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and the State Department just released a statement saying they STAND BEHIND Israel's choice to raid the floating boat of idiots.
Official: US Will Stand with Israel - Political Punch
Another fake Israeli atrocity created by terrorist groups for TV and pushed through the mainstream media.....Nice try. Not this time......SINK THOSE BOATS and throw em posters of Arafat to float on.
Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states.
This was the first mistake of many by Europe and America who believe they can interfere in other countries and there will be no backlash.
Israel is as crazy if not crazier than the people they denounce as terrorists.
01/06/2010 Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi, who was on board the Marmara ship when it was raided by Navy fighters, held a press conference in Nazareth on Tuesday, in which she accused Israel of committing crimes during its takeover of the Gaza-bound aid ship. She called for an international inquiry into the incident.
Zoabi added, "It was clear from the size of the force that boarded the ship that the purpose was not only to stop this sail, but to cause the largest possible number of fatalities in order to stop such initiatives in the future."
She said the flotilla's participants did not have any violent intentions: "Our goal was to break the siege. We had no plans for a confrontation. Israel carried out a provocative military operation. Israel is used to doing as it pleases with the Palestinians. The main problem is not the ship, but the siege."
She also demanded the activists held in Beersheba be allowed visitation. "We also demand a UN inquiry commission probe the Israeli claims. This is an international issue, because the passengers were from different nations."
Of the raid itself, she said, "I entered the captain's room. He was asked to stop by the Israeli soldiers. He said, 'We are a Turkish ship.' We were 130 miles off. It was 11:30 pm. We saw four Israel vessels, they were at a distance because we were in international waters. At 4:15 am we saw the ships approaching. They were dinghies and choppers. At 4:30 am the forces landed quickly. I did not hear any warning from the ships, because noise was coming from the ships and the choppers. Within 10 minutes there were already three bodies. The entire operation took about an hour."
She denied any resistance from the ship's passengers. "There was not a single passenger who raised a club. We put on our life vests. From where I was standing, I didn't see any clubs or anything of the sort. There were gunshots, I don't know if they were live bullets or not. There were gunshots fired from the ships in our direction."
"A clear message was being sent to us, for us to know that our lives were in danger. We convened that we were not interested in a confrontation. What we saw was five bodies. There were only civilians and there were no weapons. There was a sense that I many not come out of it alive. Israel spoke of a provocation, but there was no provocation."
Zoabi was released to her home Tuesday morning after being questioned.
Shortly before the takeover, Zoabi said, "We are part of the Palestinian people. They are trying to break us. The ships took us by surprise and started to call out to us. For four years, no one spoke about Gaza. Only in this past week did the entire world get to the war crimes of Israel, a country that occupies and violates basic humanitarian rights."
GREEK ACTIVIST: ISRAELIS USED BULLETS AND ELECTROSHOCK
Moreover, a Greek activist told of the moment Israeli troops stormed the ill-fated Gaza-bound aid flotilla, using rubber bullets, tear gas and electroshock weapons to subdue those aboard. "Israeli troops jumped onto the boat around 0530 on Monday," Michalis Grigoropoulos said of the pre-dawn raid by Israeli forces.
Grigoropoulos was aboard the Eleftheri Mesogeio, smaller than the lead boat, the Mavi Marmara, which Israeli troops had attacked earlier. "They fired rubber coated bullets, tear gas and then used electroshock weapons on some activists," he told Skai television shortly after Israel deported him and five compatriots to Athens.
"An hour beforehand, at 0430 local time, we heard gunfire on the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, the Israelis jumped from helicopters onto the boat," he said.
Israel is still holding hundreds of the 686 passengers they seized and took back to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where Grigoropoulos said he was kept incommunicado, denied access to a lawyer and made to sign papers he did not understand.
Grigoropoulos criticized "the wretched detention conditions at Ashdod (where) 500 people were packed in together" saying that "two Greek activists were beaten up" there by Israeli police. "They made me sign papers on my expulsion, without me knowing what was on the papers because I did not have the right to a translator, a lawyer or to communicate with my family," he said.
The Eleftheri Mesogeio's captain, Zaharias Stilianakis, who was among those returned to Athens, said that "after their assault on the boat, the commandos cut all means of communication."
