Israel kills at least 10 aid workers trying to deliver supplies to Palestinians
Options
kingblaze84
Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=28979
Israeli security forces have gone on nation-wide alert to head off demonstrations, potential rocket attacks and general unrest in response to Israel's violent military assault on a flotilla of ships attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
Unconfirmed foreign reports said that 15 people on the boats were killed, including a prominent Israeli Muslim leader.
An Israel army spokesman confirmed that more than 10 civilian activists on the ships were killed and scores injured as Israeli commandos took over the vessels before dawn Monday after they had refused Israeli demands that they divert their 10,000 tons of supplies to an Israeli port for relay to Gaza.
Israeli army Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Avi Beneyahu said that forces along Israel’s border were on alert against possible rocket attacks from Lebanon and Gaza, as well as potential violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israel Police have begun deploying across the country, particularly in areas of Israeli Arab towns, to head off potential rioting by sympathizers with the flotilla.
“Police are deploying in areas across the country in order to prevent disturbances from taking place,” said Mickey Rosenfeld, spokesman for Israel Police.
The commandos assaulted the boats, climbing aboard from rafts and dropping from helicopters.
The army said the activists attacked soldiers with knifes, clubs and a rifle snatched from an Israeli commando, injuring four Israeli servicemen. The injured were all being transported to Israel for treatment.
“Every serviceman encountered violent reaction," Beneyahu said. "Let’s say they didn’t look like peace activists.”
Beneyahu said that some of the activists on the boats had locked themselves inside rooms and that the naval commandos had not yet completely taken over the vessels. He said the incident took place 80 nautical miles off Israel’s coast.
“We don’t want to cause any more violence at sea,” Beneyahu told Israel Radio. “This is not humanitarian aid by peace activists, but rather a violent media provocation directed against our forces and which is aimed at embarrassing the government of Israel, which much defend itself against the terrorist Hamas movement controlling Gaza.”
“The army received orders not to allow in this amount of ships and equipment and people, of whom we have no identifying information information, and what they are trying to smuggle into Gaza and to halt them at sea,” Beneyahu said.
There were unconfirmed rumors that Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, had been killed during the Israeli takeover of the boats.
"I spoke to a Norwegian man on the ship who told me that he was critically injured but then the call cut," reported Omar Ghraieb, The Media Line's Gaza correspondent. "So for now we can assume that the sheikh is critically injured but we do not have confirmation as to his current status."
"People are heading to the Gaza port and preparing a huge demonstration to protest what has happened," Ghraieb said. "People are raising flags there and 100 fish boats are planning to sail into the sea to show solidarity."
Fawzi Barhum, a Hamas spokesperson, warned that should Sheikh Salah have been killed, Hamas would view it as an intentional assassination.
"At this point we don't know the reality of what happened to Sheikh Salah," he told The Media Line. "But if such a programmed assassination happened, we consider it a real violent crime committed by the occupation in order to establish their violent racism against the Palestinians. We condemn this crime and call on the Palestinian Authority to cut all relations with the occupation."
"All of Gaza's people are taking to the streets and to the mosques," he said. "We need immediate attention from the world to support Gaza to support the Palestinians."
The incident has strained relations between Israel and Turkey, which has supported the attempt by a flotilla of six ships to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, in place since the June 2007 Hamas takeover of the coastal strip.
In Istanbul, protesters were attempting to storm the Israeli consulate and in Tel Aviv, demonstrators were planning a counter protest in front of the Turkish embassy later Monday.
A group of Israeli activists were planning a solidarity rally at the Ashdod port's Gate 1.
"We don't know what kind of resistance there was on the boats - clearly there was - but to respond with deadly force to people with sticks and knifes is a form of piracy," Ya'acov Manor, the protest's organizer told The Media Line. "There was simply no need in the first place to send Israeli forces onto these ships and at this most important time we want to show solidarity so we are trying to center ourselves in a place where the ships can see us or our signs as they come into port."
Three Israeli navy missile boats left the Haifa naval base just after 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, planning to intercept the flotilla of ships sailing toward Gaza with pro-Palestinian activists and 10,000 tons of supplies. Reporters on board were told to turn off their cellular telephones just before the boats left the naval base.
