Merged Israel Attacks Palestinian Aid Flotilla, According To Reports

[applecorped]

By definition anything that calls attention to the humanitarian crisis in any way will humiliate Israel for the simple reason that any regime engaged in criminal activity does not like to be exposed and have its pristine image tarnished with blood on its hands.

Pristine image?

 

[Thunder]

Sorry, I'll fix that.

um..the quote may not be factually correct. but knowing his attitude it might as well be.

 

[One Skunk Todd]

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11305.shtml

photo of IDF soldier on the boat, holding a shotgun or rifle. meanwhile, the IDF claims they only had pistols.

Still slogging through all the posts so I'm not sure this has been addressed. I'm pretty sure that's a tear gas launcher. Shoots a canister pretty forcefully and possibly even lethal at close range if it hit you in the head or something, but not nearly as dangerous as a rifle or shotgun.

 

[Danmotron]

To Israel, terrorist population of gaza = the government of gaza. They aren't wrong, either.

Do you have any inkling of what life is like for the average Palestinians at the hands of Israel, and do you think it was any better for them before Hamas took power?

 

[One Skunk Todd]

Whatever it is he is wielding they back off smartish. Although the soldier beside him seems to be brandishing a small arms weapon. The crew do physically attack the soldiers but I don't see any of them with guns. It is more like a pub brawl. So what happens next that resulted in so many dead?

I think military and law enforcement have access to special purpose paintballs, filled with pepper spray/tear gas in jellied form. Plus even paint filled paintballs sting pretty good, enough to make me back up anyway. Also, it was dark and somebody was pointing something and shooting, I'd probably back up too.

 

[Danmotron]

Pristine image?

The one that regimes engaged in criminality want to project, but simply isnt reflective of reality. :\

 

[applecorped]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100601/D9G2GHNG0.html

"[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]JERUSALEM (AP) - Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a botched raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists."

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
[/FONT]

 

[Danmotron]

bringing food and supplies to Gaza= supporting terrorism against Israel.

As a side note the reason that this is being done is because putting the food and aid through the 'regular channels' basically ensures it almost never gets to anyone and stays in bureaucratic stasis. Getting it there directly is being attempted as a last resort because this is a huge crisis and people are dying.

 

[Thunder]

Lets remember that pistols fire bullets, and bullets kill people very quickly.

Israel was armed to kill.

 

[applecorped]

The one that regimes engaged in criminality want to project, but simply isnt reflective of reality. :\

I guess the projection isn't working to well.

 

[Pardalis]

Funny, Danmotron, how you dismissed completely the link and the point Bigjelmapro was making in the post you intentionally misquoted.

You think nobody noticed?

 

[carlitos]

As a side not the reason that this is being done is because putting the food and aid through the 'regular channels' basically ensures it almost never gets to anyone and stays in bureaucratic stasis. Getting it there directly is being attempted as a last resort because this is a huge crisis and people are dying.

Why is that?

 

[Thunder]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100601/D9G2GHNG0.html

"[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]JERUSALEM (AP) - Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a botched raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists."[/FONT]

what's Israel gonna use this time.....flame throwers and machine guns?

 

[Danmotron]

I guess the projection isn't working to well.

Among western right-wingers it seems to be working rather well. There was some blithering idiot on TV calling the aid workers terrorists and 'israel has every right to defend itself.' With illegal naval blockades and illegal murderous commando night-raids? Oh, right.

 

[a_unique_person]

On my FB page, I'm directly connected with numerous Libertarians, born-again Christian Republicans, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Atheists, homosexuals, transsexuals, and even a couple of Israelis.

One can only imagine what "Skeptic" would make of that.

You want us all to be transsexuals?

 

[applecorped]

Among western right-wingers it seems to be working rather well. There was some blithering idiot on TV calling the aid workers terrorists and 'israel has every right to defend itself.' With illegal naval blockades and illegal murderous commando night-raids? Oh, right.

Who was this blithering idiot?

 

[DC]

 

[Danmotron]

Why is that?

They don't need a reason. They keep blocking aid arbitrarily. A regime engaged in criminality doesn't need a rational reason.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-...eli-blockades-effects-palestinians-2010-06-01

Suffocating Gaza - the Israeli blockade's effects on Palestinians
More than half of the population in Gaza are children

1 June 2010

Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide.

Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law.

Closed borders
Since the blockade of Gaza was imposed in June 2007, the five Israeli-controlled crossings between Gaza and Israel or the West Bank have been kept closed.

