JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing nine passengers in a botched raid that provoked international outrage and a diplomatic crisis.
Dozens of activists and six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody predawn confrontation in international waters. The violent takeover dealt yet another blow to Israel's international image, already tarnished by war crimes accusations in Gaza and its 3-year-old blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu canceled a much-anticipated meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday in a sign of just how gravely Israel viewed the uproar. In Canada, Netanyahu announced he was rushing home but said he had called the American president and agreed to meet again.
President Barack Obama voiced "deep regret" over the raid and "expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances" surrounding the incident.
The activists were headed to Gaza to draw attention to the blockade, which Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group seized the territory of 1.5 million Palestinians in 2007.
There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis opened fire without provocation and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense.
Speaking alongside the Canadian prime minister, Netanyahu expressed "regret" for the loss of life but said the soldiers had no choice. "Our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed," he said.
Israel said it opened fire after its commandos were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter at about 4 a.m. to board one of the vessels.
Night-vision footage released by the military showed soldiers dropping from a helicopter one by one and being grabbed by a mob of men wielding sticks on the lead boat, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara. The soldiers succumbed to the assailants and fell to the deck, where the men continued to beat them and dump one of them from the top deck.
A commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, identified only as "A," said he and his comrades were taken off guard by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they landed on the deck.
Some soldiers were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and some had even jumped overboard to save themselves, the commando said. At one point one of the activists seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire, the commando said.
Communications to the ships were cut shortly after the raid began, and activists were kept away from reporters after their boats were towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Helicopters evacuated the wounded to Israeli hospitals, officials said. Five ships had reached port by early evening and some 136 activists had been removed without serious incident, the military said.
Sixteen were jailed for refusing to identify themselves, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Israel had said activists would be given the choice to be deported or imprisoned.
Israeli officials said the death toll was nine with 30 wounded, after earlier saying 10 people were killed. It said the final tally was reached after bringing all six boats in the flotilla under control.
A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats. Most of the dead were Turkish, he said.
In a sign the soldiers didn't anticipate such fierce resistance, two commandos told The Associated Press that the primary weapons were guns that fired paintballs - a nonlethal weapon that can be used to subdue crowds. They said they resorted to lethal handgun fire after they were assaulted.
Turkey's NTV network showed activists beating one commando with sticks as he landed on one of the boats. Dr. Arnon Afek, deputy director of Chaim Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, said two commandos were brought in with gunshot wounds. Another had serious head wounds from an unspecified blow, Afek added.
Activists, however, painted a completely different picture, saying the commandos stormed the ships after ordering them to stop in international waters, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza's coast.
A reporter with the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, who was sailing on the Turkish ship leading the flotilla, said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it, wounding the captain.
"These savages are killing people here, please help," a Turkish television reporter said.
The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"
At Barzilai hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, a few activists trickled in under military escort. "They hit me," said a Greek man, whose right arm was in a sling, calling the Israelis "pirates." He did not give his name and later was escorted away with a neck brace.
At a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel's military chief of staff and navy commander said the violence was centered on the lead boat, which was carrying 600 of the 700 activists. Troops took over the five other boats without incident, military chief Gabi Ashkenazi said.
Reaction was swift and harsh, with a massive protest in Turkey, Israel's longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of "state terrorism," and the government said it was recalling its ambassador and called off military exercises with the Jewish state.
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting later Monday, while the Arab League planned to meet Tuesday in Cairo.
Robin Churchill, a professor of international law at the University of Dundee in Scotland, said the Israeli commandos boarded the ship outside of Israel's territorial waters.
"As far as I can see, there is no legal basis for boarding these ships," Churchill said.
Many of the activists were from Europe.
The European Union deplored what it called excessive use of force and called for the Gaza blockade to be lifted immediately, calling it "politically unacceptable."
Israeli security forces were on alert across the country. Protesters gathered at two universities and burned tires and threw rocks in Israel's largest Arab city, but no injuries were reported.
Organizers said two prominent activists, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 85, did not join the flotilla as planned.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli "massacre," declared three days of mourning across the West Bank.