Israeli security forces have gone on nation-wide alert to head off demonstrations, potential rocket attacks and general unrest in response to Israel's violent military assault on a flotilla of ships attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
Unconfirmed foreign reports said that 15 people on the boats were killed, including a prominent Israeli Muslim leader.
An Israel army spokesman confirmed that more than 10 civilian activists on the ships were killed and scores injured as Israeli commandos took over the vessels before dawn Monday after they had refused Israeli demands that they divert their 10,000 tons of supplies to an Israeli port for relay to Gaza.
Israeli army Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Avi Beneyahu said that forces along Israel’s border were on alert against possible rocket attacks from Lebanon and Gaza, as well as potential violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israel Police have begun deploying across the country, particularly in areas of Israeli Arab towns, to head off potential rioting by sympathizers with the flotilla.
“Police are deploying in areas across the country in order to prevent disturbances from taking place,” said Mickey Rosenfeld, spokesman for Israel Police.
The commandos assaulted the boats, climbing aboard from rafts and dropping from helicopters.
The army said the activists attacked soldiers with knifes, clubs and a rifle snatched from an Israeli commando, injuring four Israeli servicemen. The injured were all being transported to Israel for treatment.
“Every serviceman encountered violent reaction," Beneyahu said. "Let’s say they didn’t look like peace activists.”
Beneyahu said that some of the activists on the boats had locked themselves inside rooms and that the naval commandos had not yet completely taken over the vessels. He said the incident took place 80 nautical miles off Israel’s coast.
“We don’t want to cause any more violence at sea,” Beneyahu told Israel Radio. “This is not humanitarian aid by peace activists, but rather a violent media provocation directed against our forces and which is aimed at embarrassing the government of Israel, which much defend itself against the terrorist Hamas movement controlling Gaza.”
“The army received orders not to allow in this amount of ships and equipment and people, of whom we have no identifying information information, and what they are trying to smuggle into Gaza and to halt them at sea,” Beneyahu said.
There were unconfirmed rumors that Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, had been killed during the Israeli takeover of the boats.
"I spoke to a Norwegian man on the ship who told me that he was critically injured but then the call cut," reported Omar Ghraieb, The Media Line's Gaza correspondent. "So for now we can assume that the sheikh is critically injured but we do not have confirmation as to his current status."
"People are heading to the Gaza port and preparing a huge demonstration to protest what has happened," Ghraieb said. "People are raising flags there and 100 fish boats are planning to sail into the sea to show solidarity."
Fawzi Barhum, a Hamas spokesperson, warned that should Sheikh Salah have been killed, Hamas would view it as an intentional assassination.
"At this point we don't know the reality of what happened to Sheikh Salah," he told The Media Line. "But if such a programmed assassination happened, we consider it a real violent crime committed by the occupation in order to establish their violent racism against the Palestinians. We condemn this crime and call on the Palestinian Authority to cut all relations with the occupation."
"All of Gaza's people are taking to the streets and to the mosques," he said. "We need immediate attention from the world to support Gaza to support the Palestinians."
The incident has strained relations between Israel and Turkey, which has supported the attempt by a flotilla of six ships to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, in place since the June 2007 Hamas takeover of the coastal strip.
In Istanbul, protesters were attempting to storm the Israeli consulate and in Tel Aviv, demonstrators were planning a counter protest in front of the Turkish embassy later Monday.
A group of Israeli activists were planning a solidarity rally at the Ashdod port's Gate 1.
"We don't know what kind of resistance there was on the boats - clearly there was - but to respond with deadly force to people with sticks and knifes is a form of piracy," Ya'acov Manor, the protest's organizer told The Media Line. "There was simply no need in the first place to send Israeli forces onto these ships and at this most important time we want to show solidarity so we are trying to center ourselves in a place where the ships can see us or our signs as they come into port."
Three Israeli navy missile boats left the Haifa naval base just after 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, planning to intercept the flotilla of ships sailing toward Gaza with pro-Palestinian activists and 10,000 tons of supplies. Reporters on board were told to turn off their cellular telephones just before the boats left the naval base.
