A diplomatic storm has erupted in the Middle East overnight, after the Israeli navy boarded a Turkish ship trying to break the Gaza blockade. At least 10 people have died in the clashes – Israel government claims 10, Israeli television claims 19 – with Israel commandos claiming they were defending themselves after they were attacked by the ship’s passengers.
In a statement released overnight, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu (flying home from the US, skipping his scheduled meeting with Obama tonight) defended the Israeli operation, saying troops were attacked when they landed on the largest of the six ships in the flotilla. “They were mobbed. They were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed,” he said.
The organisers of the flotilla have denied any threatening behaviour, claiming that the convoy was a peaceful operation aimed at providing aid to the ravaged region. “I don’t know anything about the knives and axes or anything,” said Audrey Bomse, Free Gaza Movement’s legal coordinator. “There is absolutely no evidence of live fire. You see this live streaming on the Turkish ship, you see the Israeli helicopters shooting. There’s no evidence of fire passing them.”
The big Australian angle – which of course all Australian media jumped on board – is that Fairfax journo Paul McGeough and photographer Kate Geraghty were on board one of the flotilla boats. After setting the Aussie journo twittersphere abuzz yesterday afternoon with worry, it’s understood they have both been taken into an Israeli detention centre.
McGeough’s final reports can be seen here. Also, an unidentified Australian man was shot in the leg.
The BBC and Al-Jazeera are live-blogging the aftermath of the attack:
Twitter was quick to react, although there was concern that the #flotilla hashtag was being censored, since it started to trend then disappeared due to a glitch. The Guardian explains the Twitter hashtag freakout: “Many users began the morning by tagging their comments about it with “#flotilla” — a ‘hashtag’ which gives a structure to a discussion or emerging event, as you can filter searches in applications such as Tweetdeck so that you only see those with that tag. But at around 11am, as #flotilla began ‘trending’ — rising to the topmost-used hashtags on the service — it seemed to vanish. Was this censorship by Twitter?”
Not so much… “Sean Garrett, who handles communications for Twitter, tweeted this morning to say that ‘We are investigating a technical issue that caused search errors for a short period of time this morning. Twitter facilitates the open exchange of info & opinions — when that is hampered by a bug, we take it very seriously’. The bug has now been fixed, Twitter says.”
And The Guardian points out “it doesn’t, of course, help anyone on the convoy that was attacked. But getting information into public hands is a public good. Twitter is coming closer and closer to being viewed as a utility…”
The issue of censorship and getting information into public hands is also interesting in the context of the footage of the attack on the flotilla doing the rounds on YouTube (and appearing on the networks last night). It’s an interesting exercise in compare and contrast. Here’s some of the raw footage on YouTube (with the title taking a certain slant):
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB-Mk4bFz-U[/youtube]
And here’s a video from the Israel Defence Force:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLrX7fznVgI[/youtube]
The international media is providing extensive of coverage of the incident. Turkey is infuriated:
And so the next chapter in this saga is how the clash will impact on Israel’s diplomatic ties and how it handles it from here.
Reuters:
Cynthia Johnston: Israel flotilla action criticized by friends and foes
“Israel’s storming of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla set off a diplomatic furor, drawing criticism from friends and foes alike and straining ties with regional ally Turkey, which called off planned joint military exercises.”
AP:
Edith M. Lederer: Arabs demand independent probe of Israeli raid
“The Palestinians and Arabs, backed by a number of council members, also called for Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza, immediately release the ships and humanitarian activists, and allow them to deliver their goods.”
Karin Laub and Matthew Lee: Analysis: High-seas raid deepens Israeli isolation
“And while Israel had hoped to defend its tight blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza with Monday’s high-seas raid, it instead appeared to be hastening the embargo’s demise, judging by initial international condemnation.”
Ha’aretz:
Shlomo Shamir: UN Security Council members urge Israel to lift Gaza siege
“Members of the United Nations Security Council on Monday urged Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, in an emergency session to discuss the deadly Israel Navy raid on a convoy of international activists sailing to the coastal territory.”