GERMAN WITNESSES: NO ONE ARMED ON GAZA FLOTILLA
Three visibly shaken Germans who experienced the deadly raid by the Israeli military denied on Tuesday that anyone on board was armed. "The Israeli government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case," former Member of Parliament Norman Paech, 72, wrapped in a blue blanket, told reporters in Berlin. "This was not an act of self-defense."
His comments were backed up by two others on board the convoy when it was raided at dawn on Monday in international waters, MPs Inge Hoeger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56. "We felt like we were in a war, like we were being kidnapped," Hoeger said. "We wanted to bring aid to Gaza. Nobody had a weapon."
Al-ManarTV:: Released Detainees Deny Being Armed, Say Israel Used Bullets, Gas, Electroshock 01/06/2010
I really don't understand how any American could support these IDF boy touchers after what they did to our own sailors on board the USS Liberty. They killed 'em all. no survivors. This is our friend and ally? :wtf:
It would take some REALY strong zionist koolaid to get me to forget about all that but they do serve it wholesale for free on fox so I can maybe understand how some get suckered into it. Not me. I couldn't give two fucks about isreal.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday reiterated his country's condemnation of the Israeli raid on the humanitarian aid flotilla, calling the incident a "bloody massacre."
"They have to be punished for this action," Erdoğan told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
Turkish PM Erdo?Ÿan says Israel 'must be punished' for raid on ship
1. Organize an emergency protest against Israel's attack on the humanitarian flotilla. Find events near you and post your event details by clicking here.
2. Contact President Obama at 202-456-1111 or send him an email by clicking here. Ask him to:
* Condemn Israel's attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and support an international investigation of it.
* Find Israel in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and immediately end all military aid to Israel.
* Pressure Israel to end its illegal blockade of the occupied Palestinian Gaza Strip.
* End U.S. support for Israel's illegal 43-year occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.
3. Request an emergency meeting with your Members of Congress during this week's Memorial Day recess. Many Members of Congress are in their home districts this week to meet with constituents.
We will be developing more materials for these meetings soon and posting them here.
4. Get the story out to the media. Use our talking points below, and for tips on how to engage in media activism, please click here.
* The Gaza Freedom Flotilla boats were attacked by the Israeli military in international waters, a clear violation of international law. The Israeli military killed civilians in international water, arguably a war crime.
* So far there has been a complete media blackout of the flotilla members. Why aren??t we hearing from those who have been attacked? Why aren??t media outlets making a bigger deal about Israel denying them access to those who have been arrested?
* The ships were boarded by an elite commando unit of the Israeli military, armed with heavy automatic weapons. Israel must be held responsible for this use of disproportionate force and for recklessly endangering the lives of all civilians onboard.
* The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was attempting to break Israel??s illegal and immoral siege of the 1.5 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. These Palestinians have been denied rebuilding materials after Israel??s December 2008-January 2009 assault on the Gaza Strip, codenamed ??Operation Cast Lead.? In addition to killing more than 1400 Palestinians, Operation Cast Lead caused $2 billion in infrastructural damage, but Israel has consistently refused to allow rebuilding materials into the Gaza Strip. High-end medical supplies, as well as a revolving list of items that has included pasta, jam, and cardamom, have also been denied.
* This act of piracy in international waters, which has reportedly resulted in the deaths of as many as 19 activists, the wounding of 50-80, and the abduction of the Freedom Flotilla ships, is aided and abetted by U.S. military aid to Israel. In July 2008, the United States signed a contract worth $1.9 billion to transfer the latest-generation of naval combat vessels to Israel at U.S. taxpayer expense. Currently, Congress is in the process of appropriating a record $3.2 billion in military aid to Israel this budget year.
5. Learn more about the deadly impact of U.S. military aid to Israel and take action to end it by clicking here.
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : Take Action
The Israeli military has killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a day after Israeli commandos killed 20 activists aboard six aid ships in international waters.
Medics in Gaza announced that the Palestinians were killed in northern parts of the strip on Tuesday, AFP reported.
The head of Gaza emergency services, Muawiya Hassanein, said the bodies were taken to a morgue in Gaza City.
