanted a list of casualties.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. I just knew of this. Holy CRAP!

What are the Israeli government thinking?

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[freddie mertz]

44. This is horrible, disgraceful incident.

Not much coverage in the US media either.

[WeDidIt]

45. War crime n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

47. kick and recommend!! VERY IMPORTANT!!!

[ProudDad]

48. I love the way National Propaganda Radio reports this...

As "activists connected with the terrorist group Hamas which seized power in Gaza in 2007"...

I guess the ELECTION that brought Hamas to power was tossed down the memory hole, hmmmm?

Another juicy quote from an Israeli "spokesman" on the BBC World Service, "They've fired a thousand rockets at innocent civilians!"... And how many rockets and shells and phosphorous bombs have your (USAmerikan financed weapons) fired at Gaza, hmmmm?


The step-son of the USAmerikan Empire, the middle eastern surrogate power projection "securing OUR (USAmerikan) OIL" is quite the rogue state, isn't it? But, no worries, they've got the ONLY vote that counts at the UN...

[Moochy]

50. I got a bad feelling about this yesterday after hearing the IDF spokesman on BBC Newshour

he claimed that the hardship in Gaza was overstated and that the quality of life inside the occupied territories was "better than five of the region's islamic countries." paraphrasing.

Got that Gazans? Your collective punishment is not as bad as life under a muslim tyrant, so stop complaining.

[tabasco]

66. Turn off National Propaganda Radio.

It's as bad as Fox "News."

[matsovani]

49. Not to downplay the attack on

the aid flotilla and the subsequent massacre. But it would seem this incident effectively diverts our attention from the massive ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I'm sure to the relief of BP and their allies.
I don't know about the rest of you but, most of the time I feel like a pawn on the Imperialists chess board of the world, being bombarded by crisis after crisis. :nuke: :hide:

[HughMoran]

51. here...

:tinfoilhat:

[ProudDad]

56. You're not alone...

"I feel like a pawn on the Imperialists chess board of the world, being bombarded by crisis after crisis."

Because, if we buy into the myth of the capitalist dominator hierarchy, we ARE pawns on the chessboard...yadayadayada...

On the other hand, if we work to subvert the dominant paradigm, we can free ourselves...and some of us and our progeny might survive the Long Emergency...

[TexasObserver]

54. recommend

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

55. Ajazeera bureau chief attacked at protests at dock in Israel

...now switched to UN and the turkish rep.

I'm watching this on Aljazeera America

[John Q. Citizen]

57. not good.

[orbitalman]

59. What would YOU do if they (anyone) tried to board your ship...

or get into your car, whatever??? Would you try to defend yourself?

[Wizard777]

62. Just like Flight 93. "Lets roll!"

[Jester Messiah]

73. Exactly. Replace "Israeli Commando" with "Somali Pirate" to put it in proper perspective. [nt]

[immune]

84. Perspective is a good thing.

Thanks for making that point.

[Selatius]

81. Quite a few Americans would defend themselves if attacked. I know several who own firearms.

Most folks I know are peaceful and don't like to be the aggressor, but there's a difference between being the attacker and being attacked. Many people I know where I live would pick up arms and fight if their friends and family came under direct assault. Family comes first, and many friends are treated like family.

[abelenkpe]

61. I'm confused.

Israeli soldiers boarded a ship outside their territorial waters and was surprised that people on the boat fought them off with their hands and knives and whatever was available? Is that normal or legal? I mean boarding a ship that is not your own?

And now the ship and all people on board are being held by Israel?

[JackRiddler]

68. All actions by Israel everywhere are legal, in self-defense, and under terrible siege by its enemies

[WinkyDink]

74. Do you see the irony here? Or is the reverse merely always the unvarnished truth?

[Better Believe It]

64. So how many Israeli commandos were killed or wounded in the alleged attack on them?

I didn't realize it was so easy to take away a gun from their commandos.

So the protestors were in international waters and many miles away from the Gaza shore when the commandos struck?

Enough excuses for the far right-wing Israeli regime. They make George W. Bush look like a left-wing radical!

[Hardrada]

71. Good question.

Those thugs must be trained to shoot on sight.

[WinkyDink]

75. You wouldn't believe any reports, so why ask?

[hulka38]

80. Massacre. How is Obama's response of blocking UN condemnation any different

than Bush's would be?

[subsuelo]

83. Different word choices? n/t