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the rival Hamas government in Gaza, condemned the "brutal" Israeli attack and called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.
In Uganda, Ban condemned the deaths and called for a "thorough" investigation.
Before the ships set sail from waters off Cyprus on Sunday, Israel had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade and offered to transfer some of the cargo to Gaza from an Israeli port, following a security inspection.
Organizers included the IHH, an Islamic humanitarian group that is based in Istanbul but operates in several other countries. Israel outlawed the group in 2008 because of its ties to Hamas.
The flotilla of three cargo ships and three passenger ships carrying 10,000 tons of aid and 700 activists was carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials.
Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009.
Shame.
Worldwide condemn and protests against those fascists.
I should step away from this but I just knew it will come and I won't resist myself.
Before you read any of this ****, you should take a look on the videos of how those, so called, coming for peace and only brining aid, attack the soliders with knifes and sticks.
As if any other country will let a ship come in to her taritory without doin' anything....But w/e the world hate my country and no matter how wrong or right we are there will always be something againest us and this is coming from someone who isn't a patriot, I hate this ****** country but I even more hate the fact we are presnted so badly at the media in an unfair way.
Those ships declare they don't carry any weapons what so ever...Yeah, right.
This is a peace sailing to, so called, go help Gaza and look what happend when the soliders were being dropped from the halicopter to take over the ship which, well, is coming to the closed Gaza strip, doesn't matter if it's right that the strip is closed or not, they are breakin' the law by doin' it and that's why our forces had every right to take the ship over but they weren't even planing on using any force...
^
I'm sorry I was not attacking your people but your government, Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the biggest fascist in the world. :-/
Israel has blocked any kind of humanitarian help to Gaza, gosh, most of the people in that ship were EUROPEAN! that's why the outrage against Israel is getting very extreme now.
It's a shame I can't find the video I've seen on our news channel when you can see how the beat soliders down and stab one in the arm with a knife and you know what, if they won't find any weapons on the so called aid kits and supplies on that ship, you can cut my d*ck off.
Such BS, and everyone is mad at us...I guess every country will just let every ship to get into her territorIalic zone...
^
I'm sorry I was not attacking your people but your government, Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the biggest fascist in the world. :-/
Israel has blocked any kind of humanitarian help to Gaza, gosh, most of the people in that ship were EUROPEAN! that's why the outrage against Israel is getting very extreme now.
Very shocking news...
I might not see eye to eye with my goverment but they offered those guys to drop the humanitarian help in our port and let us deliever it but they refuse to it, this sail was clearly to make us look bad and was tryin' to provoke those kind of things.
And FYI, I dunno too much about what's going on in Gaza but I do know they deliever humanitarian help, dunno how often but they do.
Israel attacked peace ships that came to help the devastated Gaza, which ISRAEL perished couple of months ago.
Where is the love? Where is the humanity, ISRAEL?!
I should step away from this but I just knew it will come and I won't resist myself.
Before you read any of this ****, you should take a look on the videos of how those, so called, coming for peace and only brining aid, attack the soliders with knifes and sticks.
As if any other country will let a ship come in to her taritory without doin' anything....But w/e the world hate my country and no matter how wrong or right we are there will always be something againest us and this is coming from someone who isn't a patriot, I hate this ****** country but I even more hate the fact we are presnted so badly at the media in an unfair way.
Those ships declare they don't carry any weapons what so ever...Yeah, right.
This is a peace sailing to, so called, go help Gaza and look what happend when the soliders were being dropped from the halicopter to take over the ship which, well, is coming to the closed Gaza strip, doesn't matter if it's right that the strip is closed or not, they are breakin' the law by doin' it and that's why our forces had every right to take the ship over but they weren't even planing on using any force...
Oh helllllllloo dude from the same country as me
I thought am here alone
I should step away from this but I just knew it will come and I won't resist myself.
Before you read any of this ****, you should take a look on the videos of how those, so called, coming for peace and only brining aid, attack the soliders with knifes and sticks.