Earlier in the day, Israeli forces killed two other Palestinians in Khan Younis.
The Israeli aggression against Palestinians comes one day after a raid on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, some 150km (90 miles) off the coast of Gaza.
The bloody assault, carried out by Israeli naval commandos, left at least 20 people dead and dozens others wounded, provoking angry protests by governments, organizations and people across the world.
Israeli forces kill three Palestinians
How much kool-aid did it take to forget about the region's history, UN mandates on setting-up Israel as a nation, and exactly where the Palestinians came from, and why they were not welcome in their 'home' country. (there was no country...just secular tribal alliances)Quote:
Originally Posted by boaz
Hell...'Palestine' was, in the 1920's an insult.
From:Origins of Palestinian Arabs:
"No "Palestinian Arab people" existed at the start of 1920...
Until the late nineteenth century, residents living in the region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean identified themselves primarily in terms of religion: Moslems felt far stronger bonds with remote co-religionists than with nearby Christians and Jews. Living in that area did not imply any sense of common political purpose.
Then came the ideology of nationalism from Europe; its ideal of a government that embodies the spirit of its people was alien but appealing to Middle Easterners. How to apply this ideal, though? Who constitutes a nation and where must the boundaries be? These questions stimulated huge debates.
Some said the residents of the Levant are a nation; others said Eastern Arabic speakers; or all Arabic speakers; or all Moslems.
But no one suggested "Palestinians," and for good reason. Palestine, then a secular way of saying Eretz Yisra'el or Terra Sancta, embodied a purely Jewish and Christian concept, one utterly foreign to Moslems, even repugnant to them.
From: History of Palestine and Palestinians
"It was only after the Jews re-inhabited their historic homeland of Judea and Samaria, that the myth of an Arab Palestinian nation was created and marketed worldwide. Jews come from Judea, not Palestinians. There is no language known as Palestinian, or any Palestinian culture distinct from that of all the Arabs in the area. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. "Palestinians" are Arabs indistinguishable from Arabs throughout the Middle East. The great majority of Arabs in greater Palestine and Israel share the same culture, language and religion."
Anyway...That floatilla did not come un armed. They had a full compliment of hand-to-hand weapons, and the goal was to use them as such in a surprise attack on the team sent to search all incoming vessels. (it is a blockade, after all)
Next time, I'd recommend you know what the full context of the middle-east history, both recent and distant, before pretending to know the situation. Otherwise, you look like an under-educated left-leaning parrot. :jointsmile:
Rusty, next time I'd suggest you keep your lables to yourself, otherwise you sound like a fox news parrot. :jointsmile:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome
Yeah man, it does seem like there is a lot of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, etc. fans here. Does not matter though because anything mainstream spouts out lies.Quote:
Originally Posted by boaz
That's coming from a lying Israeli website ... :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome
Iran's interior minister has called on all countries which bang the drum for human rights to decry the crimes committed by the Zionist regime of Israel.
"The (UN) Security Council, the United Nations and all countries which claim to be human rights sympathizers should reach out to the Palestinian people and condemn Israeli crimes", said Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar in an interview with Fars news agency.
Touching on the Israeli assault on the Gaza-bound aid convoy in the high seas, the top official underlined the Israeli regime is associated with brutality, murder and crime.
By attacking the aid flotilla, Najjar said, the Israeli regime revealed its true colors.
He called on all international circles to denounce the atrocities committed at the hands of the 'usurper' and 'fabricated' regime of Israel.
'Israeli regime nature based on crime'
It's ok to acuse, but not ok to label? How are you going to tow the leftist agenda with an attitude like that?Quote:
Originally Posted by boaz
Regardless, I'd much rather be a fox news parrot, than a blog-plagiarising parrot. At least the former is armed with both sides of any given story, and has the ability to think for themselves.
Until you understand the history of the region, your accusations and insinuations are rediculous and unfounded. Almost laughable, in fact...
Anyone that has seen the video(s) and still believes that the boarding party was not attacked, I believe, has an acute case of optical rectitis. If the "humanitarian" mission was to truly deliver the goods, why then the attempts to run through the blockade? Their convoy could have just as easily delivered the cargo to the appropriate port untouched. Palestinian aid has been delivered there since the blockade started 3 years ago, and transfering the aid directly to the Palestinians (after a thorough search for weapons going to Hamas) has never been an issue.
