Let’s be crystal clear on this: what happened was not a conflict between ‘innocent aid workers’ and Israeli soldiers. It was between armed, violent, gagging-to-fight Hamas supporters and the Israeli army.
Here, posted by the always vigilant Elder Of Ziyon, is footage of one of these ‘aid workers’ STABBING an Israeli:
Let’s say it like it is: Jewish blood doesn’t make good headlines.
Nobody gives a damn when young Israeli soldiers are attacked and all but killed by ‘aid workers’ and ‘peace activists’. The only story that sells is when Jews fight – or to be accurate, fight back.
Thus the world media is revelling in the latest clash between Israel and Hamas – and yes, it is between these two factions. Every single person present on that flotilla supported Hamas and its openly stated aim of destroying Israel.
For more detailed and accurate reporting than you’ll get anywhere else, here’s a briefing from the excellent Honest Reporting:
Connected to Terror: Who is Behind the Flotilla?
The organizations and passengers behind the Gaza flotilla have been variously described as “peace activists” and “humanitarian organizations”. This could not be further from the truth. The primary objective of this flotilla was not to deliver aid packages to Gaza but to spread anti-Israel propaganda in cooperation with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Playing a central role in the flotilla is the Turkish IHH organization, which besides its legitimate philanthropic activities is also, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a supporter of radical Islamic networks, including Hamas, and at least in the past, even global jihad elements.
See here and here for detailed information on the IHH.
Amongst the other organizations involved in the flotilla is the International Solidarity Movement. The ISM has a shameful record of placing foreign nationals in danger through encouraging ‘direct action’, which resulted in the death of American citizen Rachel Corrie. In 2003, ISM’s extreme ideology was underscored when terrorists, originating from the UK, used ISM as a cover to attack Mike’s Place, while an ISM activist has been jailed in the US, charged with “giving about $20,000 to a group he knew supported Hamas.”
An Al-Jazeera report from May 28, translated below by PMW, shows activists on board before departing for Gaza, chanting Intifada songs aimed at Jews and praising martyrdom. Chants include “Intifada, intifada, intifada! Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews! The army of Mohammed will return!” relating to a seventh century massacre of Jews in Khaybar by early Muslims.
“Peace” Activists Used Deadly Violence
Despite claims that the activists on board were only prepared to resist the IDF peacefully, the reality was quite the opposite. Upon boarding the Marmara, owned and operated by the extremist IHH, Israeli naval personnel were attacked by activists who had prepared themselves with weapons including knives and clubs. This, despite the following statement from a Free Gaza spokesperson:
We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn’t get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance.
Is the clip below showing an IDF soldier being attacked with a crowbar “symbolic resistance”?
In addition, IDF forces apprehended two activists holding pistols. The activists took these pistols from IDF forces and apparently opened fire on the soldiers as evident by the empty pistol magazines. This goes some way to explaining the number of casualties as live fire was exchanged as IDF forces found themselves under severe threat as evidenced by the number of injured Israeli soldiers and the types of injuries.
One soldier suffered a serious head injury, two others were injured by gunshots and one more was stabbed. A total of seven soldiers were wounded – four soldiers were moderately wounded, of which two were initially in critical condition, as well as an additional three soldiers who were lightly wounded.
A First-Hand Account
Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai gives a first-hand account of the incident:
Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.
However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.
One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows….
During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover. It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight.
Read the full account here.
See the IDF video footage taken from above the boarded vessel, showing Israeli soldiers under attack by clicking on the image below.
See more at the IDF’s YouTube channel.
Propaganda Not Humanitarianism
If there was any doubt that these organizations were unconcerned with universal human rights, this was confirmed by the rejection of a request from the family of Gilad Shalit for activists to pressure Hamas to allow international organizations to bring letters and food packages to the kidnapped soldier in exchange for the family’s support for the international expedition’s attempt to dock in Gaza.
In fact, Israel offered to transfer the supplies on the flotilla to Gaza from Ashdod port through official channels, an offer that was rejected in favor of confrontation on the part of the anti-Israel activists. As flotilla organizer Greta Berlin stated: “this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it’s about breaking Israel’s siege.”
The flotilla was clearly warned by the Israeli Navy in advance of the boarding and the offer repeated by the IDF.
A Legitimate and Legal Operation
IMRA asked Hebrew University international law expert Dr. Robbie Sabel about the legality of the IDF action in international waters.
Dr. Sabel explained that a state, in a time of conflict, can impose an embargo, and while it cannot carry out embargo activities in the territorial waters of a third party, it can carry out embargo activities in international waters.
Within this framework it is legal to detain a civilian vessel trying to break an embargo and if in the course of detaining the vessel, force is used against the forces carrying out the detention then that force has every right to act in self defense.
Dr. Sabel noted that there is a long history of embargo activities in international waters.
