Yet another first-hand account...
From the Captain of the operation...
In the first interview since he was wounded in Monday's raid on the flotilla, Captain R, who commanded the troops who boarded the Marmara via helicopter, spoke of the battle that took place on vessel.
According to R, hundreds of people who were on the boat took part in attacking him and his soldiers and they were forced to use weapons because of danger to their lives.
"Dozens of people beat each soldier on the roof (of the vessel)," he said from his bed in the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
"They wielded clubs, axes and knives," he said. "I was the second to go down the cable, one of the guys from my group was already down there, and there were a few people on him. At first it was one-on-one, until more soldiers came down."
Regarding the troops' preparation for a more extreme scenario on the decks, R said they had prepared for both passive and violent resistance, but admitted he had been surprised by the strength of the resistance.
"We knew they were peace activists," he said. "Though they wanted to break the Gaza blockade, we thought we'd encounter passive resistance, perhaps verbal resistance – we didn't expect this. Everyone wanted to kill us. We encountered terrorists who wanted to kill us and we did everything we could to prevent unnecessary injury."
R said that some 75% of the people in the vessel resisted violently, "each one with a knife in his hand."
R. was the soldier who was thrown from the deck, as shown in the footage distributed by the IDF. "I was in front of a number of people with knives and clubs. I cocked my weapon when I saw that one was coming towards me with a knife drawn and I fired once. Then another 20 people came at me from all directions and threw me down to the deck below."
"Then I felt a stabbing in my stomach. It was a knife. I got the knife out, then somehow got down to the lower deck where there were more people. This was when the soldiers had got control of all the boat except the lower deck. Me and another soldier managed to get to the deck, and we jumped into the water, from where our forces collected us. Another soldier who was beaten hard lost consciousness. Other soldiers covered him until we managed to get him out."
posted by GayandRight @ 12:32 PM
9 Comments:
Just how much of a misguided, naive fool do you have to be to try and defend Israels actions? Of course there was people trying to defend South Africa during the Apartheid years also? One day you may come to your senses and realise you are a dupe and be suitably embarassed by it.
Actually, I hope you come to your senses one way and realize that Apartheid South Africa has nothing to do with Israel.
I wouldn't have to defend israel if idiots like you actually supported the Palestinians and insist that they act like civilized people.
I went to your blog and you seem perplexed as to why Israel would have gone into Gaza....gee, thousands of rockets being fired for years don't seem to upset you.
There's only one responsible democracy in the middle east and that's Israel. Actually, thanks to the Americans, Iraq is now a democracy.
Ooops....there I go again...you probably would prefer Saddam Hussein to still be in power.
Maybe Israel and Apartheid are two different things, but Israel now and Israel 60-odd years ago are very similar:
The NY Times, "Echoes of Raid on 'Exodus' Ship in 1947
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/echoes-of-raid-on-exodus-ship-in-1947/?ref=middleeast
The parallels between then and now are staggering, only the 'victim' role has changed. I'm sure there's a Nietzsche quote or two that might apply to this situation...
You say `Maybe` Israel and Apartheid are two different things. That implies that you aren`t sure.
There is no apartheid in Israel. If you really want to see apartheid go to Saudi Arabia. It is illegal there to build a church or a synagogue...and my, they do know how to treat women.
The Exodus was full of holocaust survivors....the Gaza Flotilla was an assortment of idiotic leftists, and dangerous jihadists.
What an odious comparison!
You wouldn't have to defend Israel if you were not such a gullible idiot. Defending a brutal regime that kills unarmed civilians and then tries to blame them for it. Well done you, your parents must be proud.
Insults...that's all you know how to throw.
you didn't even have the courtesy of replying to my reply to your comment!
How typical.
Israel did not kill unarmed civilians, and the videos prove it. The so-called 'civilians' were waiting with metal rods to beat the Israelis...who came with paintball guns.
Can you at least get your facts right before you start your insults.
Dealing with facts are we? Paintball guns yes as well as stun grenades, pistols and tasers as reported by the German politician on the boat on the news today. Sounds like they were armed up for a battle to me.
Yes, they were armed for a battle they didn't believe would happen. And, it didn't on 5 other ships. There were no incidents on those ships - and why? Well, those people didn't attack the Israelis.
I have posted the videos for you to see. it clearly shows the planning by the so-called 'peaceful' activists preparing to fight, and then, in fact, attacking the Israelis.
It is all there for you to see.
One last comment:
(from an article by Alan Dershowitz)
at Israel's rules of engagement required its soldiers to fire only paintballs unless their lives were in danger.
Would any country in the world deny its soldiers the right of self defense under comparable circumstances?
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