Were I on a raiding party (what you seem to believe it was) I'd have gone in, guns a blazing, with not a single Israeli casualty. But short of that, it was a boarding party there to inspect cargo. I'm guessing if the Israelis intentions were to assault, there would be no "humanitarian" witnesses left standing. I also find it strange how no shots were fired till some of the "humanitarians" got ahold of a couple of the boarding party side arms. (while they were getting the crap beat out of them in a surprise attack)
Speaking of weapons, where do you think all the (non-weapon?) knives, clubs. pipes came from? And are you trying to say that the the strategy of waiting to be boarded before showing violence was a spur of the moment decision made by the entirety of crew and "humanitarians"...? (yet all the crew and "aid" workers were armed) They were in attack mode since the moment they left port in Turkey.
Do you believe that the Israeli's have no right to defend their nation and it's people from hostils neighbors? Next time...I say the Israelis should eliminate all doubt and put a torpedo through their hull, then prosecute any survivors.
The credibility of your response ended after those words...^ :jointsmile:Quote:
Originally Posted by WIlDuce1883
That's the best you can do?
This entire incident is nothing more than the Anti-Israel sharks and islamic jihadi's of the world smelling Obama's international weakness plain and simple. Might as well attempt to chump Israel while Obama's still around......the middle east follows our politics very closely and their betting Obama's DONE in 2 years....which he is.
Still waiting eagerly with popcorn for the next 2 boats of "peace activists" to be intercepted and hopefully try and fight again. It will all be on video .....should be on PPV.:pimp:
Anti-Iran rhetoric is the best you can do. So typical.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome
The laughable UN sits Iran on its human rights commision...( I couldnt even type that without laughing).......nobody gives a shit what anyone at the UN has to say anymore.
Iran stoned a women to death last week for looking promiscuous? They buried her up to her neck in sand and then three men smashed rocks over her head for a good twenty minutes till she stopped moaning.
The UN.........hahahahaha....what a JOKE. Kick em out of America. Off to Brussles lol.
Here's ANOTHER video of the jihadi "peace activists" gently waiting patiently and peacefully for the intercepting Israeli Navy throwing STUN GRENADES.
YouTube - Mavi Marmara Passengers Attack IDF Before Soldiers Board Ship
heres some video of the peaceful hippies weapons
YouTube - Weapons Found on the Flotilla Ship Mavi Marmara Used by Activists Against IDF Soldiers
Same things coming to the other 2 ships of useful idiots......and any nation that makes a move on Israel.....Israel is ready for WHATEVER.
yeah, they are just arabs, right? its okay to joke about them when they get slaughtered, hu? but, say one thing, even as a joke about Israel and you get a called a liberal. :rastasmoke:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome
but that said, my true hope :jointsmile:, as stated earlier, is that Israel and Palestine can stop killing each other for some time. :) Peace. :hippy: :jointsmile:
I'm not sure if all your comments were directed at me, Rusty, but just for the record I never said Israel did not have the right to defend herself. I just made some bad jokes about it after someone else made some bad jokes about the victims. I don't care if Israel exist or not. To me its just another, country, its not really gods backyard or anything. ;) It has no more, and no less, rights that all the people living in that region. :twocents:
Anyway, the President has his best chick on it. :D I'm sure it all it work now.
:D no doubt. full disclosure, I only watch fox news. :rastasmoke: I mean what else is there, MSNBC???? :silly: just kidding, CNN is getting better lately. but they are all very biased in their own ways. :twocents:Quote:
Originally Posted by WIlDuce1883
I got home early yesterday and actually watched Glen Beck for a few minutes, it was like grade school for really dumn adults. :D
The whole incident is a bad joke. The next two boats will be more bad jokes. It's very odd to listen to self procliamed peace activists chant "Death to Jews'.....maybe thats just me.
I could careless if it was 300 white people, or christians, or muslims, or shinto's from Japan.....attempting to run an israeli blockade chanting "death to jews", and then attacking them with chains and metal pipes when they attempt to board and personally inspect the cargo.....your gonna get smoked and RIGHTFULLY so. Lesson learned.
