Israel Attack Humanitarian Ship, 10 men killed

[give her dixie]

19 year old US citizen executed with 4 bullets to the head, and 1 in his chest on board the Flotilla:


A  U.S. citizen who lived in Turkey is among the nine people killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid ship heading for the Gaza Strip, officials said today. The victim was identified as Furkan Dogan, 19, a Turkish-American. A forensic report said he was shot at close range, with four bullets in his head and one in his chest, according to the Anatolian news agency.


Israeli forces are seen aboard one of six ships bound for Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea May 31,...

Dogan was a high school student studying social sciences in the town of Kayseri in central Turkey. He was born in the United States and moved to Turkey at the age of 2. He will be buried in his hometown tomorrow.

Dogan's body was returned to Turkey today along with eight others, all Turkish nationals, who were on board the Mavi Marmara.

Israeli PM Says Aid Ship Was 'Not a Love Boat'Clinton to Israel: Make 'Credible' Flotilla Probe.

The ship was sponsored by a Turkish charity, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) and was carrying aid to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade. The charity released the names of all nine dead. All are male and the ages range from 32 to 61.


The Mavi Marmara formed part of a flotilla that was organized by the Free Gaza movement and intended to break the three-year Israeli blockade on the embattled Palestinian enclave.

Israeli commandos rappelled onto the decks of the six ships Monday, but on the Mavi Marmara the passengers battled the soldiers with metal rods, wrested weapons from soldiers and, according to the Israeli military, fired on them. Nine people died and more than 30 were wounded, including several Israeli troops.

The activists on board the ship told a very different version of events from the one released by the Israeli military.

A Canadian on board, Farooq Burney, described watching an elderly man bleed to death. The head of a Turkish charity that organized the aid flotilla said an Indonesian doctor was shot in the stomach and a photographer was shot in the forehead.

[Tyrones own]

Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion     

By George Friedman   
May 31, 2010
On Sunday, Israeli naval forces intercepted the ships of a Turkish nongovernmental organization (NGO) delivering humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Israel had demanded that the vessels not go directly to Gaza but instead dock in Israeli ports, where the supplies would be offloaded and delivered to Gaza. The Turkish NGO refused, insisting on going directly to Gaza. Gunfire ensued when Israeli naval personnel boarded one of the vessels, and a significant number of the passengers and crew on the ship were killed or wounded.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon charged that the mission was simply an attempt to provoke the Israelis. That was certainly the case. The mission was designed to demonstrate that the Israelis were unreasonable and brutal. The hope was that Israel would be provoked to extreme action, further alienating Israel from the global community and possibly driving a wedge between Israel and the United States. The operation's planners also hoped this would trigger a political crisis in Israel.

A logical Israeli response would have been avoiding falling into the provocation trap and suffering the political repercussions the Turkish NGO was trying to trigger. Instead, the Israelis decided to make a show of force. The Israelis appear to have reasoned that backing down would demonstrate weakness and encourage further flotillas to Gaza, unraveling the Israeli position vis-à-vis Hamas. In this thinking, a violent interception was a superior strategy to accommodation regardless of political consequences. Thus, the Israelis accepted the bait and were provoked.
The 'Exodus' Scenario

In the 1950s, an author named Leon Uris published a book called "Exodus." Later made into a major motion picture, Exodus told the story of a Zionist provocation against the British. In the wake of World War II, the British - who controlled Palestine, as it was then known - maintained limits on Jewish immigration there. Would-be immigrants captured trying to run the blockade were detained in camps in Cyprus. In the book and movie, Zionists planned a propaganda exercise involving a breakout of Jews - mostly children - from the camp, who would then board a ship renamed the Exodus. When the Royal Navy intercepted the ship, the passengers would mount a hunger strike. The goal was to portray the British as brutes finishing the work of the Nazis. The image of children potentially dying of hunger would force the British to permit the ship to go to Palestine, to reconsider British policy on immigration, and ultimately to decide to abandon Palestine and turn the matter over to the United Nations.

