By JPOST.COM STAFF
06/02/2010 20:20
PM: "This was not a 'Love Boat', it was a hate boat."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night, made his first public statement to the nation after the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine activists dead and has wreaked havoc in the international media.
Speaking live to the nation, Netanyahu said, "The State of Israel faces an attack of international hypocrisy. This is not the first time we have faced this, two years ago we faced a massive attack of missiles fired by Hamas who hid behind civilians. Israel went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties but who did the UN condemn? It condemned Israel."
"Hamas continues to arm. Iran continues to send weapons to Gaza. Iran's rockets are intended to hit Israeli communities, not just in the vicinity of Gaza, but in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."
"It is our right according to International law to prevent arms smuggling to Gaza and that is why the naval blockade was put in place. The flotilla intended to break the blockade, not to bring in emergency supplies which we allow to reach Gaza"
"If the blockade had been broken, hundreds of ships would have followed, with a scale of smuggling far greater than that possible in the tunnels. Two ships stopped in the last years -Francop and Karine-A - had hundreds of tons of weapons."
"It is our duty to examine any ship going to Gaza - If we don't do this, the result would be an Iranian port in Gaza, only a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv, which would also threaten other countries in the region. We offered to take the cargo to Ashdod and examine it, an offer which Egypt seconded. The flotilla leaders rejected this."
"The takeover of five of the ships passed quietly. In the sixth ship, our soldiers encountered an extreme group that supports Hamas terror. This wasn't the "love boat" this was a flotilla of terror supporters."
"I talked to our soldiers, they were shot at. There was an attempt to lynch them.
These are pacifists? The soldiers defended their lives with incomparable restraint.
What would any other country do? At best, they would act in the same way, or much worse."
"Of course we regret the loss of life, but I ask the international community what would you do instead? We'll continue to defend our citizens and assert our right for self defense, which is my first duty as Prime Minister."
"It is important that we stay united on this issue, which is a matter of life and death."
The Karine-A was an Iranian ship carrying arms to Gaza which Israeli troops boarded eight years ago in the Red Sea. The MV Francop was an Iranian arms ship that was boarded off the coast of Cyprus. and was carrying arms to Hizbullah. Another Iranian ship, the Monchegorsk was seized by Cypriot authorities in 2009.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided on Tuesday that Israel would not prosecute or continue to hold the participants it captured from the Gaza protest flotilla, despite earlier plans to put on trial those who had attacked the soldiers boarding the ships.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
How Obama is using flotilla raid to distance US from Israel
Public condemnation of Israel over its seizure of a terrorist-supported aid flotilla to Gaza has been led by Turkey, where the ships embarked from, and has been loudest in the halls of the UN. But US President Barack Obama, too, has used the incident as a means of further distancing his administration from the Jewish state.
In his public rhetoric, Obama has refrained from condemning Israel outright, though he has leveled veiled criticism, but his actions speak far louder than his words.
The first action that demonstrated whose side Obama was taking in the matter was the canceling of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House scheduled for the day after the flotilla raid took place.
As the news of the raid broke, Netanyahu at first announced that he would remain in the US and finish his North America diplomatic tour, including his meeting with Obama. But just hours later, the Israeli leader abruptly changed his plans and said he would be returning home to "deal with the crisis."
There was no reasonable explanation for canceling the meeting, though Obama and Netanyahu tried to offer some, except for that Obama didn't want Netanyahu to use the White House as a podium from which to explain Israel's position, as that would upset those of Israel's enemies the Obama Administration is trying to make nice with.
Diplomatic sources in Washington and Jerusalem acknowledged as much to the Israeli financial newspaper Globes when they revealed that the Obama team told Netanyahu, "Don't come."
The second way in which Obama discreetly used the flotilla incident to move the US away from its traditional support of Israel was in his handling of the emergency UN Security Council session called in the wake of the confrontation.
Displaying its double standard toward Israel, the UN moved with lightning speed to set up the session and draft a resolution condemning the Jewish state. The UN's Muslim states wanted to get the session underway while Lebanon was still the acting president of the Security Council. Lebanon was scheduled to be replaced by Mexico at 12 PM on the day of the flotilla incident.
