Israel (IDF) versus Gaza aid ships- updates

[CougarKing]

Another update: I can understand how the Malaysians and Indonesians aboard would sympathize with the Gazan Palestinians since Malaysians and the Indonesians are also Sunni Muslims, but the Irish?  ???

AFP link

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Rachel Corrie activist ship kept its course for a Saturday arrival in Gaza -- or confrontation -- as world anger simmered over Israel's deadly raid on an earlier blockade-busting bid.
"We are not afraid," Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire told Ireland's RTE state radio by satellite phone from aboard the aid-laden ship.


"We started out to deliver this cargo to the people of Gaza and to break the siege of Gaza, that is what we want to do," the 66-year-old said as the vessel steamed towards the impoverished Palestinian enclave.


The MV Rachel Corrie was just hours from Gaza but the 15 aboard -- Irish and Malaysian activists, four Indonesian crew and a Scottish captain -- did not intend to leave international waters and run the Israeli gauntlet until after daybreak Saturday, organisers said.


Resentment ran high in Turkey, which sent more than half the almost 700 activists aboard the ill-fated six-ship convoy.

(...)

 

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

Another update: I can understand how the Malaysians and Indonesians aboard would sympathize with the Gazan Palestinians since Malaysians and the Indonesians are also Sunni Muslims, but the Irish?  ???

Like an Irishman is going to avoid a scrap.

The Irish prime minister issued a warning.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.  Maybe Ireland should spend some time worrying about its economy instead of waging war with Israel.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Like an Irishman is going to avoid a scrap.

Excuse me?

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Hopefully he meant to avoid scrapping the ship to EU standards......

 

[The Bread Guy]

This, from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs - highlights mine:

.... On Friday morning, an understanding was reached with the Israeli government whereby the Rachel Corrie would have approached the Israeli exclusion zone before accepting diversion to the Israeli port of Ashdod.  At Ashdod, the cargo would have been unloaded and inspected under the supervision of UN and officials from the Irish Aid Division of my Department.  The entire cargo, including what is understood to be 550 tonnes of cement, would then have been transported to Gaza.  Two persons from the Rachel Corrie would have been permitted to accompany the cargo to the Israeli border crossing into Gaza at Erez.

In my view, such an arrangement would have offered a useful precedent for future humanitarian shipments, pending the complete lifting of the blockade.

This proposal was put to those on board the Rachel Corrie who, on Friday afternoon, after careful consideration and having thanked the Government for its efforts, declined to accept it. I fully respect their right to do so and to continue their protest action by seeking to sail to Gaza.

If, as is their stated intention, the Israeli government intercepts the Rachel Corrie, the Government demands that it demonstrate every restraint.  Those on board the Rachel Corrie have made clear their peaceful intentions and have stated that they will offer no resistance to Israeli forces.  Based on these assurances, there can be no justification for the use of force against any person on board the Rachel Corrie ....

(On this last orange bit, "assurances" of "peaceful intentions" and not offering "resistance to Israeli forces" aren't quite enough - actions speak louder that words.)

From the Israeli side:

Amb. Yossi Gal, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the following statement to the press today in Jerusalem:

"I want to once again deliver a message that has been delivered in both public and private channels to the Rachel Corrie ship heading toward Gaza:

We have no desire for a confrontation. We have no desire to board the ship. If the ship decides to sail the port of Ashdod, then we will ensure its safe arrival and will not board it.

Israel is prepared to receive the ship and to offload its contents.
After an inspection to ensure that no weapons and war materials are on board, we are prepared to deliver all of the goods to Gaza.

Representative of the people on board and relevant NGOs are welcome to accompany the goods to the crossings.

We will work with the UN and international organizations to ensure that all the goods are used for the benefit of the people of Gaza."

 

[bdave]

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- Autopsy results by forensics experts in Istanbul revealed that all nine of the men killed by Israeli commandoes aboard the humanitarian convoy that had planned to dock in Gaza died of gunshot wounds.

