Just Journalism has collected the various video clips of the flotilla incident, some of which was filmed by the flotilla passengers themselves.
First, a flotilla passenger speaks of his desire to become a ‘shahid’ (suicide martyr). You can watch the flotilla passengers prepare their weapons ahead of the IDF raid here and see a selection of their weapons here.
Watch the flotilla passengers attack the IDF before they even boarded the boat here and then watch the on-board attack on the IDF here and here.
These were not peace activists they were savages. To call these people peace activists demeans everyone who has ever worked for peace throughout human history.
I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks now. I’m ready to stick a toe in the water and actually post.
I would not call these people terrorists. Terrorists terrorize civilian populations and use force and violence to manipulate people and societies. These guys were violent thugs, and terrorist supporters.
I like to keep the word terrorist pure. I Use it for people who blow up buses with people going to work or children going to school. Or for firing rockets daily at civilian areas.
Stan
Thanks Stan. I actually take your point and have edited accordingly. Thanks again.
It seems like it was planned to make the world turn on Israel
I agree.
And to those who say ‘Israel played into their hands’ I suggest they look closer to home. It is the people who make excuses for these flotilla savages who are playing into their hands.
Lynne has hit the nail on the head
Con The World – a charity single for the flotilla peace activists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg&feature=player_embedded#!
A hardcore of 40 Turkish jihadis on board the Mavi Marmara was responsible for the violence that led to nine deaths and dozens of injuries on the flotilla taking aid to Gaza, the Israeli government claimed today.
The allegation came as Turkish newspapers reported that three of the four Turks killed in the onslaught had declared their readiness to become martyrs.
“I am going to be a martyr. I dreamed about it,” Ali Haider Banjinin, 39, from Kurdistan, told his family before leaving to join the flotilla, according to one report.
The brother-in-law of retired engineer Ibrahim Bilgen, 61, told another paper that “martyrdom suited him very much. Allah gave him a death he desired.”
A third Turkish casualty, Ali Akbar Yertilmis, a father of four from Ankara, had “dreamt of becoming a martyr”, a friend was quoted as saying.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/02/flotilla-raid-turkish-jihadis-troops-israel-claims
(Incidentally, the IP addresses of people who make threats against me are forwarded to the police and CST.)
I admit I don’t know much about the legal background, but is there any reason why the IDF couldn’t have waited until the flotilla had left international waters and entered the blockaded zone? They probably would have encountered exactly the same ferocity, and there regrettably would have been just as many deaths and injuries, but at least it would have been more difficult for their opponents to argue that the operation was illegal.
I’m not sure of the tactical reasoning, we’d have to ask an expert.
I take your point but the idiots and nasties of the world would have responded the same either way. It’s not about facts for them it’s about hatred.
Flotilla passengers told the IDF: “Go back to Aushwitz”. http://is.gd/cCQB7