In that short space of time, the Security Council met, discussed the matter and unanimously approved a resolution that laid the blame for the almost solely on Israel. In the past, Washington has used various methods to block the Security Council from fast-tracking hostile resolutions against Israel in the aftermath of such incidents.
The Obama Administration also raised no objections when the UN Human Rights Council decided to suddenly amend its procedural rules and hold its first-ever "urgent debate," which naturally concluded with a strong condemnation of Israel.
Israeli observers and the Jewish state's true friends in America noted that while Obama did not produce any direct condemnations himself, it was his actions that enabled the international media and the UN to really skewer Israel. It is difficult to believe Obama didn't know what he was doing.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21214
In his public rhetoric, Obama has refrained from condemning Israel outright, though he has leveled veiled criticism, but his actions speak far louder than his words.
The first action that demonstrated whose side Obama was taking in the matter was the canceling of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House scheduled for the day after the flotilla raid took place.
As the news of the raid broke, Netanyahu at first announced that he would remain in the US and finish his North America diplomatic tour, including his meeting with Obama. But just hours later, the Israeli leader abruptly changed his plans and said he would be returning home to "deal with the crisis."
There was no reasonable explanation for canceling the meeting, though Obama and Netanyahu tried to offer some, except for that Obama didn't want Netanyahu to use the White House as a podium from which to explain Israel's position, as that would upset those of Israel's enemies the Obama Administration is trying to make nice with.
Diplomatic sources in Washington and Jerusalem acknowledged as much to the Israeli financial newspaper Globes when they revealed that the Obama team told Netanyahu, "Don't come."
The second way in which Obama discreetly used the flotilla incident to move the US away from its traditional support of Israel was in his handling of the emergency UN Security Council session called in the wake of the confrontation.
Displaying its double standard toward Israel, the UN moved with lightning speed to set up the session and draft a resolution condemning the Jewish state. The UN's Muslim states wanted to get the session underway while Lebanon was still the acting president of the Security Council. Lebanon was scheduled to be replaced by Mexico at 12 PM on the day of the flotilla incident.
In that short space of time, the Security Council met, discussed the matter and unanimously approved a resolution that laid the blame for the almost solely on Israel. In the past, Washington has used various methods to block the Security Council from fast-tracking hostile resolutions against Israel in the aftermath of such incidents.
The Obama Administration also raised no objections when the UN Human Rights Council decided to suddenly amend its procedural rules and hold its first-ever "urgent debate," which naturally concluded with a strong condemnation of Israel.
Israeli observers and the Jewish state's true friends in America noted that while Obama did not produce any direct condemnations himself, it was his actions that enabled the international media and the UN to really skewer Israel. It is difficult to believe Obama didn't know what he was doing.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21214
Report: Gaza aid ship had Al Qaeda crew
Wednesday, June 02, 2010 Israel Today Staff
Israeli intelligence revealed during a security cabinet meeting on Wednesday that most of those who attacked the Israeli boarding party on the Miva Marmara aid ship on Monday were Al Qaeda mercenaries.
Israeli officials said that a group of 40 of the more violent passengers were found to have no identification papers when they were arrested upon arrival in Israel. Nearly all members of that particular group were equipped with bullet-proof vests, night-vision goggles and various light weapons. Each also carried the same exact amount of money as the others in his pockets.
Intelligence officials were able to determine, either through previous intelligence or through interrogation, that the 40-man group was either aligned with or was an active part of Osama bin Laden's global terrorist network.
That did not surprise the Israeli cabinet much, since it had already been discovered that one of the organizations behind the so-called "aid" flotilla was the Turkish IHH, a movement that for years has supported anti-Western and anti-Israel terrorist organizations. At certain points in the past, the IHH has aided Al Qaeda.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21215
Israeli intelligence revealed during a security cabinet meeting on Wednesday that most of those who attacked the Israeli boarding party on the Miva Marmara aid ship on Monday were Al Qaeda mercenaries.