There was in fact a ship called Exodus, but the affair did not play out precisely as portrayed by Uris, who used an amalgam of incidents to display the propaganda war waged by the Jews. Those carrying out this war had two goals. The first was to create sympathy in Britain and throughout the world for Jews who, just a couple of years after German concentration camps, were now being held in British camps. Second, they sought to portray their struggle as being against the British. The British were portrayed as continuing Nazi policies toward the Jews in order to maintain their empire. The Jews were portrayed as anti-imperialists, fighting the British much as the Americans had.

It was a brilliant strategy. By focusing on Jewish victimhood and on the British, the Zionists defined the battle as being against the British, with the Arabs playing the role of people trying to create the second phase of the Holocaust. The British were portrayed as pro-Arab for economic and imperial reasons, indifferent at best to the survivors of the Holocaust. Rather than restraining the Arabs, the British were arming them. The goal was not to vilify the Arabs but to villify the British, and to position the Jews with other nationalist groups whether in India or Egypt rising against the British.

The precise truth or falsehood of this portrayal didn't particularly matter. For most of the world, the Palestine issue was poorly understood and not a matter of immediate concern. The Zionists intended to shape the perceptions of a global public with limited interest in or understanding of the issues, filling in the blanks with their own narrative. And they succeeded.

The success was rooted in a political reality. Where knowledge is limited, and the desire to learn the complex reality doesn't exist, public opinion can be shaped by whoever generates the most powerful symbols. And on a matter of only tangential interest, governments tend to follow their publics' wishes, however they originate. There is little to be gained for governments in resisting public opinion and much to be gained by giving in. By shaping the battlefield of public perception, it is thus possible to get governments to change positions.

In this way, the Zionists' ability to shape global public perceptions of what was happening in Palestine - to demonize the British and turn the question of Palestine into a Jewish-British issue - shaped the political decisions of a range of governments. It was not the truth or falsehood of the narrative that mattered. What mattered was the ability to identify the victim and victimizer such that global opinion caused both London and governments not directly involved in the issue to adopt political stances advantageous to the Zionists. It is in this context that we need to view the Turkish flotilla.
The Turkish Flotilla to Gaza

The Palestinians have long argued that they are the victims of Israel, an invention of British and American imperialism. Since 1967, they have focused not so much on the existence of the state of Israel (at least in messages geared toward the West) as on the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Since the split between Hamas and Fatah and the Gaza War, the focus has been on the plight of the citizens of Gaza, who have been portrayed as the dispossessed victims of Israeli violence.

The bid to shape global perceptions by portraying the Palestinians as victims of Israel was the first prong of a longtime two-part campaign. The second part of this campaign involved armed resistance against the Israelis. The way this resistance was carried out, from airplane hijackings to stone-throwing children to suicide bombers, interfered with the first part of the campaign, however. The Israelis could point to suicide bombings or the use of children against soldiers as symbols of Palestinian inhumanity. This in turn was used to justify conditions in Gaza. While the Palestinians had made significant inroads in placing Israel on the defensive in global public opinion, they thus consistently gave the Israelis the opportunity to turn the tables. And this is where the flotilla comes in.

The Turkish flotilla aimed to replicate the Exodus story or, more precisely, to define the global image of Israel in the same way the Zionists defined the image that they wanted to project. As with the Zionist portrayal of the situation in 1947, the Gaza situation is far more complicated than as portrayed by the Palestinians. The moral question is also far more ambiguous. But as in 1947, when the Zionist portrayal was not intended to be a scholarly analysis of the situation but a political weapon designed to define perceptions, the Turkish flotilla was not designed to carry out a moral inquest.

Instead, the flotilla was designed to achieve two ends. The first is to divide Israel and Western governments by shifting public opinion against Israel. The second is to create a political crisis inside Israel between those who feel that Israel's increasing isolation over the Gaza issue is dangerous versus those who think any weakening of resolve is dangerous.
The Geopolitical Fallout for Israel

It is vital that the Israelis succeed in portraying the flotilla as an extremist plot. Whether extremist or not, the plot has generated an image of Israel quite damaging to Israeli political interests. Israel is increasingly isolated internationally, with heavy pressure on its relationship with Europe and the United States.

