I don't really know much about the origins of the story, but I know the outcome, as much of us will by now.
There was a "Freedom Flotilla" coming out of Greece, apparently backed by Turkey - somehow - where a set up called "The Free Gaza Movement" were trying to get thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza and did so previously in 2008. No other international shipping had got there previous to that in 41 years. This information came from their website.
What ALSO came from their website was this:
"The strategy of the Freedom Flotilla, however, is to resist any attempts by the Israeli Navy to hijack its ships or to divide cargo ships from passenger vessels."
Naively - possibly - they figured they could get through an Israeli blockade by just steaming on through. Israel had been saying for DAYS they would stop them ... but anyway, noble cause and all that.
Late yesterday - Au time - I started to see reports of Israeli commandos having boarded at least one of these ships, opened fired, and many - 20ish - had been killed and at least 30 wounded. Horrific stuff. I guy I respect, but usually go to war with on Twitter and YouTube started posting comments by others in regards to this. They were being called the Freedom Flotilla and I got shot down - so to speak - about some of the double standards that were being posted. The following being fairly typical:
Which is a fucking ridiculous statement, and I pretty much told him so. If we're gonna start taking scores and quoting facts let's not pick and choose which ones suit our agenda. And I told him that too. Hundreds of Israeli's have been killed by suicide bombers in the last ten years....but that's irrelevant to the issue. But that bloke turned out to be a reasonable fella.
On and on they went about the evils of Israel and murdering of "humanitarian freedom pacifist loving mung bean munchers" yadda yadda. Israel started making comments about how they were attacked and retaliated, and of course, this was ridiculous and equal the minister for info in Iraq in '03 etc etc...according to the people of Twitter.
Then I found this online and uploaded it to YouTube. I had been waiting for Israel to cough up some proof of their statements .... and here she was.
Check out the weapons, but mostly check out the gas mask worn by one bloke. It was a prepared ambush. Why else would you have gas masks?. They KNEW Israel would never let that aid through - right or wrong - and they KNEW they would be boarded, why else prepare for it?. Does this justify the killing of 20 people?.....no, it doesn't, but does it justify the commandos defending themselves?...you bet it does. IF the ONLY thing you've got to defend yourself with is a rifle, then you'll use it. There's another video released by the IDF of the weapons these "humanitarian workers" were using. Sling shots and steel pipes etc.
The Israeli's were ALWAYS destined to be forced into defending themselves. That was apparently the point of the flotilla.
The interesting thing, and the point of this, as with "Collateral Murder", is the almost WANT by usually reasonable people to ride a wave hysteria instead of waiting for all the info to come in.
...anyhoo, Blunty day.
Yeah I dunno. I get the feeling that if it was a planned ambush right across the #flotilla the high-end peace activists - the authors and Nobel laureates that have been namedropped - can't have been across it
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right. A chunk of it appears to be concentrated on one boat, the Mavi Marmara, but that's without a full overall idea.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, Israel suggested to The Free Gaza Movement that they dock their ships at The Port of Ashdod and if it was all aid it would be taken by land into Gaza. 'TFGM', that ran the entire operation, refused. Why?.
They were expecting an ambush themselves, figured international waters were a safer place to encounter them? Both sides are deeply paranoid and demonize the other.
ReplyDeleteDon't piss off the IDF.
ReplyDeleteTotally manufactured incident for propaganda purposes, stage managed by...well someone who doesn't like Israel. My only criticism of the IDF handling of this is that they perhaps should have waited until they were out of international waters.
Puzzled as to why they sent an elite commando unit to intercept a bunch of activists. Putting it simply, I like Israel better than the Palestinians, but I've always been sceptical of their intelligence and military mythos. Yet another blunder, IMHO, to reinforce it.
ReplyDeletePuma
Agreed it was a blunder, a total fuck up even. We use special forces for border control, as do you. It's common practice.
ReplyDeleteUmmm... *No*, we do not use special forces for border control. Don't know where you got that idea. All of our spec ops and regular troops are committed elsewhere for fairly obvious reasons. Some on their 3rd and 4th tours. Can't spare them to keep the landscapers and dishwashers out. LOL.
ReplyDelete-Puma
The sea part of the SAS here use border protection as part of their training and qualifying before being available for active foreign service. The deep dark parts of the southern ocean are used for illegal fishing. The SAS use these ships for training.
ReplyDeleteWith the amount and types of stuff coming into the states I bet you anything you like your guys do the same before being deployed to 'where ever'. Read this. Warrior Brothers - My Life in the Australian SAS. Great book. Nice bloke.
Why did the Israeli's use em?. Well, it's Israel and that's the Palestinians. Fairly obvious why they used em.
Moko,
ReplyDeleteThe United States has an entire branch of the military devoted to inland coastal law enforcement (the coast guard). They, our Seals, Force Recon, etc, all receive training in how to assault ships, oil platforms and the like. The coast guard is like the police. The Seals and marines are basically killers used as the tip of the spear in an invasion or strike force. They are next to useless as law enforcement since they are trained to kill everything they encounter. Totally different missions. I probably don't have to tell you this. The point is, IMO, The Israelis treated this like a military operation when it should have been a police raid. They really are dumb as bricks sometimes. Israel and the Palestinians? I thought it was a turkish ship.
-Puma
I know there's no way you could know this, but my dog's dying, I'm not really in the mood for this.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be over there until everyone on one side is dead.