Nilufer Cetin holds her son Turker Kaan Cetin after their return to Istanbul yesterday. The activist was on board the Mavi Marmara ship when it was attacked (AP)
Flotilla attack: 'First the shots, then the ship was turned into a lake of blood'
Passengers on the aid ship are contesting Israel's version of events
By Ben Lynfield
The first accounts of activists involved in Israel's devastating raid on a flotilla of aid for Gaza sharply contradicted Israel's official version of events, with one passenger insisting that commandos opened fire before they boarded.
Nilufer Cetin, a Turkish woman who had been on the Mavi Marmara, which bore the brunt of the Israeli raid, said that the ship had "turned into a lake of blood" and she and her one-year-old child had to hide in a bathroom.
Mrs Cetin, one of 45 activists who flew out of Tel Aviv yesterday, said that the clashes on the ship were "extremely bad and brutal". She said that after Israeli ships "harassed" the flotilla for two hours, from around 10pm on Sunday, they returned at 4am and told the ships to turn back.
"The operation started immediately with firing," she told waiting reporters as she arrived in Istanbul carrying her baby. "First it was warning shots, but when the Mavi Marmara wouldn't stop, these warnings turned into an attack."
Her husband, the Mavi Marmara's chief engineer, was expected to be released from custody along with more than 650 activists after a decision by Israel's Security Cabinet last night to deport the detainees immediately.
Israel said it was freeing 682 of the activists – who include the Swedish writer Henning Mankell and up to 31 Britons, including Hassan Ghani, a reporter for Press TV, and Sarah Colborne, an NGO staff worker. The releases would include two dozen who had been threatened with charges for assaulting troops. A total of 120 of the detainees, mainly Arabs, were taken by bus to the Allenby Bridge crossing to Jordan last night.
Israel's Interior Ministry said that around 50 people among those arrested had left the country voluntarily.
The passengers claims underscore the rising pressure that Israel will come under as the identities of at least 10 who died emerge. As Israel continued to contend with the condemnation of foreign governments and deep internal questions about the wisdom of its mission, it was faced yesterday with an immediate challenge to its strategy by the news that the Rachel Corrie, a ship separated from the main body of the flotilla before Monday's violence, was due to reach Gazan waters today.
"This initiative is not going to stop," said Greta Berlin of the human rights group Free Gaza. "We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They're going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats in."
Meanwhile, although Israel has continued to bar journalists from speaking to the wounded in its hospitals, and apparently confiscated mobile phones and laptops, further details emerged yesterday of the activists' version of events. Youssef Ben Derbal, a French activist who was travelling on another of the ships boarded by the Israeli forces, told French radio on his return to Paris yesterday morning: "It all happened very quickly. At about 4am, suddenly we saw Zodiacs heading towards us ... We acted as pacifists; friends of mine of different nationalities were protecting the cabin from the soldiers with their bodies, their hands. They were attacked; they were hit."
Israel has said its soldiers had no choice but to open fire with live ammunition after facing danger to their lives following their boarding of the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying more than 600 passengers.
In Berlin, a former German MP who returned home after being on board the ship, said he saw only three activists resisting. "They had no knives, no axes, only sticks they used to defend themselves," he said. But he added that he could "not rule out" that others used weapons elsewhere on the boat.
Haneen Zuabi, an Israeli-Arab legislator who was on board the Marmara, said Israeli forces ignored her when she said that they should treat two gravely injured people, who later bled to death. The army denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli commander of the forces that rappelled on to the Mavi Marmara from helicopters said at his bed in Rambam Hospital in Haifa that troops were scared for their lives. "Tens of people waited on the roof for each one of the soldiers," said the officer, identified only as Captain R. "They held sticks, axes and knives. I was the second person to come down on the rope. We thought there would be passive, even verbal resistance, [but nothing] of this magnitude. Every person that reached us wanted to kill us."
At Barzilai Hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, reporters were barred from accessing the wounded. "We have received instruction from the army not to allow journalists to speak to the injured. Every patient has a soldier next to his bed," said a spokeswoman for the hospital, Leah Malul.
Source
"US politicians are completely obedient to … [Israel's] dictates despite the pitiful screams of a vast majority of their American constituents"
Not true. The vast majority of Americans see Jews as ever-blameless, always-wrongly-accused victims and support Israel. This is especially true of White Americans. Brainwashed? Maybe. Lied to by their pastors, the edumacation system, and the media? Certainly. But them's the facts, Jack.
Since this is occurring in an environment in which even the dimmest American bulb can, with only a little trouble, quickly ascertain the facts, I am forced to conclude that they just don't care.
A PREMEDITATED CRIME?
COPY OF AN ALLEGED ISRAELI DUCUMENT CONTAINING THE HIT LIST
OF PASSENGERS TO BE KILLED ON BOARD THE TURKISH SHIP MARMARA:
http://palestinethinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/1-18.jpg
Apparently certain activists on board the flotilla had been earmarked in advance for assassination by Israeli commandos.
"Turkish sources and media revealed a document which shows that a death list had been prepared in advance by the Israelis, showing names and pictures of people on board of the ships to be murdered, who, according to Israel, were "involved in the International humanitarian aid for Gaza". According to the Turkish sources, hundreds of Israeli soldiers stormed the blue Turkish ship "Marmara" flotilla and they had copies of the death list. The list included the names of civilians on the fleet who should be killed". The document was apparently recovered after one of the Israeli soldiers lost it during the piracy act."