Israeli officials said that a group of 40 of the more violent passengers were found to have no identification papers when they were arrested upon arrival in Israel. Nearly all members of that particular group were equipped with bullet-proof vests, night-vision goggles and various light weapons. Each also carried the same exact amount of money as the others in his pockets.
Intelligence officials were able to determine, either through previous intelligence or through interrogation, that the 40-man group was either aligned with or was an active part of Osama bin Laden's global terrorist network.
That did not surprise the Israeli cabinet much, since it had already been discovered that one of the organizations behind the so-called "aid" flotilla was the Turkish IHH, a movement that for years has supported anti-Western and anti-Israel terrorist organizations. At certain points in the past, the IHH has aided Al Qaeda.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21215
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Israel expected protestors, but found terrorists aboard aid ship
A flood of information and contradicting reports have been hitting the media since Israel forcefully halted a flotilla of ships attempting to break the maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday. Israel Today will try to break down that information and rebut any false claims so as to paint a clearer picture of what really happened for our readers.
Israel intercepts the ships
Israeli warships made contact with the six ships making up the first wave of the flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement late Sunday night. Israeli officers contacted the ships' captains by radio and ordered them to follow the Israeli ships back to port. The aid ship captains refused.
The Israeli army said that it expected the ships to refuse to return to port, and were ready with commando teams to board and seize control of the aid ships.
Israeli army officials later acknowledged that they had underestimated what they would face and had equipped their commandoes with only paintball guns for crowd dispersal and sidearms for self-defense as a last resort. The Israelis expected to face protestors, not armed and violent fighters.
Battle on the high seas
In a news brief published just after Israeli troops started boarding the ships, the Free Gaza Movement claimed that the crew of the Miva Marmara, the only ship that saw violence, was peacefully sleeping when the Israelis touched down on deck and opened fire indiscriminately.
The following video released by the IDF clearly shows that the crew of the Marmara was not sleeping, but rather was eagerly waiting and ready for a fight:
In the video, the Israeli commandoes are shown sliding onto the upper deck of the Marmara one-by-one, each soldier being grabbed and lynched as he reached the ship. The first soldier was severely beaten and then thrown over the side to a lower deck. He sustained serious injuries.
Knives, metal poles, baseball bats, firebombs, stun grenades and even firearms were also used against the commandoes in a clearly premeditated ambush.
This video shows a more close-up view of the violence:
In this video, one of the "peace" activists is seen stabbing an Israeli soldier in the back:
An Israeli soldier who took part in the raid gave this video testimony noting that he and his comrades were taken totally by surprise by the level of violence:
Only after the Israeli troops realized they were under life-threatening attack did they request authorization to use their sidearms in self-defense.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi debunked claims that Israel was the one bent on violence by pointing out that the other five ships were seized without a shot being fired.
Why was the Marmara different?
So, why did a violent confrontation take place only on one of the ships, the Miva Marmara?
The answer was made clear later in the day when it was revealed that the Marmara was controlled by and carrying most of the activists belonging to the IHH, a violent Turkish organization that supports Islamic terrorism.
The IHH, it turns out, had co-sponsored and organized the flotilla along with the Free Gaza Movement. This video shows IHH activists and their supporters chanting violent anti-Jewish slogans prior to the flotilla's launch from Turkey:
These guys were looking for a fight before ever setting off. As evidenced by this behavior and the presence of so many weapons onboard the Marmara, the IHH activists never intended to reach Gaza. Their goal was to pick a very public fight with Israel, and use the outcome to further besmirch the Jewish state in the media.
In that way, the tactics of the IHH mirror those of Hamas, which also publicly supported the flotilla and sent representatives to Turkey to bless its embarkation.
The legitimacy of the Israeli blockade
With details of Monday's battle cleared up, it is instructive to take a look at the legitimacy of Israel's maritime blockade.
The Free Gaza Movement insists that the blockade is illegal and oppressive, thus necessitating efforts such as its own to bring essential goods to the residents of Gaza.
