Anti-Piracy Techniques and Violence

Looking at the latest video that Meryl posted below as well, it appears that at least in the case of that particular vessel that anti-piracy techniques were being employed. The use of water cannons, stun grenades, and even chains would be standard means for passengers to use to try to avoid being boarded. It appears that they, perhaps along with passengers of the other ships, were hoping to treat the Israelis as pirates and to fend them off using those techniques. The problems with this are many, but two primary factors made that more dangerous than useful.

The first is that Israel had and has no choice but to stop vessels that have not been searched by it from reaching the shores of its enemy’s territory which could easily contain weaponry or dangerous militants, though admittedly this ship does not appear to have carried such cargo. Future ships attempting to land in Gaza certainly could and would be much more likely to carry them if other ships sail on through the blockade.

The second problem that using piracy techniques against the Israeli soldiers caused was the most deadly one. Passengers were able to overwhelm at least two soldiers and put their lives in jeopardy. This would have turned a limited violence seizure of the ship into an all out rescue mission, dramatically upping the stakes for the Israelis who said in reports following the raid that they felt that the passengers intended to “lynch” them. This may well have been the case. Whether or not live fire was used first by the activists on the ship or by Israelis trying to gain control of a situation that threatened not only the lives of their friends but their own lives is really moot. Riots get out of hand and this was a riot. Unfortunately for all sides, because soldiers were seriously injured in the initial rush, Israel could not have pulled back without jeopardizing the lives of the injured soldiers even further or possibly creating new Gilad Shalits for Hamas.

The fact that the passengers used anti-piracy techniques rather than non-violence is significant. The anti-piracy techniques turned the events into battles and the activists into soldiers simply fighting with inferior weaponry. Under these circumstances, it is amazing that there were only nine fatalities.