Throwing them an Arafat poster for a raft was insensitive.....so I apoligize to the cannabis.com snitch patrol;)
hu? are you saying someone clicked an alert on you?? that sux. wasn't me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Islandborn
Actually, I think the word was leftist, but that's likely another discussion. Twas the tone of the post that seemed to sum-up other member's opinions, not necessarily the targeting of one individual. You just seemed to sum it up better than the others.Quote:
Originally Posted by boaz
But no, I'm not prejudiced against Arabs per say...but I am against the Arabs using the Palestinians as a pawn in their jihads. The Arabs are hiding behind the skirts of the Palestinians in an effort to gain pity, attention, political clout and relevance in the region/world. Some of us aren't buying it. It's a weak minded tactic.
I'm fairly certain I've presented my case clearly and concisely...and at least I have not parroted a rogue regime's foreign minister whom is bottom of my list for insightful or accurate information. (I parrot my own thoughts) Anyone remember Iraqi information minister? (Tariq Aziz) Another liar from a rogue state with equal credibility.Quote:
Originally Posted by WIlDuce1883
thank you. I think I am going to take the last sentence as a compliment and move on. :jointsmile: its not my fight. I'm just not a big fan of the IDF after the Liberty, etc. but I'm certainly no fan of Jihadist either. they all suck. :twocents:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome
I think this is the first thread in the history of Politricks threads that I agree with a portion of something everyone has to say and disagree with everything else everyone has to say, it is amazing!
:D thats true.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLocks
Rusty, I can't rep you back till I spread some around :D but thank you and yes I certainly meant no offense to you or anyone else, either. I do appreciate the knowledge you bring to this forum, in all its forms. :rasta:
and uh, fyi, . . you are up to 88 diamonds a pop these days. :smokin:
Here some info about these "peace activists" that sought to break the blockade of racist Israel, sorry if the link/info been posted already.
MEMRI - Middle East Media Research Institute
YouTube - Why I Hate MEMRI TV!Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLocks
It would appear that the Human Gerbil Wheel Syndrome that has infected the Amerikkkan Politricks Shytstem also has been infecting and effecting other cultures for years, it is a world wide epidemic. Violence begetys violence, this is why the Islamic extremists never stop, and why Israhell never stops "striking back" in response.
Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan
hmm.. wonder if this guy got what he wanted this time..
'I want to be a shahid': Flotilla activist hoped for martyrdom - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
Israel needs to stop screwing with the rest of the middle east so we can get our boys home out of harms way.
We are it's biggest sponsor and we asked they not attack.
Why attack an aid convoy?
Why blockade a whole country to punish a tiny minority?
If Americans were disrespected on a daily basis like the Palastinians are we'd strike back too.
Then again nobody seems too upset 46 South Korean sailors just died in the china sea at the hands of a terrorist nation so I can see why folks say this os being blown out of proportion.
Well, when the minority imports weapons to strike out at your border cities, and the minority regularly hops on the 420 bus to Al Quds and blows it up...I'm guessing it's Isralei's right and duty to protect their own borders.Quote:
Originally Posted by eastbaygordo
You act as if this is a lone-wolf nation stealing territories and treating the poor, pitiful palestinians like dogs. You do realize the UN mandated Israel their own nation, right? Why do you think the Plaestinians don't want the same treatment? Why, when the ongoing offer of statehood arises, does Hamas do everything in their power to prove the palestinians don't deserve it? Perhaps because the other muslim interests in the region are the ones telling us what the Palestinians want. It isn't the Plaestinians going out and seeking weapons. It's the aggressor nations providing the weapons to the Hamas. Big difference.
Cry me a river. Under this administration, Americans are disrespected on a daily basis, and it's getting worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by eastbaygordo
So the North Korean state is a terrorist organization, but not Iran, which is the majority stockholder in Hamas Securities Inc.? What's the distinction between the two...?Quote:
Originally Posted by eastbaygordo
RT, I'm not saying Iran is good or a good influence. I'm dismayed the Palestinians chose to go to the extreme and put folks nobody the West can work with in charge since they all have blood on their hands, the fact the people are controlled by those we disagree with doesn't make Israel's abuse of civilians ok.