As if any other country will let a ship come in to her taritory without doin' anything....But w/e the world hate my country and no matter how wrong or right we are there will always be something againest us and this is coming from someone who isn't a patriot, I hate this ****** country but I even more hate the fact we are presnted so badly at the media in an unfair way.
Those ships declare they don't carry any weapons what so ever...Yeah, right.
This is a peace sailing to, so called, go help Gaza and look what happend when the soliders were being dropped from the halicopter to take over the ship which, well, is coming to the closed Gaza strip, doesn't matter if it's right that the strip is closed or not, they are breakin' the law by doin' it and that's why our forces had every right to take the ship over but they weren't even planing on using any force...
There are always two sides of stories. Even if they showed white flag they were shot from military ships, there is video that show this action. Therefore, self-defence is very natural in the condition created by Israel soldiers.
Never expected to see this on ATRL, but since it's posted...... Disclaimer: this is about Israel's military practices, not it's people, who i assume are just as nice as any other's ........
Israel is every defentition of a terrorist state. The only thing protecting them from the repurcussions of their many ILLEGAL and eogtisitic military operations is their relationship to the US. The international community and Israel's middle eastern neighbors turn the cheek every time for that reason only.
People are so quick to take action against "rogue" nations like Iran for simply building nuclear weapons and talking a lot of ****.... Yet these same people remain in a state of denial when it comes to Israel who unlike Iran, already has nuclear weapons and has repeatedly carried out illegal terrorist operations by purposly killing INNOCENT civilians in both Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Without the very blind US support and annual funding, Israel would be knee deep in sanctions and and at war with every one of it's neighbors.
And for the origional topic, THERE IS NO WAY ISRAEL HAS THE RIGHT TO DO THIS. They boarded these humanitatrian boats in INTERNATIONAL WATERS, 90 NAUTICAL MILES FROM ISRAEL'S TERRITORIAL WATERS.... And their only reason for doing so is their citation of an ILLEGAL blockade of another territory. Being that Israel had NO right to board the ship, they canNOT complain about being attacked by people with sticks and clubs because those humanitarians had every RIGHT to defend themselves and their property against any UNLAWFUL attack.
The entire world's condemnation of Israel's latest militaristic actions are spot on!
WTF are you talking about?Which peace ship carries weapons?!
From what I know of, they only thing they shoot to that boat on the first moments of the take over was those smoke bombs or w/e there are used in protasts in order to clear areas so what happened there shouldn't be happening but those people didn't care about that even.
you call us a terrorist state and a ship with people with knifes and bets a peace ship? and here is the whole logic of the world when it comes to us...
Oh, btw, 12 miles = TERRITORIAL WATERS, now try to think about doin' that with 300 fisherman ships of people from Gaza, an unlike that "peace ship" they won't even try to call themselfs peace ships and than you will figure out that this was to prevent a much bigger mess but you know, who cares as long this could be taken agaienst us...Oh and ya'll are sayin' this ship was headed to Gaza without blinking yet, you are pulling the no TERRITORIAL WATERS card on us?Why would we even let them get that far?
WTF are you talking about?Which peace ship carries weapons?!
From what I know of, they only thing they shoot to that boat on the first moments of the take over was those smoke bombs or w/e there are used in protasts in order to clear areas so what happened there shouldn't be happening but those people didn't care about that even.
you call us a terrorist state and a ship with people with knifes and bets a peace ship? and here is the whole logic of the world when it comes to us...
Oh, btw, 12 miles = TERRITORIAL WATERS, now try to think about doin' that with 300 fisherman ships of people from Gaza, an unlike that "peace ship" they won't even try to call themselfs peace ships and than you will figure out that this was to prevent a much bigger mess but you know, who cares as long this could be taken agaienst us...Oh and ya'll are sayin' this ship was headed to Gaza without blinking yet, you are pulling the no TERRITORIAL WATERS card on us?Why would we even let them get that far?
Those excuses are stupid.
Time for a much needed FACT check...