The autopsy results give clues about how the violence unfolded after Israeli commandoes stormed the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in the pre-dawn hours on Monday.

Five of the men died with bullet wounds to the head, said Dr. Haluk Ince, the director of Istanbul's Medical Examination Institute, said Friday.

One casualty, a 19-year-old dual national Turkish-American citizen named Furkan Dogan, was found to have bullet wounds in his head and multiple bullets in his body, Ince said.

According to the U.S. State department, Dogan was born in Troy, New York and had been living in Turkey. American diplomats have been extending consular services to the deceased's family.

 

In one case, Ince said, a gunshot victim had been shot at at extremely close range.

"From the analysis of the bullet distance on one of the bodies," Dr. Ince said, "the gun was fired between 2 and 14 centimeters' distance from the victim's head."

In one month, the forensic report will be submitted to an Istanbul prosecutor's office. There have already been petitions from families of Turkish activists this week, submitted to state prosecutors to sue the government of Israel on charges of murder.

The dead activists were treated like fallen heroes at a mass funeral held at Istanbul's Fatih Mosque on Thursday. Crowds gathered in a courtyard, below the domes of the centuries' old Ottoman mosque, in front of the coffins, which were wrapped in Turkish and Palestinian flags. In one case, a flag from the Palestinian movement Hamas lay over a casket.

"We will remember this, what Israel did," said a young Turkish volunteer named Muhamed Sahin, who was helping hold back the surging crowd. "Everybody has to learn what is going on in Gaza, on the ship, what Israel did."

Periodically, the crowd chanted "Israel, terrorist" and "Damn Israel."

The bodies of the 9 dead, as well as more then 460 surviving passengers from the convoy arrived at Istanbul airport before dawn on Thursday. They were treated to a hero's welcome, particularly Bulent Yildirim, the chairman of the Islamist, fiercely pro-Palestinian Turkish charity the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). IHH was one of the main groups organizing the blockade-busting flotilla.

In remarks to the press, Yildirim said his colleagues fought Israeli troops in self-defense aboard the Mavi Marmara. He added that in the early stages of the clashes, his activists captured several Israel commandoes, as well as their weapons, and took them below decks.

The Israeli troops were given water, Yildirim said. He insisted none of the activists fired the captured Israeli guns.

Israeli officials have accused the protesters of firing captured weapons during the battle at sea. The Israeli military has also shown images of a commando being beaten with a plastic chair, as well as photos of knives, metal poles, slingshots and marbles as evidence that the Mavi Marmara was a "ship of hatred" full of terrorist sympathizers rather then a "love boat" filled with peace-loving human rights activists.

"The defense of the boat was quite well organized," said Espen Goffeng, a 38-year-old activist from Norway who sailed aboard the Mavi Marmara. "There was a plan to keep soldiers off the boat."

Goffeng said passengers aboard the lead ship Mavi Marmara at first successfully repelled Israeli troops on boats. Then, he said, soldiers began their helicopters assault on the vessel.

"They started off with some kind of paintball bullets with glass in them that left terrible soft tissue wounds. And then rubber bullets. And then live ammunition afterwards. And that's when things started to get really dangerous," Goffeng added.

Despite the tears and sobbing at Istanbul's Fatih Mosque on Thursday, many of the people gathered for the activists' funeral called this week a "victory," because it brought international attention to Israel's 3-year blockade of Gaza.

Turkey, once Israel's closest Muslim ally in the Middle East, has accused Israel of committing an act of international piracy.

"From now on, Turkish-Israeli ties will never be the same," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Thursday. "The incident has left a deep and irreparable scar."

According to a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Ankara has issued 3 demands to Israel: apologize for the raid, organize an independent investigation, and lift the blockade of Gaza./quote]

 

[1feral1]

500T of cement?

I don't call that humanitarian aid.