In all of these countries, politicians are extremely sensitive to public opinion. It is difficult to imagine circumstances under which public opinion will see Israel as the victim. The general response in the Western public is likely to be that the Israelis probably should have allowed the ships to go to Gaza and offload rather than to precipitate bloodshed. Israel's enemies will fan these flames by arguing that the Israelis prefer bloodshed to reasonable accommodation. And as Western public opinion shifts against Israel, Western political leaders will track with this shift.

The incident also wrecks Israeli relations with Turkey, historically an Israeli ally in the Muslim world with longstanding military cooperation with Israel. The Turkish government undoubtedly has wanted to move away from this relationship, but it faced resistance within the Turkish military and among secularists. The new Israeli action makes a break with Israel easy, and indeed almost necessary for Ankara.

With roughly the population of Houston, Texas, Israel is just not large enough to withstand extended isolation, meaning this event has profound geopolitical implications.

Public opinion matters where issues are not of fundamental interest to a nation. Israel is not a fundamental interest to other nations. The ability to generate public antipathy to Israel can therefore reshape Israeli relations with countries critical to Israel. For example, a redefinition of U.S.-Israeli relations will have much less effect on the United States than on Israel. The Obama administration, already irritated by the Israelis, might now see a shift in U.S. public opinion that will open the way to a new U.S.-Israeli relationship disadvantageous to Israel.

The Israelis will argue that this is all unfair, as they were provoked. Like the British, they seem to think that the issue is whose logic is correct. But the issue actually is, whose logic will be heard? As with a tank battle or an airstrike, this sort of warfare has nothing to do with fairness. It has to do with controlling public perception and using that public perception to shape foreign policy around the world. In this case, the issue will be whether the deaths were necessary. The Israeli argument of provocation will have limited traction.

Internationally, there is little doubt that the incident will generate a firestorm. Certainly, Turkey will break cooperation with Israel. Opinion in Europe will likely harden. And public opinion in the United States - by far the most important in the equation - might shift to a "plague-on-both-your-houses" position.

While the international reaction is predictable, the interesting question is whether this evolution will cause a political crisis in Israel. Those in Israel who feel that international isolation is preferable to accommodation with the Palestinians are in control now. Many in the opposition see Israel's isolation as a strategic threat. Economically and militarily, they argue, Israel cannot survive in isolation. The current regime will respond that there will be no isolation. The flotilla aimed to generate what the government has said would not happen.

The tougher Israel is, the more the flotilla's narrative takes hold. As the Zionists knew in 1947 and the Palestinians are learning, controlling public opinion requires subtlety, a selective narrative and cynicism. As they also knew, losing the battle can be catastrophic. It cost Britain the Mandate and allowed Israel to survive. Israel's enemies are now turning the tables. This maneuver was far more effective than suicide bombings or the Intifada in challenging Israel's public perception and therefore its geopolitical position (though if the Palestinians return to some of their more distasteful tactics like suicide bombing, the Turkish strategy of portraying Israel as the instigator of violence will be undermined).

Israel is now in uncharted waters. It does not know how to respond. It is not clear that the Palestinians know how to take full advantage of the situation, either. But even so, this places the battle on a new field, far more fluid and uncontrollable than what went before. The next steps will involve calls for sanctions against Israel. The Israeli threats against Iran will be seen in a different context, and Israeli portrayal of Iran will hold less sway over the world.

And this will cause a political crisis in Israel. If this government survives, then Israel is locked into a course that gives it freedom of action but international isolation. If the government falls, then Israel enters a period of domestic uncertainty. In either case, the flotilla achieved its strategic mission. It got Israel to take violent action against it. In doing so, Israel ran into its own fist.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Lads/ladies
Did any of you hear the Israeli comments on prime time tonight on RTE1?
Israeli citizens  interviewed in a market by RTE officials were asked as to what should be done to the Incoming ships,some said shoot those onboard,an other said the boats should be torpedo'ed.

Allied that to an Israeli officials pathetic attempts to excuse the raid and the blockade of Gaza,
the mind-set of these people is staggering.

[give her dixie]

Folks, some facts so far:

1. One man was shot in the head from a bullet fired from a helicopter, before ANY pirate boarded the ship.

2. After this, a white flag was raised, and the killing spree just started.

3. The Pirates attempted to board, and each passenger had the RIGHT to defend themselves, and the ship, under International Law.