I mentioned South Korean deaths as that should be front page news too.
Just five days after a brutal attack by Israel on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the Israeli military says its forces have seized another Gaza-bound aid ship, named Rachel Corrie.
"Our forces boarded the boat and took control without meeting any resistance from the crew or the passengers," an Israeli spokeswoman told AFP on Saturday.
"Everything took place without violence," the official went on to say.
The Rachel Corrie ship is now being towed toward the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, Press TV correspondent Yousef al-Helou reported.
The ship, which seeks to deliver 1,000 tons of humanitarian supplies to the besieged people of Gaza, had earlier refused Israeli calls to divert to its southern port of Ashdod.
Israeli officials had threatened to stop the Irish-owned ship from reaching the Gaza Strip.
The Rachel Corrie was also carrying dozens of activists, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former UN assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday.
The ship is named after Rachel Corrie, a US activist killed in 2003 as she tried to prevent an Israeli military bulldozer from razing a Palestinian home in Rafah.
The new development comes as earlier on May 31, Israeli commandos attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, leaving at least nine activists dead and more than 40 others injured.
Israeli forces 'seize Rachel Corrie'
Six of the nine passengers killed in an Israeli raid on an aid convoy bound for Gaza were shot by a single Israeli commando, who is being considered for a medal of valour for saving his injured comrades as passengers attacked them with clubs, knives and even guns they had taken from downed Navy Seals.
Fresh details of the controversial raid, which has led to accusations of ??piracy? and ??state terrorism? being levelled against Israel, and which wrecked its strategic partnership with Turkey, emerged yesterday. There were reports that passengers who attacked the Israeli boarding party had been dragging three captured commandos into the hold of the ship when the shooting broke out.
And a British passenger who witnessed the deadly pre-dawn encounter in international waters said that some of the more peaceful activists on board had tried to protect captured Israeli soldiers being set upon by a hardcore of passengers, most of them believed to be Turks linked to an Islamic charity accused by Israel of having links to extremists.
The Israeli commando who killed six of the passengers of Mavi Marmara, the Turkish ferry owned by the IHH charity, said that he had been the last of 15 soldiers to rappel down the rope from an overhead helicopter on to the decks of the ship, which he described as ??a battlefield?.
Identified for security reasons only as Staff Sergeant S, he said that contrary to initial Israeli Army reports, the shooting had started within minutes as he and his comrades were set upon by a ??mob of mercenaries?.
As he landed on the ship??s top deck, he said he saw three of his superior officers who had landed ahead of him lying wounded, one with a bullet wound to the stomach, another shot in the knee and the third beaten unconscious.
Taking charge, he formed his men in a perimeter around the wounded, pulled his 9mm Glock pistol and opened fire on passengers he accused of shooting at the boarding party with guns taken off the first soldiers, who had been overwhelmed as they landed one by one.
??When I hit the deck, I was immediately attacked by people with bats, metal pipes and axes,? the sergeant recalled. ??These were without a doubt terrorists. I could see the murderous rage in their eyes and that they were coming to kill us.?
He said he saw one of the passengers holding a seized pistol to another Israeli commando??s head.
His accusation that his assailants were mercenaries was based on the large amounts of cash found on a number of the detained and killed passengers, although other officials have suggested the money was destined to be given to Hamas in Gaza if the convoy succeeded in breaking the Israeli naval blockade.
New footage released by Israel, and apparently filmed by activists before the boarding had started before dawn on Monday, showed an Israeli assault craft full of helmeted commandos pull alongside the Mavi Marmara, where men waving metal pipes and a chain leant overboard to ward them off.
Others were emptying fire hoses at the Israeli boat below, while a stun grenade was dropped into the vessel, exploding among the soldiers.
Some Israeli officials have accused the Turks who attacked them of links to terrorist groups, although it was unclear why, in that case, the soldiers of Flotilla 13, the elite Navy Seals unit involved in the operation, were briefed only to expect peaceful resistance.
The question also remained as to why the passengers, if they were indeed terrorists, did not use deadlier weapons against the approaching naval launches and helicopters hovering overhead.