Whatever happened to real aid such as, clean water, clothing, blankets and of course medicine/medical aid. 

What a crock of shyte.

Meanwhile, the plot thickens..... http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/04/gaza-flotilla-group-part-of-u-n-ngo-branch/

Shard IAW the usual...

The Turkish group at the center of this week's deadly high-seas clash with Israel has been a member of a hard-to-access U.N. organization since 2004, which has given the group special access to the U.N. system.

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) branch of U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs invites in NGOs from around the globe, including the Turkish-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH).

Earlier this week Fox News reported that the IHH has links to terrorist groups including Hamas and Al Qaeda. Indeed, the IHH was described in federal court documents as playing a role in the Millennium terrorist plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

The Turkish charity was described in a recent report as being a "radical Islamic organization with an anti-Western orientation," and that "besides its legitimate philanthropic activities, it supports radical Islamic networks, including Hamas, and that at least in the past, even global jihad networks." (See full report below)

Anne Bayefsky, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and Touro College, and an active participant in the U.N.'s NGO system, tells Fox News that the status granted to IHH gives most NGOs access to U.N. diplomats and enables them to speak at sessions of a number of U.N. bodies that are streamed online around the world and translated into six languages.

Their consultative status also allows groups to distribute their material or statements as U.N. documents, Bayefsky said, "which gives them permanence and widespread circulation."

Bayefsky says that the difficulty in joining the NGO committee often depends on the organization and the groups it seeks to protect. While "serious" human rights organizations are often blocked from gaining membership, she said, "applications from NGOs from or aligned with non-democratic states sail through without objection."

While the IHH denies it supports terrorism, one of its members, Oguzan Ulas, told Fox News that Israel is trying to smear the organization. He did however say that the IHH does support Hamas and said that his organization disagreed with Hamas being designated a terrorist group by the U.S.

A U.S. State Department spokesman told Fox News that the IHH has not been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and added, "We are unable to comment on the internal process with respect to specific designations."

But he made it clear where the U.S. stood on fighting terrorism: "We are fully committed to taking appropriate action against foreign groups engaging in terrorist activity in order to prevent such groups from obtaining the resources and support needed to undertake terrorist activity."

Asked whether the United Nations should take any action against the IHH, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs would only confirm that the IHH does indeed enjoy consultative status within the U.N.'s NGO system.

Yet this is not the first time the U.N's NGO system has accepted groups with terrorist links. In 2006 and 2007, Fox News exposed a Saudi-based charity called the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which, despite having two of its branches in the Philippines and Indonesia on the U.S. and U.N. terror list for aiding Al Qaeda, still enjoys full NGO status. Despite calls from members of Congress to expel them, the U.N. remains silent.

Nineteen countries decide on who gets to join the NGO branch, including Angola, China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Sudan, a cast of member states that incenses Bayefsky.

"That such countries are the ones that decide who can and cannot participate in the operations of the U.N. explains a lot about what happens there," she said.

Links:

http://esango.un.org/civilsociety/showProfileDetail.do?method=showProfileDetails&profileCode=2525

http://www.ihh.org.tr/uyelikler/en/



OWDU

 

[57Chevy]

And the latest from Turkey:

ANKARA - Turkey accused Israel on Friday of breaking biblical commandments against killing and said it could cut ties with its one-time ally to a minimum after nine Turkish activists died in a raid on a ship bound for Gaza.


"I am speaking to them in their own language. The sixth commandment says 'thou shalt not kill'. Did you not understand?" Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in his harshest words yet since Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara on Monday.


"I'll say again. I say in English 'you shall not kill'. Did you still not understand?. So I'll say to you in your own language. I say in Hebrew 'Lo Tirtzakh'," he said in a televised speech to supporters of his Islamist-leaning AK Party.


As relations plunged to their worst since the two countries forged a strategic relationship in the 1990s, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also said military and economic agreements with Israel were now on the table for discussion.


"We are serious about this subject," Arinc told the Turkish NTV news channel in an interview.