4.  The pirates had handbooks detailing photo's and descriptions of certain passengers who needed SPECIAL treatment.

5.  They sought out those people, and well, we all know what happened.

6.  People were executed by shots to the head. Some got several shots.

7.  Everyone was cable tied for 24 hours, and if they wanted to use the toilet, well, they had to piss in their pants.

8.  They held a 1 year old child, pointed a gun at his head, and ordered the captain to sail to Israhell.

9.  They REFUSED any medical aid to those who were injured, and many bled to death.

10.  They dished out severe beatings to many people in custody.

11.  8 Turks are dead, 1 US citizen, 2 Sweedish, and 8 remain unaccounted for.

12.  Every Non Turkish ship was sabotaged before they set sail.

13.  Every politician who travelled to Cyprus to board were denied to leave.

14.  Every country in the world condemned Israhell, EXCEPT the USA.

15.  Every phone, computer, camera, and other personal item was siezed by Israhelli Pirates, and not returned.

16.  Israhell want to go to war with Iran, and well, what better way to start it than to illegally attack the foltilla.

17.  Atatcking the Turkish ship, is an act of declaring war on Turkey.

18.  A US registered boat was attacked, (not for the 1st time), and the US fail to condemn it.

19  This is an act of declaring war on the US

20.  A Greek boat was attacked, and that is the same as declaring war on Greece.

So, as you can see, these are gruesome facts, and they are horrific, to say the least.

So, what is the world leaders going to do?
Well, to be honest, nothing.
Why?  Because Israhell have 300 Nuclear weapons, and they are not afraid of using them, given the right opportunity.

The world is not a very safe place right now, and to be honest, I am afraid because they will stop at nothing until they have world domination. They already have th eUS doing what they want, and everyone else will follow suit, out of fear.................................

Take a bow United States Of America, for arming a rogue state who don't give one flying f**k about humanity.......

[deiseach]

[Zapatista]

Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion     

By George Friedman   
May 31, 2010

You can't with any seriousness compare Uris' Exodus with the Flotilla. Never mind the fact that the Exodus was Romantic Fiction the pre-dated Irael they were for completely different reasons.

The Exodus was one ship in many that sailed to Palestine in order to populate it with Jewish Planters and establish Israel.
The flotilla was/is a Mutli National Multi Religous aid effort for a people who are starving to death.

Considering this that article is bollocks.

[longrunsthefox]

The contribution of TUV candidate David Vance to the debate...

In a tweet posted yesterday he said:

    "Hoping Israel deal with the MV Rachel Corrie – the Irish owned boat full of Hamas enablers. This time – no messing about." http://twitter.com/DVATW

Pig and grunt come to mind...

[give her dixie]

The real story from Mavi Marmara: They were shooting to kill


The Israeli massacre of unarmed campaigners aboard a ship carrying aid to Gaza is the "Sharpeville and Soweto of the Movement for Palestinian Solidarity," one of those who survived the bloodthirsty assault has said.

Speaking to the Star from Istanbul shortly after his release from an Israeli jail British campaigner Kevin Ovenden, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara - the boat that bore the brunt of a terrifying raid by gun-toting Israeli commandos - described the attack as a "murderous assault" and "an act of political terrorism."

Israeli security forces stormed the Mavi Marmara in international waters on Sunday night as it ferried 500 unarmed protesters towards Gaza.

The assault killed nine and injured dozens more, sparking worldwide condemnation.

Israel attempted to claim that its shock troops acted in self-defence after coming under attack, blaming the protesters for provoking the situation and being "terrorist supporters."

But Mr Ovenden told the Morning Star: "This was a peaceful humanitarian mission in international waters. The youngest person on board was not yet one, the oldest was 88 years old.

"We had no weapons on board. The Israelis are displaying knives taken from the kitchen. People did defend themselves with whatever was at hand.

"The attack started with percussion grenades and we feared they would use tear gas. The Israeli commandos attacked from all sides and began shooting almost immediately, initially with so-called rubber bullets but certainly within two or three minutes we heard the unmistakable sound of live rounds.