The one other land crossing at Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, is controlled by the Egyptian authorities and kept shut most of the time. The closures prevent the movement of Palestinians into and out of Gaza in all but a handful of cases, generally in exceptional humanitarian cases.

Basic goods
The blockade prohibits most exports and restricts the entry of basic goods, including food and fuel. Much of the available food is provided by the UN and other aid agencies, or smuggled in through tunnels running under the Egypt-Gaza border and then sold on at exorbitantly high prices to Gaza’s beleaguered residents.

The situation has been made worse by the Egyptian government’s construction of a steel wall along the border at Rafah to disrupt the cross-border smuggling that has become Gaza’s lifeline and the bombing of tunnels by the Israeli airforce

Economic collapse
Rather than targeting armed groups, the blockade mainly hits the most vulnerable groups, such as children (who make up more than half of the population in Gaza), the elderly, the sick and the Gaza Strip's large refugee population.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the number of refugees living in abject poverty in the Gaza Strip has tripled since the blockade began. These families lack the means to purchase even the most basic items, including soap, school materials and clean drinking water. According to the UN, more than 60 per cent of households are currently "food insecure".

Lack of facilities
There are worsening problems with the supply of electricity in the Gaza Strip, with many residents enduring 8-12 hours of power cuts each day. There are also recurrent shortages of cooking gas, requiring the implementation of a rationing scheme in which hospitals and bakeries are prioritised.

Aid blocked
While Israel allows some humanitarian supplies from international aid agencies into Gaza, these are strictly limited and frequently delayed. UN agencies have said that additional storage and transportation costs incurred from delays due to the blockade totalled around $5 million in 2009.

Health
Gaza's health sector has been plagued by shortages in equipment and medical supplies during the blockade.

Following the Israeli closure of crossings, people with medical conditions that cannot be treated in Gaza have been required to apply for permits to leave the territory to receive treatment in either foreign hospitals or Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank.

The Israeli authorities frequently delay or refuse these permits; some Gazans have died while waiting to obtain permits to leave the territory for medical treatment elsewhere.

World Health Organization (WHO) trucks of medical equipment bound for Gazan hospitals have repeatedly been turned away, without explanation, by Israeli border officials.

The Gaza conflict
From 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, Gaza was subjected to a devastating Israeli military offensive – Operation “Cast Lead” – which Israel said it carried out to stop Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel.

More then 1,380 Palestinians were killed, including more than 300 children and other civilians, and thousands were injured. Many thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged, as were the electricity and water systems. Civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, were also damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.

Operation “Cast Lead” pushed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to catastrophic levels. Since it concluded, the blockade has severely hampered or prevented reconstruction efforts. With many construction materials barred or limited by Israel, Gaza’s inhabitants are unable to rebuild their shattered lives.

Continued violence
In November 2009, Hamas declared a unilateral cessation of rocket fire, although this has since been breached on several occasions by members of Palestinian armed groups.

Since the ceasefire following Operation “Cast Lead” in January 2009, one person in southern Israel has been killed by mortars and rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups.

Israeli military forces, meanwhile, have conducted regular raids into Gaza and have continued to bomb the tunnels under the border at Rafah used for smuggling between Gaza and Egypt. In the year following Operation “Cast Lead”, 71 Palestinians were killed and 130 injured in the Gaza tunnels from tunnel collapse, accidents or airstrikes.

Israeli soldiers also continue to shoot at Palestinian farmers, fishermen and other civilians when they venture near Gaza’s perimeter or approach the three nautical mile limit that Israel imposes on Gaza’s coastline causing deaths and injuries.

Collective punishment
The Israeli authorities have put forward a range of justifications for the blockade - saying variously that it is a response to attacks from Palestinian armed groups, a reaction to the continued holding of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and a means to pressure the Hamas de facto administration.

But whatever its stated justification, the blockade is collectively punishing the entire population of Gaza, the majority of whom are children, rather than targeting the Hamas administration or armed groups.

 

[Taarkin]

This is untrue. The soldiers boarded the boat as they did with all the other in order to pilot it to the appropriate port and route the aid correctly,

The ships were already on their way to deliver aid.

It's dishonest to say that boarding the boat was an attack and the violence by the peace activists was a defense,

Storming a ship with commandos in international waters is unambiguously an "attack".

just like you can't kill a cop that comes to arrest you and then claim you were just fighting back an attack.

You are allowed to fight back if a cop breaks into your house at night to rape your wife.

 

[Danmotron]

Who was this blithering idiot?

A woman, and it was on CNN. This was earlier today. I don't remember who but she came across a shill. You can probably find a video of her if you look on the CNN videos section.