"We may plan to reduce our relations with Israel to a minimum, but to assume everything involving another country is stopped in an instant, to say we have crossed you out of our address book, is not the custom of our state," he said.


Turkey, Israel's only Muslim ally, had already recalled its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises after the nine activists were killed while trying to break a blockade on Gaza.


A spokeswoman for activists aboard another boat trying to run the blockade said they would continue their voyage.


Israel, facing an international outcry over its naval operation on Monday, has vowed to stop the Rachel Corrie, named after an activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli forces to exercise "caution and politeness" in handling the ship, expected near the waters off Gaza by Saturday.


Together with Egypt, Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007.


Israel has defended the embargo, saying it stops Hamas from bringing in weapons to fight Israel. But officials said on Thursday Netanyahu was considering modifying the blockade, which would introduce some form of international role in enforcing an arms embargo, while letting in civilian goods.


U.S. CALLS FOR PEACE EFFORTS


President Barack Obama said the incident should be used as an opportunity to advance Middle East peace efforts.


"I think what's important right now is that we break out of the current impasse, use this tragedy as an opportunity," he said in an interview with CNN's Larry King on Thursday.


U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who is mediating in indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks which many observers doubt will achieve a breakthrough, met Netanyahu on Friday.


He held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday that a Palestinian official said were dominated by the ship incident and the Gaza blockade.


The United States has been less critical of Israel than others, expressing sympathy for its security concerns while also saying the people of Gaza must get the supplies they need.


Erdogan, however, compared the Israeli actions to those of Kurdish militants in Turkey and stood up for Hamas, calling them "resistance fighters fighting for their land".


"The fate of Jerusalem is not different from the fate of Istanbul," he said, in language reflecting the significance of the holy city to Muslims throughout the world. "The fate of Gaza is not different from the fate of Ankara."


Turkey, an officially secular state, recognized Israel soon after its establishment in 1948. In the 1990s it forged military and intelligence co-operation agreements with Israel, when both had hostile relations with Syria. With Turkey a customer for Israeli arms, bilateral trade reached $2.5 billion in 2009.


However, since the AK Party came to power in 2002, NATO's only Muslim member has sought better relations with Iran and Arab neighbours, notably Syria.


The friendship with Israel began wearing thin after an Israeli offensive in Gaza in 2008. Erdogan has become one of Israel's most trenchant critics, as Turkey increasingly asserts itself as a powerful player in the Muslim world.


The row between Washington's two closest allies in the Middle East comes at a difficult time for the United States, when it is pushing to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

© Copyright (c) Reuters


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Turkish+tells+Israel+thou+shalt+kill/3113560/story.html#ixzz0pv7kyIFK

 

[a_majoor]

More on the raid by the IDF:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-navy-3-commandos-nearly-taken-hostage-in-gaza-flotilla-raid-1.294114

Israel Navy: 3 commandos nearly taken hostage in Gaza flotilla raid

According to preliminary navy investigation, some passengers on the Mavi Marmara boat dragged three unconscious commandos into one of the passenger halls below deck.
By Amos Harel Tags: Israel news Gaza flotilla IDF

During Israel's takeover of a Turkish ship in the Gaza-bound aid flotilla this week, some passengers tried to take captive three commandos who lost consciousness as a result of the activists' blows, according to early findings of a navy investigation. The three were dragged into one of the passenger halls below deck and were held there for several minutes.

After dozens of other commandos began searching the ship, the Mavi Marmara, the three soldiers regained consciousness and managed to join their comrades.

Conversations with senior navy officers in the chain of command during the operation present a different view of the events on Monday. In Israel, the raid has been perceived as a failure, while abroad it has been derided as piracy or worse.

The navy rejects the claims that it was poorly prepared. Officials have been commending the commandos' performance in a situation in which they were confronted by dozens of activists who attacked them as they rappelled from helicopters. "They were terrorists - hired killers who came to murder soldiers, not to assist the residents of the Gaza Strip," said a navy officer.