But Israeli Foreign Ministry legal advisor Sarah Weiss Maudi explained why Israel has every right to impose a maritime blockade on Gaza under international law:
Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law, and may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea [which presently exists between Israel and Hamas].
Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no vessels can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian vessels and enemy vessels. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate the maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked.
Various naval manuals, including the naval manuals of the US and UK, recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure that can be implemented in times of armed conflict. And those manuals give various criteria for making a blockade valid, including the requirement to give due notice of the blockade. Israel, in accordance with the requirements of international law, has publicized the existence of the blockade currently in effect, and has published the exact coordinates of the blockade via the accepted international professional maritime channels.
Furthermore, just days before the Free Gaza flotilla set off from Turkey, Israel published details of ongoing humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza via southern Israel. The residents of Gaza receive enormous amounts of essential goods, much more than the flotilla could have hoped to deliver.
In fact, enough goods have been delivered over the past 18 months to provide every man, woman and child in Gaza with one ton of humanitarian aid each.
What the media and Free Gaza don't say is that Israel's blockade of Gaza is really a very limited embargo targeting only those items that could and have been used by Hamas and its terrorist allies to prepare rockets and bunkers.
Israel tried to explain this to the Free Gaza Movement, and offered to add the permitted goods they had collected to the daily aid truck convoys. But the activists refused, because actually getting supplies to the residents of Gaza was not their primary objective.
The aftermath
Unfortunately, none of these facts will ultimately make an impact on world leaders, who have already begun to play to Muslim sensitivities and their own anti-Israel biases by demanding commissions of inquiry into the Israeli raid.
The last commission of inquiry ordered against Israel was the UN's Goldstone Commission sent to investigate the month-long Gaza war that ended in January 2009. The commission's conclusions were enormously influenced by unsubstantiated Hamas claims that the investigators failed or refused to demand proof of. And while many of the report's points have since been refuted, the damage to Israel has already been done.
Any commission of inquiry into the raid on the aid flotilla can be expected to reach similar biased conclusions that will lead to demands that Israel unconditionally end its limited embargo of the Gaza Strip, enabling Hamas to once again stockpile weapons that will eventually result in another war.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21197
Israel intercepts the ships
Israeli warships made contact with the six ships making up the first wave of the flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement late Sunday night. Israeli officers contacted the ships' captains by radio and ordered them to follow the Israeli ships back to port. The aid ship captains refused.
The Israeli army said that it expected the ships to refuse to return to port, and were ready with commando teams to board and seize control of the aid ships.
Israeli army officials later acknowledged that they had underestimated what they would face and had equipped their commandoes with only paintball guns for crowd dispersal and sidearms for self-defense as a last resort. The Israelis expected to face protestors, not armed and violent fighters.
Battle on the high seas
In a news brief published just after Israeli troops started boarding the ships, the Free Gaza Movement claimed that the crew of the Miva Marmara, the only ship that saw violence, was peacefully sleeping when the Israelis touched down on deck and opened fire indiscriminately.
The following video released by the IDF clearly shows that the crew of the Marmara was not sleeping, but rather was eagerly waiting and ready for a fight:
In the video, the Israeli commandoes are shown sliding onto the upper deck of the Marmara one-by-one, each soldier being grabbed and lynched as he reached the ship. The first soldier was severely beaten and then thrown over the side to a lower deck. He sustained serious injuries.
Knives, metal poles, baseball bats, firebombs, stun grenades and even firearms were also used against the commandoes in a clearly premeditated ambush.
This video shows a more close-up view of the violence:
In this video, one of the "peace" activists is seen stabbing an Israeli soldier in the back:
An Israeli soldier who took part in the raid gave this video testimony noting that he and his comrades were taken totally by surprise by the level of violence:
Only after the Israeli troops realized they were under life-threatening attack did they request authorization to use their sidearms in self-defense.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi debunked claims that Israel was the one bent on violence by pointing out that the other five ships were seized without a shot being fired.
Why was the Marmara different?