Indeed, according to the San Remo Manual that governs international humanitarian law, it is permissible under rule 67(a) to attack neutral vessels on the high seas when the vessels “are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture.”
Here’s an interesting piece from Arutz Sheva:
Israel: Don’t Blow It Again
by Lee Kaplan
The recent news reports that the IDF Navy boarded the latest ISM boats sailing from Cyprus to Gaza show that the new Netanyahu administration is at least displaying some common sense regarding the International Solidarity Movement.
However, even the Israeli media plays the fool in describing these people on board as “peace activists”.
The most amusing thing about this group, on their seventh voyage to Gaza, is how they claimed in their email communiques that the IDF Navy jammed all their phones, communications and navigation equipment – and then in the next sentence went on to explain their exact position moment to moment at sea and the latest news from their leaders on the boat.
But, then again, lying for activists in the ISM is old hat. Even more amusing are the ranting of “US Presidential candidate” Cynthia McKinney. Israel National News readers should watch this video where McKinney claims 5,000 US citizens were executed with bullets to the head by the Bush administration during the Katrina storm. Yeah, sure, Israel should listen to this world famous politician.
The ISM “peace activists” on board then revealed more lies; they were carrying tons of cement for Gaza, but when captured only had one “symbolic” bag of cement. They also claimed to be carrying tons of medical supplies that just weren’t there. Between screams of “violations of international law” these clowns were busy working again to aid Hamas.
They called on the Red Cross to help them. Funny how they don’t cite international law, nor ask the Red Cross to help get Gilad Shalit released from the Free Gaza group’s Hamas buddies.
But the biggest clown of all on these boat trips is Huwaida Arraf. Ms. Arraf, for some unknown reason, is untouchable by the Israeli justice system even though she is an Israeli-US dual citizen through her father, a former Israeli Arab.
To date – despite admitting at ISM conferences at Duke University and Georgetown over the last few years, and even in a letter to the Washington Post, that she and the ISM work closely with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the PFLP, and despite her rushing into the Church of the Nativity to aid terrorists held up inside, and despite her training international anarchists to come to Israel and assist terrorist groups in fomenting riots and assaults on Israeli soldiers and Border Guards, and despite her interfering with an Israeli soldier in a closed military zone, and now, despite her sailing seven trips illegally to Gaza to bring supplies to Hamas, for which she was given a medal by Ismail Haniyah – the Israeli foreign ministry and justice department still hasn’t made up their minds to prosecute this woman under Israeli law, as an Israeli national, and make her serve jail time.
The ISM is run by the Palestinian Arabs with Saudi money and Iranian help. Its purpose is to roil the war with the Jews until Israel is gone. Everything the ISM does has been with the okay of the Palestinian Fatah leadership. That is, until Fatah began cooperating a little with the Israelis and the ISM leadership felt its fortune should now lie with Hamas.
In America, constant repeat offenders eventually are prosecuted and punished by the law. By what stretch of logic should the foreign ministry in Israel consider not prosecuting and imprisoning Huwaida Arraf?
At the same time, one has to wonder what Ms. Arraf’s relations are with the US State Department. She was an employee of State working in Jerusalem when her husband, Adam Shapiro, another US State Department employee at the time, and Yasser Arafat founded the ISM during the standoff at the Mukata.
The Israeli justice ministry and security services have a slam-dunk case against this woman, and removing her from the international media circus will only serve to hasten an end to the conflict that is supposed to lead to two states (Arraf and company want one state, with Israel destroyed). Arraf already has a battery of Communist lawyers in Israel rushing to her defense. But let’s face it, her rap sheet is so long she can’t possibly beat it this time if any competent prosecutor takes her case; and she does belong in an Israeli jail.
To all this I say: Hear O Israel! Don’t blow it again with the ISM and the Gaza flotilla. Prosecute and punish Huwaida Arraf and send a message that on the next voyage there will be more people on board prosecuted.
Oh, yes, and take their boats and sell them to recover the costs of the IDF Navy having to go out so many times and stop them. The Israeli taxpayers deserve a break for that one also.
Next stop should be to outlaw the ISM altogether as a terrorist support group, which it is.
If Israel can take out the terrorist leadership with Apache helicopters, she should be able to take out Huwaida Arraf simply by enforcing the laws on the books against an Israeli citizen who is violating them.
This just in from Arutz Sheva:
IDF FOILS KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT BY ‘HORSEBACK TERRORISTS’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Israeli Defense Forces foiled a huge terrorist attack and kidnapping attempt shortly after dawn Monday when Golani troops identified 10 to 12 terrorists, some of them on explosive-laden horses.
The cell, affiliated with Al Qaeda, was equipped with booby-trapped vehicles and suicide belts, and the terrorists fired mortar shells while trying to cross the separation barrier near Karni under cover of early morning fog.