The operation on the Mavi Marmara began at about 4:30 A.M. on Monday. Because of the presence of hard-core activists including members of the IHH, the Turkish group organizing the aid convoy, most attention went to that ship. Navy chief Eliezer Merom and the head of the naval commandos, Lt. Col. A., were on vessels next to the ship. Lt. Col. A. climbed on the Mavi Marmara during the takeover.

As seen on a video documenting the takeover, the first four commandos to rappel onto the deck were attacked by activists with bars, axes and knives. The fourth commando, K., saw his team leader on the deck, with a Turkish activist holding the pistol he had grabbed from him and pointing it to his head. K. jumped from the rope and managed to shoot the activist holding the gun. This happened 20 seconds after the first soldier landed on the deck.

The commanders of the first unit were hit by the mob as they landed. One of the soldiers managed to fix another rope, after there were problems with the original one, for 10 more soldiers to land. The commandos cared for the wounded and took over part of the upper deck of the ship.

At this stage, six minutes into the operation, another force landed from a second helicopter, led by a major. At that point they realized that three commandos were missing and they began looking for them. A short while later the naval commando chief landed along with dozens more soldiers, some of whom climbed from boats. Others landed from a third helicopter.

The search involved limited shooting, in the bridge and on the lower deck, until the three men were recovered. The head of the naval commandos gave orders by radio to use live fire, two minutes after the incident had begun.

Shots had been fired earlier, but Lt. Col. A. later explained that in his orders he wanted to make sure that the troops realized that "the mood of the incident had changed."

The soldiers reported that the activists had fired on them during the confrontation and that at least two commandos suffered gunshot wounds. After the incident, 9mm bullet casings were found - a kind not used by the naval commandos.

The Israel Defense Forces says that during the operation a number of pistols and an M-4 rifle were taken from soldiers, but they believe that the Turkish activists had other weapons. The captain of the ship told the naval commando chief that the guns were thrown overboard before the ship was completely taken over.

The wounded activists were airlifted to Israel for treatment, some seriously hurt whose lives were saved by the evacuation.

The IDF did not question the activists extensively because of the decision to release them. In conversations after the takeover, activists said they were surprised by the use of helicopters, even though the navy had used this method before. However, nothing else appears to have surprised them because international law requires sufficient warnings before ships are boarded.

Post-operation assessments have the number of hard-core activists involved in the fighting at between 60 and 100. It appears that they were well trained and experienced, especially in view of the arsenal found and code books used to pass on orders from group leaders. Among the rioters, in addition to Turks, were Yemenis, Afghans and one person from Eritrea. All were apparently experienced in hand-to-hand fighting. Some of them did not retreat when shots were fired.

The operation involved a month of training, with dummy takeovers of a ship at sea with 50 soldiers performing the role of activists. The navy admits that it trained mostly for "a Bil'in type of opposition, but there was no feeling that this was going to be a walk in the park." He was referring to a village at the separation fence where demonstrations take place.

The navy says it needs to look into whether the psychological preparations of the force were sufficient, and whether it had emphasized an easier scenario that did not take place.

The navy says it went over "incidents and responses" in preparation; these included opening fire at charging activists with melee weapons. In case of a threat to their lives, the commandos were ordered to shoot to kill even as they were on their way onto the deck.

"The main gap between preparations and intelligence was that we did not know we would face dozens of rioters," a senior officer involved in the operation said. "This was not a disturbance that went awry. It was a planned ambush."

Another officer added that "I still wake up at 3 A.M. and wonder how the hell we did not know more."

Another officer said said that "we became a little spoiled, as a society, expecting perfect performances."

According to a senior officer, "Under the circumstances, and I do not like the result, I think we did the best we could. We took care of five ships without injuries. On the sixth ship, we faced a harsh attack and killed nine saboteurs.