"A colleague from Viva Palestina, Nicci Enchmarch, was next to a Turkish man who was holding a camera. He was shot through the middle of the forehead. The exit wound blew away the back of his skull and she cradled him in her arms as he died."

At least four of those killed were shot through the head, he said.

Mr Ovenden praised the Turkish crew of the vessel as "truly heroic in their attempts to prevent further loss of life," saying they had taken two injured Israeli soldiers inside the ship to prevent them being hurt further in the panic and chaos.

Appeals to the Israeli forces telling them their soldiers were safe and that there were wounded people who needed assistance were ignored, he said.

"Where people had been sleeping was turned into a makeshift triage area. This turned into a makeshift mortuary. Despite repeated requests the Israeli forces refused to evacuate any of the injured for more than an hour.

"I saw severely injured people dragged like sacks of potatoes up the stairwells, their bodies banging against the steel."

Mr Ovenden was transported to BeerSheeva jail where he was held until his eventual release and extradition.

The brutality and degradation continued throughout their ordeal only improving slightly when the British consular official arrived at the prison.

Summing up the horrific events aboard the Mavi Marmara, he said: "This is the Sharpeville and Soweto of the movement for Palestinian solidarity and it must mark a turning point in world opinion and in the actions of governments around the world to end this immoral and illegal siege and the treatment the Israelis mete out to Palestinians.

"We experienced it for 48 hours but they have endured this for 62 years."

Despite the horrific ordeal Mr Ovenden said he would be prepared to make the trip again after the families of some of those murdered asked that their loss not be in vain.

[Denn Forever]

I know the source may be biased but on Question Time last night one of the panelists claimed that some of the Turkish people on the boat wanted to be Martyred.  Claimed this was told by the family members on Turkish TV. I hope this is not true.

[Harold Disgracey]

Said panelist was Kelvin McKenzie, hate filled ****. 

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Surely black pepper throw into the eyes is going to be a much better weapon than a bunch of coriander aand hitting someone with a piece of frozen fish is going to be more painful than being whacked with a newspaper

[seafoid]

Israel is simply shameless

Israel has confiscated some of the most important material for the investigation, namely the films, audio sections and photos taken by the passengers and journalists on board and the Mavi Marmara's security cameras. Since yesterday, Israel has been editing these films and using them for its own PR campaign.

Check this out also:
-   Israeli soldier who killed six of passengers might receive medal of honour
-    IDF Retracts claims about flotilla's Al Qaeda links.

(from the promised land blog)

Look at the people murdered- most them were fathers .

http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/2010/06/putting-names-to-faces.html

The Gaza siege's days are numbered. Even if the US gives Israel cover on this occasion enough damage has been done to Israel's image in the court of world opinion.

[seafoid]

Israel won't allow building materials into Gaza. 5000 people remain homeless following the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2009.
Israel doesn't allow non Jews to build in East Jerusalem. It doesn't allow Palestinians to build on the 60% of the West Bank it claims is state land that belongs to Israel for the exclusive use of Zionist Jews.

Israel has turned into a nightmare.

[Zapatista]

Take Action to hold Israel to account over the murder of international human rights activists and the hijacking of their aid flotilla

http://www.ipsc.ie/flotilla/index.html

1) Attend the protests taking place today around the country

2) Send a letter of protest to Irish TDs demanding the Irish Government take action aginst Israel (sample letter and email addresses below)

3) Call the Department of Foreign Affairs on (01) 4780822 and demand action.

4) Call the Israeli Embassy in Ireland and let them know how you feel about this outrageous attack - (01) 230 9400 / 087 61711218 (out of hours number), fax them on (01) 230 9446 or email them on info@dublin.mfa.gov.il - The more the better!

5) Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign

6) Sign the contact.ie petition calling for the explusion of the Israeli Ambassador

[johnneycool]

Said panelist was Kelvin McKenzie, hate filled ****.

As much as McKenzie is a **** of the highest order, I just couldn't get my head around that Matthew Parris f**ker saying he had no interest in the issue as it was nothing to do with Britain.

Obviously never studied Britism imperialism at whatever private buggering school he went to.