This recording was made by Iara Lee on the Mavi Marmara. She managed to smuggle it past the Israeli authorities on a memory chip. Look at it  yourself and see what you think but what occurs to me about it is the following:

I.

There’s a whole lot of praying and ablutions performing going on both immediately prior to the arrival  of the Israelis and during the struggle for control of the ship. No doubt that’s entirely normal and not indicative of anything other than the piety of the individuals concerned.

2.

It would be fun to have a translation of the “Hey Ho! Lets Go!” speech made by the older fat guy in a white shirt at 02:55, and of much else that’s said on the recording too.

3

The attempt to board the ship made at 36:30 is accompanied by paintball fire. Yes, paintball fire.

4.

At around 45:49  an American ( I guess from his accent) claims that “We are holding” two wounded Israeli soldiers. Note the pronoun and the verb employed there.

He also displays what he says is some kind of snatch list, allegedly taken from one of the soldiers. Would that the Israelis had been sufficiently aware of what sort of a reception committee was awaiting for them to have had snatch lists prepared.

5.

My conclusion? There were 600 or 700 hundred people on the Mavi Marmara, depending on what source you read. The bulk of them of them kept their heads down and stayed out of the way when the Israelis arrived. A substantial minority, say a 100, did their best to prepare for a fight and offered as good a one as they could under the circumstances. They can be seen making their peace with  what they believe is their maker and nine of them ended up dead. They were all Turkish.

And who the hell is that American?