"No real peace activist was injured. No soldier was killed, even though it came pretty close. In the end the ships are docked at Ashdod. It was very complicated and the result is near perfect."

I suspect that ROE's will be changed quite drastically after this for any further raids on ships.

 

[Kat Stevens]

And the latest from Turkey:

ANKARA - Turkey accused Israel on Friday of breaking biblical commandments against killing and said it could cut ties with its one-time ally to a minimum after nine Turkish activists died in a raid on a ship bound for Gaza.


"I am speaking to them in their own language. The sixth commandment says 'thou shalt not kill'. Did you not understand?" Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in his harshest words yet since Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara on Monday.

Good thing there's nothing in the Koran about it, that would be... awkward.

 

[bdave]

500T of cement?

I don't call that humanitarian aid.

Whatever happened to real aid such as, clean water, clothing, blankets and of course medicine/medical aid. 

What a crock of shyte.

Humanitarian aid doesn't only consist of food, clothing, water and medicine.
Shelter is an important aspect that is often forgotten.

When things like this happen:

http://kaichang.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451bb1169e20105369ab3f9970b-500wi

This becomes the after-math:
http://i.idnes.cz/09/053/gal/BOS2b6920_30kav_valka.jpg
http://www.alzaytouna.net/arabic/images/Gaza_War_2009/Gaza_War_2009_50.jpg
http://ahmadalikarim.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/gaza-war.jpg
http://rainbowwarrior2005.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/jand-8-mosque.jpg?w=470&h=298&h=298
http://www.aztlan.net/typical_bombed_structure.jpg

then people go homeless.
Those homes,  schools, mosques and hospitals need to be rebuilt.
You need concrete to do that.

 

[1feral1]

You're quite the bleeding heart.  Your links are pro arab sites, one refers to the 'freedom flotilla'  :

I'll quote you "I lack experience and knowledge: Take what I say with a grain of salt." Your words, not mine.

Cement is not a priority. Temp housing such as prefabs and tents should be ahead of cement.

EDITs to add: I wish I did not, but I've see more distruction and dispair in one day than you have in you're whole life, so don't go assuming I know SFA about humanitarian aid, you're far from an expert according to your profile.

 

[bdave]

You're quite the bleeding heart.  Your links are pro arab sites, one refers to the 'freedom flotilla'  :

Cement is not a priority. Temp housing such as prefabs and tents should be ahead of cement.

Who cares about the links? I am showing you pictures of actual damage that happened. It could be on pro-Israel sites or pro-sushi sites, it doesn't change the reality of the pictures.
Showing you pictures of why they need cement doesn't make me a bleeding heart. I'm not even sure what a bleeding heart is. Someone who is compassionate?

You are right, though. Cement isn't a priority. However, I don't believe those Flotillas were only stocked with cement, so your point is moot.

Temp housing can only do so much. They still need to rebuild the schools and hospitals that have been demolished.
You need concrete for that.

 

[1feral1]

Who cares about the links? I am showing you pictures of actual damage that happened. It could be on pro-Israel sites or pro-sushi sites, it doesn't change the reality of the pictures.
Showing you pictures of why they need cement doesn't make me a bleeding heart. I'm not even sure what a bleeding heart is. Someone who is compassionate?

You are right, though. Cement isn't a priority. However, I don't believe those Flotillas were only stocked with cement, so your point is moot.

Temp housing can only do so much. They still need to rebuild the schools and hospitals that have been demolished.
You need concrete for that.

Whatever Dave.

I will give you credit for not only concrete being stocked on the vessels. We can't forget there was lots of clubs, knives, sling shots and an angry mob of pro HAMAS supporters with open agendas. Who knows what real contraband was on board, and that will come out in time.

Real peaceful people on a mission of peace for/with humitarian aid would have allowed all vessels to be boarded (EDITs to add without incident) and the cargo inspected before released. Thus allowing for the aid to be delivered to those who need it ASAP after clearance. That make sense to me.