Comments
-
I'm pretty sure our corrupt American government will cover for Israel, as usual. Obama will tongue lash the president of Israel when he arrives in Washington, DC but for some reason, I doubt the USA will be mad for long. What a shame America continues to support the apartheid loving govt of Israel.
Reason 1,911 why the Arab world hates America and Israel. -
Gallup Poll. Feb. 1-3, 2010. N=1,025 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4.
"In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?"
Israel - 63%
Palestinians - 15%
Both - 3%
Neither - 12%
Unsure - 8%
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 19-21, 2010. N=1,030 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"Do you consider Israel an ally of the United States, friendly but not an ally, unfriendly towards the U.S., or an enemy of the United States?"
Ally - 39%
Friendly - 41%
Unfriendly - 12%
Enemy - 5%
Unsure - 4%
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Jan. 12-15, 2009. N=1,245 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?"
Israelis - 60%
Palestians - 17%
Both - 5%
Neither - 15%
Unsure - 4%
"Do you think Israel was justified or unjustified in taking military action against Hamas and the Palestinians in the area known as Gaza?"
Justified - 63%
Unjustified - 31%
Unsure - 6%
"And do you think the amount of military force that Israel has used in Gaza has been too much, too little, or about right?"
Too Much - 38%
Too Little - 14%
About Right - 43%
Unsure - 5%
source - http://www.pollingreport.com/israel.htm
Note that with the Gallup "sympathy" poll, Israel's numbers used to be in the 40s back in 2000 -
Amazing poll numbers, considering that in the rest of the world, Israel has a very low approval rating. The BBC has a new poll that shows worldwide approval ratings for Israel is around 25%. I wonder what Israel's poll numbers are in the Middle East......too bad the media here in America is so allied with Israel.
-
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=128431§ionid=351020202
It's now 20 dead. Damn, so Israel is killing aid workers now?? Shame on them. I've known for awhile now that Israel is a terrorist, apartheid loving regime, but this is some ? -style ? we got right now. Too bad their protected by the biggest gangsters on the planet, the United States government. -
kingblaze84 wrote: »It's now 20 dead. Damn, so Israel is killing aid workers now??
LOL RACHEL CORRIEkingblaze84 wrote: »Shame on them. I've known for awhile now that Israel is a terrorist, apartheid loving regime, but this is some ? -style ? we got right now. Too bad their protected by the biggest gangsters on the planet, the United States government.
You need countries like America.
You need countries like America so you can point your ? ' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So...what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. America don't have that problem. America, always tell the truth. Even when they lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way! -
kingblaze84 wrote: »Yeah? What do you hear about China and the Diaz brothers? What about them? What about Gaspar Gomez? What is he gonna do when you start moving 2000 keys?
? CHINA!! AND ? THE ? DIAZ BROTHERS!!! ? 'EM ALL!!!! I BURY THOSE COCKAROACHES!!!!!!
*goes back to droppin a trillion a year on "defense"*
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Z8g__x6ExM8[/video] -
Norman stay telling it like it is. -
our tax dollars hard at work. -
unacceptable -
-
-
turks have got to respect israel's gangsta.
israel could care less about its public image at this point. -
israel just lost a neutral party in turkey.
-
I'm amazed that Israel STILL has such a high rate of approval in the US despite all the atrocities they are committing and all the international laws they are violating on a daily basis. Just last week, Israel refused to join works on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the rationale being that Israel needs nuclear arms to protect itself in a hostile environment. Without even getting into WHY that environment is hostile in the first place, who has ever attacked Israel on a large scale? Iran, the supposed threat, still has not proven that it has the nuclear weapon (unlike North Korea, but haven't heard many countries complaining about that fact), and has recently accepted to comply with some of the demands of the IAEA. Israel does not even acknowledge that it has the nuclear bomb, let alone cooperate with the international control bodies. Make no mistake, Israel was the one who attacked military facilities in Iraq, with "proof" that they were being used to develop nuclear weapons. (now, replace "Israel" with "the US" and "nuclear weapons" with "WMDs". Sounds familiar?). So obviously, as long as Israel feels that big brother doesn't mind about trampling human rights ( see Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo...), why should Israel? But again, I'm am not in the least surprised that the US as a country officially stands behind Israel (money, geopolitics and influence explain a lot), but the fact that the POPULATION does too is truly intriguing to me. What kind of information are you getting over there? Whats the logic? "Oh they killed 15 Palestinian children by bombing a school, but it was SELF-DEFENSE after two Israelis were injured by hand-made rockets" ? Now don't get me wrong EU governments generally are behind Israel too (some more, some less), but most of the population is against it. I'm not even Pro-Palestinian like that (got to be two to tangle), but this is reaching apartheid proportions. ? they're not even content on killing Palestinians, they out in INTERNATIONAL waters attacking and killing nationals of "allied countries" (Turkey especially). This is beyond everything.
