A brutal Ambush at Sea

by tikun | May 31, 2010 at 05:31 am

1023 views | 6 Recommendations | 13 comments

According to a reporter for ynetnews.com who was at the scene the following took place.

Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of ‘peace activists,’ and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter.

"Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.

"One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows."

"However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons."

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Barry ORegan

at 07:09 on May 31st, 2010

Certainly a disturbing turn of events

woompapa

at 07:51 on May 31st, 2010

The Israelis had more than just paintball rifles. There are reports of both sides being wounded by gunshots, and videos show soldiers with shotguns and Uzis, probably not loaded with paintballs.

Gogitch (not verified)

at 09:20 on May 31st, 2010

Why are there any soldiers at all boarding the ship?International law says humanitarian aids are subject of customs inspections, and not military.

t k kidwai

at 09:43 on May 31st, 2010

The question is:who cares for international law?The sole super power or its protege,Israel.If war criminals like Bush and Blair carry weight,international law is not more than a mockery of any law.

tikun

at 12:49 on May 31st, 2010

Hi Woompapa, They had paintball rifles and a holstered hand gun to be used only in emergency. They totally underestimated the response since the navy believed that there would only be passive resistance. They never even used stun grenades as they descended from the helicopters

@t.k kidwai,

International law is not so clear regarding the safe guarding of the territory of an impending event. According to Oslo Israel is within its right to stop anyone or anybody from entering Gaza by sea until a settlement is established.

“A Legitimate and Legal Operation

“IMRA [Independent Media Review and Analysis] asked Hebrew University international law expert Dr. Robbie Sabel about the legality of the IDF action in international waters.

“Dr. Sabel explained that a state, in a time of conflict, can impose an embargo, and while it cannot carry out embargo activities in the territorial waters of a third party, it can carry out embargo activities in international waters.

“Within this framework it is legal to detain a civilian vessel trying to break an embargo and if in the course of detaining the vessel, force is used against the forces carrying out the detention then that force has every right to act in self defense.

“Dr. Sabel noted that there is a long history of embargo activities in international waters.

“Indeed, according to the San Remo Manual that governs international humanitarian law, it is permissible under rule 67(a) to attack neutral vessels on the high seas when the vessels "are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse

theworldmayfinallysee... (not verified)

at 17:06 on May 31st, 2010

Either you sadly believe this..or you are just peddling more vile hasbara. Shame on you, but greater shame on the Israeli Knesset and the IDF. if ever there was a doubt, Israel is now a rogue state

hidflect

at 12:42 on May 31st, 2010

This was no PR mistake by Israel. They need a regional conflict and they need it now. The demographic time bomb is ticking and they will be a minority by 2050. The only option is "purge" which can only happen under the fog of war.

tikun

at 12:46 on May 31st, 2010

@hidflect, interesting. I am not quite sure we see the world as you believe we do. demographics is the least of the worries here at the moment or in the near future. a two state solution, hopefully sooner then later, will surely make your opinion irrelevant.

steve1 (not verified)

at 13:36 on May 31st, 2010

This reminds me of the attack on the USS Liberty ship in 1967.

Agnes 2 (not verified)

at 22:43 on May 31st, 2010

I don't know whether Israel was aware that the ship which was supplying the Arabs with Israeli troop movements and other secrets during the 1967 war when Israel was fighting for her survival, was an American Ship. Spying for the enemy is not what friends, or allies do.

steve1 (not verified)

at 13:39 on May 31st, 2010

Here's the link to the article. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

tikun

at 06:47 on June 1st, 2010

steve1, this is the same craziness that inspired conspiracy theories of the bored.

allenby (not verified)

at 11:14 on June 1st, 2010

humanitarian" "aid"...??!! ...hahaha...this wasn't NOT "humanitarian" at all. This ship and all others that follow are arab-islamic terrorists mixed with their sympatizers.This is a first class provocation planned from the beginning to the end by International Criminal organizations like Human "Rights" "watch" and the like.1....gaza does NOT need any "humanitarian" aid. 99.99% of all people, incl. reporters and media, have no idea what is gaza. gaza was a stinky garbage camp with sewage running across the streets. Before Israel took over control in gaza in June 1967 after a war initiated by ALL arab countries against Israel, Egyptians did absolutely NOTHING to improve lives there.Since June 1967 until Israel's withdrawal from gaza 10 years ago, arabs living there improved their lives not by 100%, not even by 500%, but by at least 2000%. MOST of "humanitarian" aid without exception goes into the pockets of Abass and his gangs members. Maybe 10% is used for humanitarian help. Arafat became a multi-millionair by milking UN and other "humanitarian" organizations, lying, cheating, stealing. Another point. There are no such people called "palestinians". 2...There was never a nation called "palestinians". Period. Palestine was called what is Israel today, for 2000 years, the name was given by romans. The only true Palestinians were those 10,000 Jews who lived in Palestine all 2000 years and few thousand arabs. Palestine was almost an empty land except of major town like Jerusalem, Hebron...where majority of population was Jewish all 2000 years and before of course. Arabs started to arrive with a first wave of Jewish immigration from east europe in the end of 19th c. These arabs came for jobs settled in Judea and Samaria. In 1964 they started calling themselves "palestinians", as Yasser Arafat named his terrorist organization PLO. 3...The true goal of this flotilla is to intimidate Israel, to provoke Israel. Too bad Israeli government is indeed so foolish today. If it was Menachem Begin, or Levi Eshkol, or Golda Meir, or a legendary Israeli diplomat Aba Eban...this would not only have never happened, these people would have been able to use this situation to Israel's advantage.4...Israeli politics today is not "politics" at all. The sociopathic Left controls the media, controls the army, betrays Zionism, and most of all likes to please and appease Israel's enemies like UN, HRW..and of course abass and his gangs. And the most interesting fact is support of the biggest arab lies of all, the existence of "palestinian" people. Zionism ideas are being betrayed every single day. All this reflects in Israel failures in politics and small scale military operations.