Fatima Mohammadi, aboard the Mavi Marmara, describes first hand her accounts of the initial approach of the IDF and later the use of such excessive violence that resulted in loss of life. She points out that there were already two casualties on the boat before the commandos boarded the boat. As the Mavi Marmara announced over and over that there were wounded people on board, the IDF ignored this and did not respond but continued to use force and fire on the crew members. The devastation and horror described is a full on military assault carried out on humanitarian workers.
“Israel is not just sending a clear message that we don’t want you back and we don’t want you to run another convoy, but this is an intensely strategic way of keeping anybody out of Gaza to see that over the past year and a half since the massacre, and especially since the siege began, that this society and the economy and the people and the livelihood of the people there are in such a poor state that Israel does not want anybody else to see it and they need to maintain that power and that control over this entire area to not allow for change to happen and this convoy challenged that.”
(Via Cultures of Resistance )
Israel seizes another Gaza-bound Aid Boat. Passengers who were aboard the Mavi Marmara continue to provide new accounts of the Israeli assault. Some are now claiming they discovered a list of people the Israeli military intended to assassinate during their raid on the ship. Israeli Navy kills four off coast of Gaza. Tristan Anderson returns home to California and the US embassy is demanding an investigation into the Israeli military’s shooting of another US citizen. The legendary alternative rock group the Pixies have cancelled scheduled concerts in Israel. These stories and more.
(Via Democracy Now!)
As the MV Rachel Corrie, the last boat in the Free Gaza Movement’s Flotilla, is being dragged to Israel’s Ashdod port after being boarded and taken over in the early hours of Saturday, Israel continues to react to its Flotilla attack. Protests have been taking place throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories. In the meantime, The Real News’ Lia Tarachansky investigates how Israel prepared for the Flotilla attack, and how the media repeatedly portrayed a connection between the activists and terrorism. After the attack, Israel went on the offensive to prove there was indeed a connection to terrorism. The IDF published a press release saying the activists on board the Mavi Marmara ship that was the site of at least 9 deaths on Monday morning were actually al Qaeda mercenaries. When Tarachansky and journalist Max Blumenthaul questioned the IDF for evidence of this allegation, the IDF said it didn’t have any and changed the title of the press release to “attackers of the IDF soldiers found without identification papers.”
Israeli troops have boarded another aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip. However, unlike the deadly confrontation on when Israeli troops stormed the Mavi Maramara aid boat earlier this week, killing seven people, there was no violence. The crew aboard the Irish aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, surrendered quietly on Saturday. Israeli forces boarded the ship, and escorted it into port, where the aid will be processed.
(Via Al Jazeera)
Edward Peck is the former chief of mission in Iraq and served as deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan administration. Peck was on board one of the ships in the Gaza convoy that was attacked by Israeli forces.
(Via Free Speech Radio News)
At roughly 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning Israeli navy and air force troops intercepted a convoy of six ships that attempted to deliver 10,000 tons of aid to the besieged Gaza strip. The convoy, known as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was inspected by several governments and was a highly publicized action. Israeli officials warned the ships they will not be allowed to reach Gaza’s shores, when the ships attempted to do so in order to break the siege on Gaza, the Israeli army attacked them, leaving 20 international activists dead and dozens injured. Hundreds are currently in Israeli jails. The Real News’ Lia Tarachansky investigates what Israeli officials and Israeli media have been reporting about this attack.
(Via The Real News Network)
On Monday, Israeli commandos boarded ships in the “Freedom Flotilla” attempting to bring humanitarian aid to residents of still-blockaded Gaza. The aggressive response by Israel turned deadly, with at least nine activists killed. The international community has reacted with shock and outrage; protests have erupted around the world outside Israeli embassies, with protesters even teargassed in Paris. Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a long awaited meeting surrounding peace talks with President Obama and headed back to Israel to do damage control, and Turkey, from where the flotilla departed, has recalled its ambassador and issued a travel warning to its citizens.
Huwaida Arraf was on one of the ships; she joins us via phone from Ramallah, along with Norman Finkelstein, to tell us what happened to her and offer some analysis on the situation.
(Via GRITtv)
The reported killing of at least 10 people by Israeli forces during a raid on ships seeking to break the Israeli and Egyptian blockade on the Palestinian Gaza Strip has provoked public and diplomatic anger from Turkey, which has recalled its ambassador to Israel.
(Via Voice of America News)
A flotilla of aid ships heading to the Gaza Strip has been delayed for another day. The ships are now in the Mediterranean Sea, near Cyprus, with hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on board. They are waiting for some European politicians to join them. There are also reports that the Cypriot authorities are preventing the politicians from leaving land to join the ships further out to sea. Mohamed Vall has been hearing why the campaigners are so determined (29 June, 2010).
(Via Al Jazeera)
Ghassan Bannoura interviews Audrey Bomse, the legal Advisor of the Free Gaza flotilla, giving PNN the latest updates from the group media office in the Greek part of Cyprus.
(Via Palestine News Network)