Behind the “peace” flotilla attack

The anti-Israel narrative is working furiously in the aftermath of the fight on the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara. Soldiers rappelling down were immediately beaten and attacked by the “peace protesters” (video at the link). “Activists” grabbed arms from the soldiers and fired at them. The soldiers fired back. Ten of the people on that ship are dead. Five other ships were seized without injury. But nobody, of course, focuses on that fact—only on the fact that Israel seized the ship in international waters (a bonehead move, in my opinion) and killed ten passengers.

Is anyone surprised at this outcome? All along, the flotilla representatives threatened that they would respond with force.

“We fully intend to go to Gaza regardless of any intimidation or threats of violence against us,” Arraf said. “They are going to have to forcefully stop us.”

They weren’t empty promises. Watch that video. The soldier was attacked by a mob wielding metal pipes the second his feet reached the deck. From Ynet:

“In light of the life-threatening situation, the soldiers were forced to use crowd dispersal means and firearms,” he said, adding that some of the casualties were killed by firearms. According to Barak, 10 soldiers were injured in the incident, some from firearms and some from cold arms.

Of course, the anti-Israel media narrative downplays the threats by the organization, the violence against Israelis, and slaps the label “civilian” on the attackers, even though we don’t know if they were civilians or members of Hamas whose job was to be on the ship and do exactly what they did—cause an international incident to make Israel look horrible. This is part of the AP lead. the downplaying of the violence against the soldiers and the

Israel said the forces encountered unexpected resistance as they boarded the vessels. Dozens of passengers and at least five Israeli soldiers were wounded in the confrontation in international waters.

The lead changed as the story unfolded. AP dropped this from an earlier version:

The army says the soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs as they boarded the six vessels Monday.

And buried the information halfway through the main report now making its way across the world media:

The Israeli military said troops only opened fire after encountering unexpected resistance from the activists. Activists attacked troops with knives and iron rods, and opened fire with two pistols seized from the forces.

A total of five soldiers were wounded, two seriously, including at least one hit by live fire, the army said. Two of the dead activists had fired at soldiers with pistols, the army said.

“They planned this attack,” said Israeli military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch. “Our soldiers were injured from these knives and sharp metal objects … as well as from live fire.”

The video proves it. Soldiers were attacked the moment they boarded the ship. These were not innocent “civilians.” This was a planned attack.

Who was behind that ship? The Turkish organization IHH, which has ties with terrorists. The Wikipedia entry says that only one source has claimed this, and yet, the ship itself left to a rousing chant of “Kill the Jews” and calls for “intifada” while waving Palestinian flags. Habibi at Harry’s Place found more evidence of the IHH support for terrorism (I can’t get the Turkish site to load). This is the sort of “news” piece you find on the so-called human rights aid society site:

Israeli attempts to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque were protested in Istanbul following the Friday prayers at Beyazıt Mosque. Groups of people gathered at Beyazıt Square chanting slogans and takbir after the prayers. They staged a mock-up of Masjid al-Aqsa and carried banners and posters reading “Masjid al-Aqsa is Our Honor, A Thousand Greeting to al-Aqsa, Cut Relations with Zionist Gangs, Cooperation with Israel is a Crime.” The protestors carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans like “Hail to Hamas, Carry on Resistance, Shoot, shoot at Israel, Hamas, Down with Israel.”

Yep, that’s just the kind of news angle we expect from a human rights aid organization.

More from Harry’s Place shows the Facebook Wall photo of the U.K. Free Gaza group bearing the words “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That’s certainly the slogan we expect from “peace” activists who claim to be for human rights. Human rights for Palestinians, I suppose, but not Israelis.

There is much, much more to this story than you will read in the mainstream media. Stay tuned.