New York Times:
Sabrina Tavernise: Raid Jeopardizes Turkey Relations
“The situation is difficult for the United States, which has close relations with both countries [Israel and Turkey] and is now in the awkward position of crafting a reaction that avoids alienating either side.”
The Times (UK):
James Hider: How the flotilla bound for Gaza Strip sailed into death at sea
“The shockwaves from the Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara passenger ferry were still reverberating around the world last night, as Israel scrambled to defend its battered reputation.”
Washington Post:
Glenn Kessler: Israeli assault complicates efforts to improve relationship with U.S.
“The worldwide condemnation of the deadly Israeli assault on the Gaza aid flotilla will complicate the Obama administration’s efforts to improve its tense relations with Jerusalem and likely will distract from the push to sanction Iran over its nuclear program.”
Time:
Joe Klein: The Israeli Attack
“First reaction: This is an insane use of disproportionate force. It is a product of the right-wing radicalization of the Israeli government… And it will further isolate Israel from the rest of the world.”
And weasel words (yet again) from Stephen Smith. He calls for an inquiry … even if it were true that there were a couple of handguns on board, how can he not condemn the savage response from the Israelis?
What would it take for Smith to condemn the Israeli government? Is there anything they might conceivably do that he would condemn?
Come on Crikey! President Netanyahu??? Please
The TERROR SHIP CHARADE is now the flovor of the month – next month it will be some other death-to-Israel show dressed up as a 3- hank job for the terrorist’s Pretend Pals. This time they came equipped with babies and a holocaust survivor on board to hide their real facade. They do this in the clear knowledge the world will have a field day of it.
The lessons of the Al Dura ‘FIX’ never changed anything – those posters of a youth elledged as shot by the IDF still make the billboards in Islamic states and Muslim women dress in so-called religious garb still chasnt Allah bless Hitler and also that the Holocaust was a lie.
This is a terror ship using media-smart weapons. If there is an investigation, it must focus only on a terror org sponsored by now-Islamisized Turkey, Hamas and the known anti-terrorist orgs now posing as a peace org.
Of course, this charade by Turkey, which just announced a nuclear charade with Iran, will rejoice of this well executed deflection. Why not expose these fronts – they have many pictorials with Hamas, an Islamic Brotherhood Nazi group heads, which they demand Israel negotiate with. What’s for encores?
I’m wondering how long Israel can hold the people on the ships. I’m sure they would like to do it as long as possible so they can get PR coverage without denial.
Gavin Mooney – I’m not worried about the weasel words more this belief that Israel would need to provide a credible investigation I mean Pleeeese like that would ever happen.
Islamic terror orgs behind peace ships – Israel acted legally:
quote: Foreign media and diplomats have begun to note the IDF videos of a brutal attack on Israeli Navy commandoes as they descended on one of the ships after the crew and passengers refused requests to change course and sail to Ashdod instead of Hamas. Under the Oslo Accords and agreements with the Palestinian Authority, Israel maintains sovereignty over the international waters off the Gaza coast.
“Direct (aid) delivery by sea is neither appropriate nor responsible under the circumstances,” said U.S. deputy permanent representative Alejandro Wolff. While European and Arab countries castigated Israel for the killing of nine Muslim extremists who attacked Navy commandoes, Wolff stated, “We are working to ascertain the facts [and] “we expect a credible and transparent investigation.”
Hamas has smuggled hundreds of tons of explosives, arms and ammunition, as well as terrorists, by land and sea, and Israel is determined to prevent further smuggling actions. Allowing boats to reach Gaza without inspection would give Hamas free passage to bring in advanced weapons, including long-range missiles.
Israel’s U.N. envoy Daniel Cameron stated Jerusalem’s position, backed up by IDF videos from a helicopter hovering over the flotilla, that “this flotilla was anything but a humanitarian mission. What kind of humanitarian activists demand to bypass the United Nations, the Red Cross, and other internationally recognized agencies? What kind of peace activists use knives, clubs and other weapons to attack soldiers who board a ship in accordance with international law?” he said.
Arab diplomats harped on Israel’s trying to inspect the ships in international waters, but legal experts have stated that Israel, like any other country, has the right to sail in international waters and stop foreign ships suspected of tying to reach its shores with suspicious cargo or people.
More: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137804