-
I'm amazed that Israel STILL has such a high rate of approval in the US despite all the atrocities they are committing and all the international laws they are violating on a daily basis.
It's called the BIBLE.
Revelations got Americans shook. -
? ISRAEL... yeah I said it
-
An American solidarity activist was shot in the face with a tear gas canister during a demonstration in Qalandiya, today. Emily Henochowicz is currently in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem undergoing surgery to remove her left eye, following the demonstration that was held in protest to Israel’s murder of at least 10 civilians aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters this morning.
21-year old Emily Henochowicz was hit in the face with a tear gas projectile fired directly at her by an Israeli soldier during the demonstration at Qalandiya checkpoint today.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/31/871762/-Breaking:-Israel-shoots-young-American-Peace-Activist,-she-Loses-Eye... -
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced regret as he cut short a visit to Canada and rang Obama to call off a White House meeting that had been planned for Tuesday.
He said his forces had been attacked: "They were mobbed, they were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed, there was even a report of gunfire. And our soldiers had to defend themselves." (gtfoh, sounds like the police department after a cop murks a ? )
For all his regret, he vowed to maintain a three-year-old embargo to stop Iranian-backed Hamas from bringing arms to Gaza.
Back home, questions were asked about how an operation that aimed to avoid bloodshed had gone so badly and publicly wrong.
The White House meeting had seemed intended to soothe ties with Obama, which have been strained by differences over Jewish settlement construction that delayed the recent revival of peace talks with the Palestinians. But Obama must also balance support for Israel, which is popular with American voters, with understanding for an angry Turkey and other Muslim U.S. allies.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "What Israel has committed on board the Freedom Flotilla was a massacre." -
"Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences."
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/turkey-threatens-action-israel-on-alert/116743-2.html?from=tn
oh ?
hold on to ya hats -
The pieces continue to fall into place. The days are numbered.
-
DoUwant2go2Heaven? wrote: »The pieces continue to fall into place. The days are numbered.
right, I forgot that you will support anything Israel does because you're a Christian Zionist who expects the Anti-Christ to start building the 3rd Temple any day now
so even if Israel does something that is clearly heavy-handed at best and malevolent at worst, its ok. Anything that Israel does is just.
"There is a word in Yiddish, seichel, which means wisdom, but it also means more than that: It connotes ingenuity, creativity, subtlety, nuance. Jews have always needed seichel to survive in this world; a person in possession of a Yiddishe kop, a "Jewish head," is someone who has seichel, someone who looks for a clever way out of problems, someone who understands that the most direct way -- blunt force, for instance -- often represents the least elegant solution, a person who can foresee consequences of his actions.
I don't know yet exactly what happened at sea when a group of Israeli commandos boarded a ship packed with not-exactly-Gandhi-like anti-Israel protesters. I learned from the Second Intifada (specifically, the story of the non-massacre at Jenin) not to rush to judgment without a full set of facts (yes, I know what you are thinking: So why have a blog?). I'm trying to figure out this story for myself. But I will say this: What I know already makes me worried for the future of Israel, a worry I feel in a deeper way than I think I have ever felt before. The Jewish people have survived this long in part because of the vision of their leaders, men and women who were able to intuit what was possible and what was impossible. Where is this vision today? Israel may face, in the coming year, a threat to its existence the likes of which it has not experienced before: A theologically-motivated regional superpower with a nuclear arsenal. It faces another existential threat as well, from forces arguing that Israel's morally disastrous settlement policy fatally undermines the very idea of a Jewish state. Is Israel ready to deploy seichel in these battles, rather than mere force?"
