[THS] Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25604.htm

[I've been watching AlJaeera's excellent coverage, and there is certainly enough better-than-merely-credible testimony that this is the case. Netanyahu and other Israeli spokespeople for the attack are liars. And, of course, Israel has seized AlJazeera reporters' films and all others as well, including laptopols, cameras, phones, etc., any bets they won't disappear permanently? An AlJazeera reporter was just on the sattelite who said he saw the first casualty, he was shot through the top of the head, i.e., from the helicopters, before any troops had landed on the ship. He had many other interesting things to say as well. Probably on YouTube by now.]


Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists:

First eyewitness accounts of raid contradict version put out by Israeli officials

By Dorian Jones in Istanbul and Helena Smith

June 01, 2010 "The Guardian" -- Survivors of the Israeli assault on a flotilla carrying
relief supplies to Gaza returned to Greece and Turkey today, giving the first
eyewitness accounts of the raid in which at least 10 people died.

Arriving at Istanbul's Ataturk airport with her one-year-old baby, Turkish activist
Nilufer Cetin said Israeli troops opened fire before boarding the Turkish-flagged ferry
Mavi Marmara, which was the scene of the worst clashes and all the fatalities. Israeli
officials have said that the use of armed force began when its boarding party was
attacked.

"It was extremely bad and very tough clashes took place. The Mavi Marmara is filled
with blood," said Cetin, whose husband is the Mavi Marmara's chief engineer.

She told reporters that she and her child hid in the bathroom of their cabin during
the confrontation. "The operation started immediately with firing. First it was warning
shots, but when the Mavi Marmara wouldn't stop these warnings turned into an
attack," she said.

"There were sound and smoke bombs and later they used gas bombs. Following the
bombings they started to come on board from helicopters."

Cetin is among a handful of Turkish activists to be released; more than 300 remain in
Israeli custody. She said she agreed to extradition from Israel after she was warned
that conditions in jail would be too harsh for her child.

"I am one of the first passengers to be sent home, just because I have baby. When
we arrived at the Israeli port of Ashdod we were met by the Israeli interior and
foreign ministry officials and police; there were no soldiers. They asked me only a few
questions. But they took everything – cameras, laptops, cellphones, personal
belongings including our clothes," she said.

Kutlu Tiryaki was a captain of another vessel in the flotilla. "We continuously told
them we did not have weapons, we came here to bring humanitarian help and not to
fight," he said.

"The attack on the Mavi Marmara came in an instant: they attacked it with 12 or 13
attack boats and also with commandos from helicopters. We heard the gunshots over
our portable radio handsets, which we used to communicate with the Mavi Marmara,
because our ship communication system was disrupted. There were three or four
helicopters also used in the attack. We were told by Mavi Marmara their crew and
civilians were being shot at and windows and doors were being broken by Israelis."

Six Greek activists who returned to Athens accused Israeli commandos of using
electric shocks during the raid.

Dimitris Gielalis, who had been aboard the Sfendoni, told reporters: "Suddenly from
everywhere we saw inflatables coming at us, and within seconds fully equipped
commandos came up on the boat. They came up and used plastic bullets, we had
beatings, we had electric shocks, any method we can think of, they used."

Michalis Grigoropoulos, who was at the wheel of the Free Mediterranean, said: "We
were in international waters. The Israelis acted like pirates, completely out of the
normal way that they conduct nautical exercises, and seized our ship. They took us
hostage, pointing guns at our heads; they descended from helicopters and fired tear
gas and bullets. There was absolutely nothing we could do 
 Those who tried to
resist forming a human ring on the bridge were given electric shocks."

Grigoropoulos, who insisted the ship was full of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza
"and nothing more", said that, once detained, the human rights activists were not
allowed to contact a lawyer or the Greek embassy in Tel Aviv. "They didn't let us go
to the toilet, eat or drink water and throughout they videoed us. They confiscated
everything, mobile phones, laptops, cameras and personal effects. They only allowed
us to keep our papers."

Turkey said it was sending three ambulance planes to Israel to pick up 20 more
Turkish activists injured in the operation.

Three Turkish Airlines planes were on standby, waiting to fly back other activists, the
prime minister's office said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gilad Atzmon:
The massacre that took place was a premeditated Israeli operation. Israel
wanted blood because it believes that its power of deterrence expands with the
more dead it leaves behind. The Israeli decision to use hundreds of commando
soldiers against civilians was taken by the Israeli cabinet together with the Israeli top
military commanders. What we saw yesterday wasnt just a failure on the ground. It
was actually an institutional failure of a morbid society that a long time ago lost touch
with humanity.

It is no secret that Palestinians are living in a siege for years. But it is now down to
the nations to move on and mount the ultimate pressure on Israel and its citizens.
Since the massacre yesterday was committed by a popular army that followed
instructions given by a democratically elected government, from now on, every
Israeli should be considered as a suspicious war criminal unless proved different.

Considering the fact that Israel stormed naval vessels sailing under Irish, Turkish and
Greek flags. Both NATO members and EU countries must immediately cease their
relationships with Israel and close their airspace to Israeli airplanes.

Considering yesterdays news about Israeli nuclear submarines being stationed in the
Gulf, the world must react quickly and severely. Israel is now officially mad and
deadly. The Jewish State is not just careless about human life, as we have been
following the Israeli press campaign leading to the slaughter, Israel actually seeks
pleasure in inflicting pain and devastation on others.