Too bad you did not include the pics of Palestinians moving the same smashed corpses from bombsite to bombsite. All for propaganda pics, just like the whole flotilla was - propaganda for their cause.

As for being bomb damage here is what muslims did to each other in Baghdad. http://www.youtube.com/user/1feral1#p/a/u/1/z35MEEBu1-U This is a video I took moments after a huge SVBIED (dump truck) about 1500 metres from our location. 69 killed in that one alone, and the other smaller one killed 26.

My definition of a bleeding heart is someone who is sympathetic towards the enemy or their cause.

The over 600 tunnels from Egypt bring in staples such as tiles, cement etc for rebuilding. That along with weapons, and ammo too of course. If you think the Palestinians are squeaky clean, you're wrong. Israel has a right to defend itself and will continue the blockade regardless.

 

[vonGarvin]

Irrespective of what they were bringing (to paraphrase, it could have been Sushi).  The Israelis offered to take the stuff into port, inspect it (as per the embargo), and then let everything through that wasn't weaponry, etc.  The blockade runners were doing just that, blockading.  And I agree that cement would meet the criteria of humanitarian aid stuffs.

 

[Jungle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg&feature=player_embedded

 

[1feral1]

Now thats a good video  :nod:

The truth thru humour.

Well done for sharing!!!

OWDU

 

[57Chevy]

What.....What is the idea of that last video?
To the tune of "we are the world"

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Reasoned discussion people. Watch the pissing matches.

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[Yrys]

Same subject, secong boat (ship?) :

Israeli troops take over Gaza aid ship Rachel Corrie

MV RACHEL CORRIE (picture on above link)
    *  Irish-owned, 1,200-tonne cargo ship
    * On board: Five Irish and six Malaysian activists, plus crew
    * Carrying aid, including wheelchairs, paper, medical supplies and cement



Israeli troops say they have taken control of an aid ship trying to
break the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel's military says soldiers
boarded the Irish-owned Rachel Corrie from the sea and did not
meet any resistance. It says the ship is now being taken to the
Israeli port of Ashdod. There has been no word from those on board.

The incident comes five days after nine people were killed in clashes
when troops boarded a Turkish aid ship, prompting international
criticism. Israel says it will question those on board at the port and
transfer the aid to the Gaza Strip by land after checking the cargo
for banned items.

There are five Irish and six Malaysian pro-Palestinian activists, plus
several crew, on the boat. The Rachel Corrie is named after a US
college student who was crushed to death by an Israeli army
bulldozer as she protested over house demolitions in Gaza in 2003.
Israel has blockaded Gaza since 2007, when the Islamist Hamas
movement seized control of the territory.

'Full compliance'

The 1,200 tonne cargo ship was boarded about 16 nautical miles (30km)
off the Israeli coast.  An Israeli military spokeswoman said there "was full
compliance from the crew and passengers on board". The ship had
previously ignored repeated requests to change course, the Israeli military
said.

The sea-borne mission has been organised by the Cyprus-based Free Gaza
Movement, a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups and human rights organisa-
tions. A spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement, Greta Berlin, said Israel's
takeover of the ship was "another outrage to add to the nine murdered",
the Associated Press news agency reported.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev accused the group of hypocrisy,
saying "While they appear to use the language of human rights in, their
propaganda, it appears they have embraced the [Hamas] regime that has
no respect for human rights whatsoever," AP said.

The Rachel Corrie is carrying hundreds of tonnes of aid, including wheelchairs,
medical supplies and cement. Construction materials are banned from entering
Gaza by Israel, which says they could be used for military purposes by Hamas.

Israel came under fierce criticism after its troops shot dead nine people during
a violent confrontation with those on board the Turkish Mavi Marmara in the
early hours of Monday. Israel says its commandos were attacked with weapons,
including knives, and opened fire in self-defence. Activists on the ship say troops
shot at them without provocation.