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/05/on-the-disappearance-of-jewish-wisdom-far-out-at-sea/57471/ -
Swiffness! wrote: »right, I forgot that you will support anything Israel does because you're a Christian Zionist who expects the Anti-Christ to start building the 3rd Temple any day now
so even if Israel does something that is clearly heavy-handed at best and malevolent at worst, its ok. Anything that Israel does is just.
"There is a word in Yiddish, seichel, which means wisdom, but it also means more than that: It connotes ingenuity, creativity, subtlety, nuance. Jews have always needed seichel to survive in this world; a person in possession of a Yiddishe kop, a "Jewish head," is someone who has seichel, someone who looks for a clever way out of problems, someone who understands that the most direct way -- blunt force, for instance -- often represents the least elegant solution, a person who can foresee consequences of his actions.
I don't know yet exactly what happened at sea when a group of Israeli commandos boarded a ship packed with not-exactly-Gandhi-like anti-Israel protesters. I learned from the Second Intifada (specifically, the story of the non-massacre at Jenin) not to rush to judgment without a full set of facts (yes, I know what you are thinking: So why have a blog?). I'm trying to figure out this story for myself. But I will say this: What I know already makes me worried for the future of Israel, a worry I feel in a deeper way than I think I have ever felt before. The Jewish people have survived this long in part because of the vision of their leaders, men and women who were able to intuit what was possible and what was impossible. Where is this vision today? Israel may face, in the coming year, a threat to its existence the likes of which it has not experienced before: A theologically-motivated regional superpower with a nuclear arsenal. It faces another existential threat as well, from forces arguing that Israel's morally disastrous settlement policy fatally undermines the very idea of a Jewish state. Is Israel ready to deploy seichel in these battles, rather than mere force?"
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/05/on-the-disappearance-of-jewish-wisdom-far-out-at-sea/57471/
I never stated that everything Israel does is just. I stated that the pieces are falling into place. After Israel became a nation again in 1948, ? declared "2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3)
I could go a lot more in depth, but people like you (who say they are christian, but totally deny what scripture says) will think nothing of it. Thats why Jesus Christ said, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." -
DoUwant2go2Heaven? wrote: »(who say they are christian, but totally deny what scripture says)
Ouch. When did I ever say that. Take your straw man elsewhere.
You stay hatin on the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Calvinist denominations that reject the pre-tribulation rapture invented by John Nelson Darby in 1827. These perfectly valid churches reject that interpretation because they find its biblical foundation weak, as do I. And again - invented in 1827. 1,800 years of Christianity that was rapture-free. Apparently apocalyptic fervor, Hal Lindsay rants, and Left Behind books trump 1,800 years of established Christian theology.
Keep staring at the sky waitin for the trumpets to sound, DoU. I'd rather concern myself with the "rapture" I might face tomorrow, for tomorrow I shall die if The Lord wills it. -
Swiffness! wrote: »"Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences."
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/turkey-threatens-action-israel-on-alert/116743-2.html?from=tn
oh ?
hold on to ya hats
they might not respect israel's gangsta after all. isn't turkey a part of NATO too. -
Swiffness! wrote: »Ouch. When did I ever say that. Take your straw man elsewhere.
You stay hatin on the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Calvinist denominations that reject the pre-tribulation rapture invented by John Nelson Darby in 1827. These perfectly valid churches reject that interpretation because they find its biblical foundation weak, as do I. And again - invented in 1827. 1,800 years of Christianity that was rapture-free. Apparently apocalyptic fervor, Hal Lindsay rants, and Left Behind books trump 1,800 years of established Christian theology.
Keep staring at the sky waitin for the trumpets to sound, DoU. I'd concern myself with the "rapture" I might face tomorrow, for tomorrow I shall die if The Lord wills it.
"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased...... And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? 9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Daniel 12:4,8-10
I underlined the key words which explain why there has been an increase of knowledge about the end times. The rapture is clearly taught in the word of ? my brother. But instead of sowing discord I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal His truth to you. Seek and ye shall find my brother in Christ.
You should be awaiting the coming of our Lord too Mr. Swiffness. Jesus Christ told us to do just that, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5drXEXkf9s