So, why did a violent confrontation take place only on one of the ships, the Miva Marmara?
The answer was made clear later in the day when it was revealed that the Marmara was controlled by and carrying most of the activists belonging to the IHH, a violent Turkish organization that supports Islamic terrorism.
The IHH, it turns out, had co-sponsored and organized the flotilla along with the Free Gaza Movement. This video shows IHH activists and their supporters chanting violent anti-Jewish slogans prior to the flotilla's launch from Turkey:
These guys were looking for a fight before ever setting off. As evidenced by this behavior and the presence of so many weapons onboard the Marmara, the IHH activists never intended to reach Gaza. Their goal was to pick a very public fight with Israel, and use the outcome to further besmirch the Jewish state in the media.
In that way, the tactics of the IHH mirror those of Hamas, which also publicly supported the flotilla and sent representatives to Turkey to bless its embarkation.
The legitimacy of the Israeli blockade
With details of Monday's battle cleared up, it is instructive to take a look at the legitimacy of Israel's maritime blockade.
The Free Gaza Movement insists that the blockade is illegal and oppressive, thus necessitating efforts such as its own to bring essential goods to the residents of Gaza.
But Israeli Foreign Ministry legal advisor Sarah Weiss Maudi explained why Israel has every right to impose a maritime blockade on Gaza under international law:
Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law, and may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea [which presently exists between Israel and Hamas].
Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no vessels can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian vessels and enemy vessels. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate the maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked.
Various naval manuals, including the naval manuals of the US and UK, recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure that can be implemented in times of armed conflict. And those manuals give various criteria for making a blockade valid, including the requirement to give due notice of the blockade. Israel, in accordance with the requirements of international law, has publicized the existence of the blockade currently in effect, and has published the exact coordinates of the blockade via the accepted international professional maritime channels.
Furthermore, just days before the Free Gaza flotilla set off from Turkey, Israel published details of ongoing humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza via southern Israel. The residents of Gaza receive enormous amounts of essential goods, much more than the flotilla could have hoped to deliver.
In fact, enough goods have been delivered over the past 18 months to provide every man, woman and child in Gaza with one ton of humanitarian aid each.
What the media and Free Gaza don't say is that Israel's blockade of Gaza is really a very limited embargo targeting only those items that could and have been used by Hamas and its terrorist allies to prepare rockets and bunkers.
Israel tried to explain this to the Free Gaza Movement, and offered to add the permitted goods they had collected to the daily aid truck convoys. But the activists refused, because actually getting supplies to the residents of Gaza was not their primary objective.
The aftermath
Unfortunately, none of these facts will ultimately make an impact on world leaders, who have already begun to play to Muslim sensitivities and their own anti-Israel biases by demanding commissions of inquiry into the Israeli raid.
The last commission of inquiry ordered against Israel was the UN's Goldstone Commission sent to investigate the month-long Gaza war that ended in January 2009. The commission's conclusions were enormously influenced by unsubstantiated Hamas claims that the investigators failed or refused to demand proof of. And while many of the report's points have since been refuted, the damage to Israel has already been done.
Any commission of inquiry into the raid on the aid flotilla can be expected to reach similar biased conclusions that will lead to demands that Israel unconditionally end its limited embargo of the Gaza Strip, enabling Hamas to once again stockpile weapons that will eventually result in another war.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21197
Monday, May 31, 2010
IDF Forces Met With Pre-Planned Violence When Attempting to Board Flotilla
31 May 2010 , 09:59
Early this morning (May 31) the Israel Navy intercepted the flotilla after the protesters on board ignored Israeli warnings. IDF forces met with severe pre-planned violence from the demonstrators, including use of live fire and light weaponry.
Early this morning, IDF Naval Forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip. This happened after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israeli Navy that were issued prior to the event. The Israeli Navy requested the ships to redirect toward Ashdod where they would be able to unload their aid supplies which would then be transferred over to the Gaza Strip after undergoing security inspections.
During the boarding of the ships, demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF Naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs. Additionally, one of the weapons used was grabbed from an IDF soldier. The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose.