1. Knives and sticks are not "weapons". And i'm sure they haven't been considered weapons for over a century now. On board the ship were humanitarians and peace activists from all over the WORLD carrying items to aid the opressed people of Palestine.
2.
Quote:
Main Entry: terror
violent or destructive acts (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands
Israel's entire millitary strategy is based on terror. They've purposly bombed civilians in both lebanon and the palestinian territories. Not only did they intentionally kill innocent women and children, but they destroyed entire infrastructures including hospitals and schools. And last week Israeli millitary planes illegaly invaded Lebanon'a airspace. Intimidation and Fear = Terror..
3. Unbelievably innacurrate. The israeli millitary illegaly boarded the aid ships in INTERNATIONAL WATERS, 90 MILES from Israel's terrirtorial waters. Under these circumstances the people onboard the aid ships had every right to defend themselves. What Israel did was outrageously illegal. It is the defenition of Piracy.
The things Israel is doing now and has been doing since it's existence is nothing short of suicidal. Like i said before, the leaders of the international community as well as Israel's neighbors only tolerate the blatant terror acts because of the US. Without America, Israel would completely collapse. Think about it, why is it that Iran is hated by a few popular nations, yet suffers from multiple U.N sanctions, while Israel is condemned by the entire world continuosly and nothing happens?
Hopefully for the innocent citizens of Israel their government will wake up tp reality sooner than later. These continuous illegal acts of terror are intensifying the hate their neighbors already have for them while vastly diminishing their dwindiling respect from the international community and testing the limits of it's relationship with the U.S.. The whole ethnic / cultural / religious / millitaristic / superiority complex is inspiring events that are utterly dangerous towards Israel's own national security
1. Knives and sticks are not "weapons". And i'm sure they haven't been considered weapons for over a century now. On board the ship were humanitarians and peace activists from all over the WORLD carrying items to aid the opressed people of Palestine.
ROFL!
Have you seen the amount of iron bets, knifes fire bottles, axes and what not were there?
And WTF are you talkin' about?A knife isn't a weapon?yeah, you can use it in the kitchen as well but it's a weapon for sure and peace activists + knifes DON'T GO TOGETHER.
It's like vegetrain and meat.
I'm not refering to the whole post cuz' if you can't understand that part than I don't see the point in tryin' to explain to you anything.
Dude, I think the video speaks for itself, or maybe you want a video of them throwing a solider from the upper deck to the lower deck after beatin' the crap out of him...What's your excuse now?Cuz' he sure didn't fire on them other wise they would be dead.
If our army would be a teror organization or w/e you want to nick name it, we would have simply blow up those ships and not even risk our soliders, quit talkin' **** that's not logical.
EDIT -
here are some of the "kitchen equipment" that was found on that ship -
Btw, all of the other boats but the Marmara surrendered with out any injuries, they weren't attackin' our army and therefore, our army didn't activate and sort of power on them.
I'm from Turkey and i think that Israel will make the world end. These are the calls of WW3 and we're coming to an end. Hope Mesiah will come and bring the peace!
Have you seen the amount of iron bets, knifes fire bottles, axes and what not were there?
And WTF are you talkin' about?A knife isn't a weapon?yeah, you can use it in the kitchen as well but it's a weapon for sure and peace activists + knifes DON'T GO TOGETHER.
It's like vegetrain and meat.
I'm not refering to the whole post cuz' if you can't understand that part than I don't see the point in tryin' to explain to you anything.
Dude, I think the video speaks for itself, or maybe you want a video of them throwing a solider from the upper deck to the lower deck after beatin' the crap out of him...What's your excuse now?Cuz' he sure didn't fire on them other wise they would be dead.
If our army would be a teror organization or w/e you want to nick name it, we would have simply blow up those ships and not even risk our soliders, quit talkin' **** that's not logical.
EDIT -
here are some of the "kitchen equipment" that was found on that ship -
Btw, all of the other boats but the Marmara surrendered with out any injuries, they weren't attackin' our army and therefore, our army didn't activate and sort of power on them.
Very peace like.