Alexandra Lort-Phillips, 37, an activist from Hackney, was on the Mavi Marmara when it was stormed and described seeing an Israeli soldier taken down into the stairwell below the deck where the soldiers landed.
??I went down the stairwell and there was a massive crowd of people and lots of shouting,? she said, after being deported to Istanbul.
??They had got a soldier who had boarded the ship from the roof. There was a sense of ??My god, we??ve got an Israeli soldier??. I don??t think we really knew what we were going to do.?
??I saw a gun being taken. His gunbelt was removed and someone, I don??t know who, ran past me with the weapon and disappeared. They could have shot him but didn??t.? She said around 25 people were gathered around the soldier, who was held by his legs and stripped to his underwear as he was restrained.
??The women who were there were shouting ??Don??t hurt him??.? Ms Lort-Phillips denied he was beaten, but said: ??There were obviously some guys there who were extremely agitated by the situation. It is like you??d expect when there??s a fight between men.? As Israel desperately tried to limit the damage caused by the bloodbath on the high seas, the organisers of the aid flotilla said another boat was due to challenge the blockade and make for Gaza at the weekend.
The Rachel Corrie, an Irish-flagged ship, is named after a young American peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the army from demolishing a Palestinian home in Gaza. Organisers said it was steaming straight for Gaza with Mairead Maguire, winner of an Irish Nobel Peace Prize, on board.
Israeli commando who shot six passengers in aid convoy in line for medal - Times Online
http://www.jewishjournal.com
Why Glenn Beck Hurts Israel
by MJ Rosenberg
On Thursday, Fox News?? Glenn Beck devoted a segment of his television program to attacking me for condemning the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound relief flotilla.
I have no problem with that. But I can??t help but feel a little sad that the Israeli government??s most vocal supporters are now on the extreme right. (My discomfort on that score was only heightened today when Beck endorsed a book by a notoriously anti-Semitic author.)
It??s no surprise that liberals are not too enamored with Israel these days??not with the Netanyahu government firmly choosing occupation and blockade over negotiations with the Palestinians.
Does that mean that the extreme right is more pro-Israel than progressives?
Actually, it means the opposite.
Progressives oppose Israeli policies that would almost inevitably lead to Israel??s dissolution. There is hardly a mainstream political figure in Israel, dead or living, (including current Defense Minister Ehud Barak and former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert) who hasn??t evinced the belief that Israel cannot survive if it maintains the occupation of the lands taken in 1967. Netanyahu??s choice of confrontation over negotiating the end of the occupation appears suicidal.
But that is the policy supported by right-wingers like Beck. They don??t admire Israel because of its intrinsic qualities but because they view it as fighting the good fight against the people they most despise: Arabs and Muslims. They will happily fight to the last Israeli in a struggle they view as part of the ??War on Terror.? If Israel is sacrificed in the name of that goal, so what? There are more important things to the right than the survival of one little Jewish country??like fighting Islam.
No doubt, the Israeli right welcomes this kind of support because beggars can??t be choosers. Nor do they much care that, when Israel finally chooses the path of peace with the Palestinians, which it will, these rightwing ??supporters? will disappear.
Israel is their proxy in the war against Islam. Once Israel stops fighting, you can count on Beck to denounce it for selling out to the socialists. (And that is appropriate. Pretty much every major institution in Israel??including the state itself, the agricultural and industrial sectors, and the military??was built by socialists.)
There is so much wrong with Beck??s response to me that I can??t respond to them all here although PoliticalCorrection.org (a project of Media Matters Action Network) does.
But there are a few points I do want to make.
continue . . .
Personally, I was struck at the image of Israeli trucks full of fresh produce pouring thru the now open Egyptian block aid the very next day after this event. Maybe some good will come out of all this. :) maybe. :jointsmile:
06/06/2010 The captain of one of six boats in a flotilla raided by Israeli occupation forces to prevent aid reaching Gaza said commandos roughed up women passengers and humiliated others, in an interview published Sunday. "It was traumatic; we were obviously expecting some hassle from the Israelis -- but nothing like they dished out," the 55-year-old Cyprus-based British skipper, Denis Healey, told the Cyprus Mail.