As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces first employed riot dispersal means, followed by live fire.
According to initial reports, these events resulted in over ten deaths among the demonstrators and numerous injuries. In addition, five naval personnel were injured, some from gunfire and some from various other weapons. Two of the soldiers were seriously wounded and the remainder sustained moderate injuries. All of the injured parties, Israelis and foreigners, are currently being evacuated by helicopter to hospitals in Israel.
Reports from IDF forces at the scene indicate that some of the participants onboard the ships were planning to lynch the forces
.
The events are ongoing, and information will be updated as soon as possible. Israeli Naval commander, Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom is overseeing the events.
In the coming hours, the ships will be directed to the Ashdod port, while IDF naval forces perform security checks in order to identify the people on the ships and the cargo brought on board. The IDF Spokesman emphasizes that this event is currently unfolding and further details will be provided as soon as possible.
This IDF naval operation was carried out under orders from the political leadership to prevent the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip and breaching the maritime closure.
The boarding of ships in the flotilla followed numerous warnings given to the organizers of the flotilla before leaving their ports as well as while sailing towards the Gaza Strip. In these warnings, it was made clear to the organizers that they could dock in the Ashdod Sea Port and unload the equipment they are carrying in order to deliver it to the Gaza Strip in an orderly manner, following the appropriate security checks. Upon expressing their unwillingness to cooperate and arrive at the port, it was decided upon to board the ships and lead them to Ashdod.
IDF naval personnel encountered severe violence, including use of weaponry prepared in advance in order to attack them, as well as having their weapons stolen by protesters and used against them. The forces operated in adherence with operational commands and took all necessary actions in order to avoid violence, but to no avail.
source:http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/05/3101.htm
Early this morning (May 31) the Israel Navy intercepted the flotilla after the protesters on board ignored Israeli warnings. IDF forces met with severe pre-planned violence from the demonstrators, including use of live fire and light weaponry.
Early this morning, IDF Naval Forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip. This happened after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israeli Navy that were issued prior to the event. The Israeli Navy requested the ships to redirect toward Ashdod where they would be able to unload their aid supplies which would then be transferred over to the Gaza Strip after undergoing security inspections.
During the boarding of the ships, demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF Naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs. Additionally, one of the weapons used was grabbed from an IDF soldier. The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose.
As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces first employed riot dispersal means, followed by live fire.
According to initial reports, these events resulted in over ten deaths among the demonstrators and numerous injuries. In addition, five naval personnel were injured, some from gunfire and some from various other weapons. Two of the soldiers were seriously wounded and the remainder sustained moderate injuries. All of the injured parties, Israelis and foreigners, are currently being evacuated by helicopter to hospitals in Israel.
Reports from IDF forces at the scene indicate that some of the participants onboard the ships were planning to lynch the forces
.
The events are ongoing, and information will be updated as soon as possible. Israeli Naval commander, Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom is overseeing the events.
In the coming hours, the ships will be directed to the Ashdod port, while IDF naval forces perform security checks in order to identify the people on the ships and the cargo brought on board. The IDF Spokesman emphasizes that this event is currently unfolding and further details will be provided as soon as possible.
This IDF naval operation was carried out under orders from the political leadership to prevent the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip and breaching the maritime closure.
The boarding of ships in the flotilla followed numerous warnings given to the organizers of the flotilla before leaving their ports as well as while sailing towards the Gaza Strip. In these warnings, it was made clear to the organizers that they could dock in the Ashdod Sea Port and unload the equipment they are carrying in order to deliver it to the Gaza Strip in an orderly manner, following the appropriate security checks. Upon expressing their unwillingness to cooperate and arrive at the port, it was decided upon to board the ships and lead them to Ashdod.
IDF naval personnel encountered severe violence, including use of weaponry prepared in advance in order to attack them, as well as having their weapons stolen by protesters and used against them. The forces operated in adherence with operational commands and took all necessary actions in order to avoid violence, but to no avail.
source:http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/05/3101.htm
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