Clearly, Israel is in the wrong regarding their handling of the Turkish flotilla recently in the news. These are the facts. They are not in dispute:
- Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in order to prevent further importation of weapons into the zone. This was done because Israel was vilified for firing back at Palestinians who were firing dozens of rockets at Israel daily.
- Israel notified the 6 ships in the Turkish flotilla that they would not be allowed to pass the blockade without having their ships searched for weapons. Five of the ships cooperated, one did not.
- Israel boarded the ship which refused to comply. Immediately [as shown on the video] upon boarding the ship Israeli soldiers were attacked by crew members. [These crew members have been called "passengers" but since this ship was self-described as delivering humanitarian aid, everyone onboard should be considered "crew".]
- In spite of being inundated by crew members wielding clubs, metal pipes and knives, the Israeli soldiers told each other "don't shoot, don't shoot". It wasn't until the crew members on the "humanitarian" ship stole the Israeli weapons and began shooting that the Israelis returned fire and due to the fact that they
believe in gunsshot better, killed 9 of the crew members.
It's clear and obvious to anyone thinking clearly that the objective of the sixth ship was only to attempt to break the blockade. They weren't there to lend humanitarian aid- they were there to create a confrontation that would bring world-wide attention to their cause. They were even "dying for a confrontaion [sic] with Israeli troops". They got their wish. They forced the issue. Now Israel is the "bad guy".
Here's what they would have you believe should have happened.
- Palestinians should have been allowed to bomb the ELS out of Isreal. The fact is- it was their land first. Except that plenty of current Israeli residents can make exactly the same claim to the land. I mean, the number of original residents are dwindling 60 years later but given that people in the middle east can let a war continue for centuries without a resolution in sight, 60 years is only a bat of the eyelash in comparison.
- The ships in the flotilla should have been allowed to continue on their route to the strip to deliver
weaponshumanitarian aid without resistance. The fact that they were warned not to do so should not be taken into consideration. - They should have been allowed to kill the Israeli soldiers for boarding their ship so they could continue on their way.
- They should have been allowed to disregard the blockade because- you know- they were delivering
weaponshumanitarian aid.
It's absolutely inconceivable that the first ship intentionally raised a ruckus and didn't even have any weapons in the first place just so the Israelis would think twice about boarding another ship carrying
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