You remain in a state of denail. sad
What i've tried TWICE to explain to you is that ISRAEL HAD NO RIGHT TO BOARD THE AID SHIPS IN THE FIRST PLACE..... They were in INTERNATIONAL WATERS, 90 MILES FROM ISRAEL'S TERRITORIAL WATERS. What they did was CRIMINAL. It was ILLEGAL. It is PIRACY. So even if the people on board ran at the Israeli soldiers with machetes, it was their right. They were defending themselves against an illegal attack... So it dosen't matter if a soldier was tossed from the upper deck to a lower deck, because he was illegally trespassing... If you break into someone's house UNLAWFULLY, you are not allowed to be mad if they attack you with a frying pan.
And of courese you won't comment on the rest of my post, being there's nothing you can say to make the situation seem better. I said earlier that i seperate Israeli citizens from their government and millitary. The problem is that those two genius organizations are making decisions that are putting Israel's entire national security at stake, and betting the entire Israel's entire existence on their relationship to the U.S. And on top of that, they're going out of the way to give the U.S the Middle finger every chance they get. Sounds to me like a rogue nation in in the midst of a suicide mission.
EDIT: For the record, i'm not anti-Israel. I just happen to strongly disagree with virtually all of thir millitaristic operations. I'm American and feel the same way about my own nation's meadaling in the affairs of other countries, especially those in the middle east. In fact, out history of invasion is part of the reason why iran wants nuclear weapons and so many muslims are anti-america. They say hindsight is 20/20, yet we haven't realized that you simply canNot change an entire regions ideaology because you want to. And dropping bombs all across their respective countries sure as hell won't get the job done ...
inspiration4 You talk about breakin' into someone's home and yet, we all know they were headin' to our country without any premission.
No even once anyone denied they are coming to Gaza and what I explaind to you once more, this would be even a worse case if this would happen in our TERRITORIAL WATERS you would add to that fight another hundred of fisherman ships of people from gaza who would join this battle and than, it would have been worse.
But what do you care, you think that we wanted to kill them, you didn't stop for a second and think about what would really happen if they have waited from those ships to get into our territorial waters.
I said it once and I'll say it again, if we so didn't care about human lifes and we are so acting like a teror country, why wouldn't we just bomb that damn ship without riskin' our soliders?
You are talkin' about me not responding to you while you are not responding to me and I do respond to you.
Man, this is BS, if you call yourself peace w/e, you are not soppuse to fight.
Fact is, Marmara is the ONLY ship of those all bunch of ships that attacked our army and is the only ship that got dead and injured people on it.
If they truely cared about supplying the humantarian help, why were they so egar to break into the Gaza strip and not just put those aid in our port in Ashdode and let us transport this to Gaza?
I'll tell you why, there's a thing which called shiedes, which are people who are willing to die for a cuase, even bombing there self in a middle of a bus full with people, we had alot of those.
And some people on that ship wanted to do anything to hurt Israel, this was a pure act to provoce us and make publisity...Well, they did it well, hope all of the foolish pepole who are supporting this are happy.
Peace sail was never violent ever, before, but I guess when it comes to us, everything is okay, they can do what ever they want and we still be the bad guys.
Dude, you are deluded.
Oh and one last thing I really want you to explain, if they were a peace sail, why did they prepered so much weapons, from axes to hammers to knifes, and not kitchan knifes as you can see in the video.
And please, don't use the most stupid excuse you can of, they prepered themself in case the army will attack cuz' even if so, they are peace people, they weren't suppose to get weapons on that ship, they declare to not have any weapons on.
And btw, a weapon is any instrument that is used to cuase damge, even a key can be a weapon, so get your facts right.
Why did the soldiers invade a ship that came for peace and help anyway?!
Doesn't even matter if they had "weapons" on that ship or not. That ship clearly came to help the poor people of Gaza! If Israel decides to me a murdered then let other countries come and help, because this is what humanity is all about whether you accept it or not.
but your government, Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the biggest fascist in the world. :-/
........
and here is the whole logic of the world when it comes to us...
they just have a feeling of superiority over the rest of the world and that's wrong