He said that at about 4:00 am (0100 GMT) last Monday, as the aid flotilla steamed towards Gaza but while still in international waters, he saw the lights of Israeli patrol boats and helicopters. "We were travelling at around 18 knots, so we managed to hold them off for about 20 minutes; then they sent one of their bigger steel vessels so I thought they were going to ram us or shoot us with the gun on the front," Healey said.
"I had to slow down because I was fearful of being rammed, then the commandos boarded -- there were no shots fired -- but they used a taser on one female Australian journalist then they shot a paintball in the face of a Belgian woman, which made her nose bleed," he said. "They were very rough with the female passengers."
Healey's boat was carrying around 20 passengers including three German MPs, a Swedish MP and a US former colonel. A much larger boat in the Free Gaza Movement flotilla, the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara with some 600 passengers, was being boarded at about the same time by commanders who rappelled from helicopters onto the deck. In the mayhem that followed, nine activists were killed and scores injured including seven navy seals.
Israel claims its commandos only resorted to force after being attacked as they reached the deck, but activists say the soldiers started firing first. The situation on Healey's boat was calmer but no less tense.
"The commandos had stun guns, tasers, paint balls, machine guns and they even brought a dog on board -- poor thing," he told the Cyprus Mail. "The passengers on the lower decks were trying to conduct a non-aggressive defense of the boat by linking arms, but the soldiers just pushed them down and even walked over them."
Healey was ordered to sail to the port of Ashdod under military escort, before being hauled off the ship, paraded before local television cameras and taken to a makeshift detention centre. "They lined up their police and marines on the quayside to make a spectacle of us, they had people with cameras. We were then taken into detention, they denied us access to telephones, and they wouldn't let the British consulate in to see me. They told me nothing -- their policy is to say nothing, and when they do its lies."
Healey from Portsmouth has a longstanding involvement in the Palestinian movement and has captained boats on previous aid journeys to Gaza, including one two years ago in which his boat was rammed by an Israeli gunboat. "I would do it again," he said in the interview. "Yes, I think I would -- yes."
Al-ManarTV:: Flotilla Captain Tells of High Israeli Aggression toward Female Passengers 06/06/2010
Oh. Ok. Then what's this crap:Quote:
Originally Posted by WIlDuce1883
Isn't that cute...the pot calling the kettle black. ^^^Quote:
Originally Posted by WIlDuce1883
So instead of telling us your feelings or thoughts on the issue, you chose to post drivel such as this...? Without even a comment about the subject from you...?
This 'first-hand' account is hardly evidence that the Israleis were the aggressors here. Your post is neither accurate nor is it balanced with support from the video evidence. What do you expect these terror-supporting assholes to say..."they legally boarded our ship so we prepared a preventative sneak attack"...? Why was this the only boat and crew in the 'floatilla' attacked? Why didn't the Israleis attack all the boats they boarded? Why just this one? Likely because the Israleis were not the ones drawing first blood.
This whole incident has become nothing but unsupported (garbage) propoganda. For a story to be true, it must be backed by the facts. Bending the story to compliment the facts, is bullshit.
So, what...is it "cool" to have your thoughts herded like a sheep by the Obamedia? Seems you are being led down a path of blatant misconception, and are marking your path with dissolving assumptions.
Good luck with that. :thumbsup:
Following the bloody attack on the Freedom Flotilla, a survey shows that 40% of Norwegians want Israeli products to be boycotted.
According to the survey conducted by the InFact Institute and published Wednesday, 9.5 percent of Norwegians are already boycotting Israeli products, AFP reported.
The news comes a day after the Norwegian Health Minister and leader of the country's Socialist party, Kristin Halvorsen, called on the international community to ban arms trade with Israel.
On Monday, Norway summoned the Israeli ambassador to Oslo and slammed Israel's deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla as an unacceptable act. Norway has also called for an immediate and independent international inquiry.
Three Norwegians were among the international activists in the flotilla and are now held in custody by Israel.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was carrying food and medical supplies to Gaza, came under fire early Monday morning by Israeli naval forces in international waters more than 150km off the coast of Gaza.
Twenty international activists are reported to have been killed and 50 others injured in the incident.
Norwegians: 'Ban Israeli products'