I guess that means they’re not Holocaust deniers, even if they are most definitely antisemites. Also, the warning to not to forget 9/11 would suggest that at least one flotillista acknowledges that Al Qaeda, and not some Mossad/CIA combination, carried out that outrage.
Update: Some commenters in this thread, led by an overexcited Max Blumenthal, are claiming this recording is fake, because the video is labeled “Mavi Marmara,” but you can hear the voice of a passenger who was on another ship. If you play the clip again, you’ll hear very clearly that the Navy is addressing another ship in the flotilla, the Defne Y, on an open channel.
Here’s an excerpt from an email I received from an IDF spokesperson: “It was an open channel, any of the boats could have come on it and said whatever they wanted. I was originally told that it was from the mavi marmara, but after having spoken to some people who were there there is no way to really know. In terms of the channels, we were trying speak with the defne y, but as with any boat when we request that they get on a channel, they can tell the other boats in the flotilla what channel we are on and then anyone can get on it. We should have clarified when we put up the short version that it was from different boats in the flotilla.”
And here is a longer excerpt of the Auschwitz exchange:
Linda Grant has a piece here in which she compares the Gaza flotilla with the Exodus. If I understand it correctly, its main point is that legality or justifiability of the conduct of Britain and Israel in each case is largely irrelevant, what really matters is the broader public perception of what occurred and the images on which that perception is based.
I’ve read some suggestions that the Israelis have been manipulating our perception of the events that took place on the “Mavi Marmarma” by only releasing those images that suit their narrative. Let’s assume that’s indeed what’s going on. However, I haven’t seen suggestions that the material released is faked. At worst it would appear to be incomplete. This being so, it seems impossible to deny that some passengers chose to attack the commandos as soon as they set foot on the vessel and reasonable to suppose that this decision bears some relation to the decision taken by the Israelis to fire on them.
There’s a very useful piece by Jonathan Saul on Reuters AlertNet, which I reproduce below, examining the legal issues around Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza. Its conclusion - yes, it is legal - echoes the key points made by both Israeli international law expert Robbie Sabel and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but some readers may perceive added value in the fact that the article quotes two disinterested experts, in the form of a lawyer specializing in shipping disputes and a professor at the U.S. Naval War college. In any case, this amounts to an excellent rebuttal of media flotillistas like the Financial Times editorial writer who, in the kind of dunderheaded apologia for Hamas that has become all too typical of that newspaper, accused Israel of “a brazen act of piracy.”
Israel has said it will continue a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip despite growing global pressure to lift the siege after a navy raid on a Turkish ferry carrying aid killed nine activists this week.
What is the legality of the blockade and did Israel’s intervention breach international law? Below are some questions and answers on the issue:
You could hear the heartbreak in his voice. The shattered dreams of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, the lost opportunities for genuine global solidarity with that gallant cause - it was all there in Yossi Klein Halevi’s voice.
This evening, the IDF Spokesman’s New Media Unit arranged for an exclusive blogger-press-conference with a senior official from COGAT, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which among its responsibilities, includes coordinating the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip.
The Israeli writer David Grossman is a great artist but that condition offers no guarantees about his views on current events. At the end of an article in which he harshly criticizes Israel’s policy towards Gaza and the diversion of the Gaza flotilla he says,
Here’s the account of the commander of the naval commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara:
“We knew there would be resistance, but not at such a strong level,” said Captain R., who led one of the teams and was wounded in the mission. “Every [activist] that approached us wanted to kill us.”
Captain R. was the second commando to be dropped from a military helicopter onto the Turkish-flagged ship. During the mission, a large mob of the activists hurled him from the upper to lower deck of the ship.
From the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Captain R. said that every commando who entered the ship was met by a number of activists who charged at the soldiers and attacked them. At least 75 percent of the activists took part in what the soldiers later described as a “lynch.”
“I was the second to be lowered in by rope,” said Captain R. “My comrade who had already been dropped in was surrounded by a bunch of people. It started off as a one-on-one fight, but then more and more people started jumping us. I had to fight against quite a few terrorists who were armed with knives and batons.”
The captain said that he was first forced to cock his gun and shoot once when one of the activists came toward him with a knife.
“At that point, another twenty people starting coming at me from every direction,” said Captain R. “They jumped at me and hurled me to the deck below the bridge. Then I felt a stabbing in my stomach - it was a knife. I pulled it our and somehow managed to get to the lower level. There, was another mob of people.”