None of the Israeli soldiers was wounded. Israeli Air Force helicopters hovered over the area as the gun battle continued after the terrorists tried to use the shelling to trick the forces into looking for the launchers while other terrorists tried to infiltrate between Nahal Oz and Karni.
Helicopters attacked several terrorist targets, causing damage and injuries to a dozen terrorists, and the IDF closed the Karni crossing and the Nahal Oz fuel depot following the battle. Cars and at least one truck loaded with explosives blew up.
Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) director Yuval Diskin recently warned that Hamas’s reduction of rocket fire to near-zero is a tactical maneuver while it increases attacks at the separation barrier.
The IDF has killed approximately 20 Arab terrorists since the end of January’s Operation Cast Lead, and Monday morning’s attempt involved an unusually large terrorist cell.
Diskin pointed out that Hamas also is “continuing to build up its forces and increase the range and quality of its rockets as well as its capability to attack planes and tanks.” The Hamas branch of the Palestinian Authority government in Gaza also is improving and widening smuggling tunnels.
UPDATE from the Jerusalem Post:
“A very big terror attack was thwarted,” the security source said. “These terrorists were armed with a huge quantity of explosives. They launched a combined attack, using mortars, and attempted to approach the border fence with booby-trapped horses to harm our soldiers, before firing on our force.”
“Hamas did not carry out this attack but they certainly provide general coverage for these small groups,” the source continued, adding that it was too soon to know whether the cell had planned to kidnap soldiers.
“The area turned into a war zone,” the source said.
“Southern Command forces are prepared for these types of attacks, and are aware of the dangers present in the morning fog. There is always the chance terrorists will try to use it for an attack,” he added.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday afternoon praised the army’s “effectiveness” in foiling the attack, and said it was quite possible that one of the aims of the assault was to kidnap an IDF soldier, a claim made by Hamas television.
“The results speak for themselves, and prove the preparedness and the alertness of our forces along the Gaza border,” Barak told a Labor faction meeting. “I hope that all future operations end with the same type of result.”
Ismail Haniyeh, who heads Gaza’s Hamas government, praised the attackers as “martyrs,” and said the violence confirmed Israel’s “aggressive intentions” toward the Palestinians.
Following the attack, Israel closed the Karni crossing, the main commercial terminal between Israel and Gaza, as well as the Nahal Oz fuel depot.
However, 30,000 vaccine units against foot-and-mouth disease were transferred to Gaza via the Erez crossing, despite the thwarted attack. The IDF said that 125,000 units had been supplied to the Strip in the last three months in three separate transfers, due to the importance of preventing the outbreak of the disease.
In addition, 140 truckloads of humanitarian aid was scheduled to be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
We’re back in Dhimmiland UK – where Bloomsbury Theatre has just cancelled the Israeli Yom Ha’atzmaut gala scheduled to take place there.
Yom Ha’atzmaut, for those unfamilar with the term, is the Israeli Independence Day. Yep – in May, it will be Israel’s 61st birthday! And the Zionist Federation (ZF) had organised a fun filled gala for both Jews and non Jews alike.
So why have the Bloomsbury Bigots reneged at such short notice…?
Answer: because as part of the gala, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) dance troupe was set to perform. That’s right. The 18 yr old kids who make up the IDF, or ‘evil zionist killers’, as the BBC and Guardian newspaper routinely portray them, enjoy dancing in their spare time.
But the Bloomsbury Theatre received ‘some protests’, it seems. As a result, and at the 11th hour, they informed the ZF that they were cancelling the entire gala.
And when the ZF tried to compromise by even offering to drop the dance troupe, well, the Bloomsbury Bigots didn’t want to know. The answer was still A Firm No.
So this is where we are in Dhimmiland UK. It’s fine for terrorist group Hamas to be received as honoured guests at the House Of Commons – but a group of 18 and 19 year old Israelis, who happen to also serve two years in the army – are banned from a theatre, along with all the other Israelis who were due to perform.
‘The ZF has bent over backwards to accommodate the concerns raised. If they are now saying they won’t hold the event, this is an outrageous decision and they should be ashamed of themselves,’ said Lee Scott, Ilford North MP. ‘The Independence Day celebrations are peaceful, the dance troupe has always been part of the show and I can’t see there’s any ay that a dance group can be interpreted as anything but peaceful. They were just going to dance!’
Happily, it’ll take more than the pitiful Bloomsbury Bigots to rain on this parade. An alternative venue in North London has been found. And ZF chairman Andrew Balcombe says:
‘Because of the recent publicity, we have been indundated with calls of support and ticket requests. The audience from the Jewish, and general, communities will be coming together to celebrate Israel’s 61st birthday and see the rich cultural diversity that is Israel – the only democracy in the Middle East.’
If any fellow Brits are reading this, please do feel free to email or write to the Bloomsbury Theatre to express your concern over this shameful episode.
A Jew With A View 