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/05/31/flotilla-massacre-is-a-reply-to-the-turkish-iranian-relations/
@Darren: well, I explained why and I stand by it. I don't know what International law has to do with the existence of whites. As far as I know, countries make up their immigration laws and enforce them(or don't,
. Problem with your country(assuming ur an American) is that the majority(for now) has lost political power and the elite that rules the country has "surrendered" to uncontrolled immigration. With the Jews playing a big role in it btw.Palestine).
This has nothing to do with the annexation and ethnic cleansing of a territory/people(
"Whether or not we can get all of the diaspora Jews to go there or not does not bear any relevance on the question if Israel should exist, form our perspective."
Really? Perhaps u may wish to check out "Spy Trade: How Israel's Lobby Undermines America's Economy". Obviously this is made possible because of the Jewish diaspora in the US.com/Spy-Trade-Israels-Undermines-Americas/dp/0976443716/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2PNQ6W5ZLO13Q&colid=1MY16XFLPZ0J6
http://www.amazon.
"The vast majority of Americans see Jews as ever-blameless, always-wrongly-accused victims and support Israel. This is especially true of White Americans. Brainwashed? Maybe. Lied to by their pastors, the edumacation system, and the media? Certainly. But them's the facts, Jack."
I wouldn't know for sure.
I do, however, know that Congress has little respect for the opinions of White Americans on any issue, Israel included. Its members pander to Israel not because most White Americans want them to (if that's really the case), but because they are paid off by the Jewish lobby and encouraged in their larceny by the Jew-owned mass media. In other words, even if they enjoy the cosmetic convenience of public support for their Israel-inspired treason, it makes no real difference in how they operate. They do it for the money and the publicity.
That being said, I'm getting the distinct impression that in my particular neck of the woods, where most people are White as the driven snow and worship in small country chapels instead of CZ megachurches, Israel no longer has much of a cheering section. Most of the locals appear to be sick of them. (I won't say what they usually call Obama, but here's a hint: it consists of three syllables in two words, the definite article followed by a word beginning with "N" and ending in "r", no further identification required.)
"Some people here seem to believe that white americans should not care about what goes on in Palestine and/or to be neutral. Eh? All Americans who are decent should care"
White rabbits are in a war of survival so morality and decency can go **** themselves. All i care about is what are the best tactics.
1. For white rabbits who take a moral view of this and their moral view is negative to Israel then fine. Your choice. And who knows, maybe in the end taking a consistent moral view is the best tactics.
2. For an ethno-nationalist, which is what i am now, Israel is an ethno-nationalist state. From a tactical point of view attacking Israel using leftist arguments against ethno-nationalism is counter-productive because it reinforces multicult values. (However there may be other ways to do it without reinforcing multicult values.)
3. On the other hand, outside Israel jews are intimately intwined with the multicult and support it through their dominace in areas like banking and the mass media. As jewish dominance makes it hard to attack jewish dominance directly then there's a valid argument for using Israel as a proxy target as hopefully there'd be some anti-jewish blowback on home terriotory which helps to weaken their control here.
4. Individuals in survival-morality mode can make their own mind up on which of the two tactical arguments seems the best: ethno-nationalist or proxy blowback. One other thing to bear in mind is the difference between the Euro and US situations.
4a. The majority of immigration-invaders in Europe are muslims and as a result the media are less pro-Israel and there are anti-Isreal spokesmen who get plenty of air-time. Basically there's no need for WNs in Europe to get involved in the anti-Israel bandwagon as it's doing very well on its own due to immigration. An individual WN in Europe might still want to get on that bandwagon but there's no need.
(nb They ***always*** end up cutting their own throats. Remember that when you hear people talk about how it's all hopeless and they're too powerful. The paranoia makes them irrational. They will ***always*** end up cutting their own throats.)
4b. America is different as the majority of immigration-invaders are Hispanic and the pro-Israel lockdown is much stronger. The tactical argument for using Israel as a proxy target is much stronger there.
Wandrin
"The majority of immigration-invaders in Europe are muslims"
"America is different as the majority of immigration-invaders are Hispanic and the pro-Israel lockdown is much stronger."
Thank you, important points as to the different situations in Europe and America. In Europe, Muslims are the main demographic threat. In America, Muslims are irrelevant and mostly used as a scapegoat for Jew Zionist wars. This distinction between Europe and America needs to remain clear; we will need different tactics and coalitions to win.
The late Jewish former Congressman Tom Lantos, a neocon/Zionist major supporter of Israel, said in a House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 15, 2007 titled "The Outlook for the Independence of Kosova" the following:
"Just a reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led government[s] in this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe. This should be noted by both responsible leaders of Islamic governments, such as Indonesia, and also for jihadists of all color and hue. The United States' principles are universal, and in this instance,the United States stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe."
http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=789
@Oakley
Yeah they think they can appease them with stuff like that. However the simple truth is they can have unlimited muslim immigration into Europe *or* they can have Israel. They can't have both. Some of them have realised that already but not many.
Sledgehammer – What does international law think of, say, Serbia? Yeah, international law isn't exactly something I'd give moral support to. Just because the bureaucrats are seemingly anti-Israel doesn't mean we should give them moral support.
With the Jews playing a big role in it btw
I'm not arguing against the notion that Jews exert disproportionate power against our interests. This is about Israel. You're all over the map for some reason.
"Really? Perhaps u may wish to check out "Spy Trade: How Israel's Lobby Undermines America's Economy". Obviously this is made possible because of the Jewish diaspora in the US."
So you're saying Israel shouldn't exist so that we can have these same people stuck in our nations, ever resentful and continuing to plot/scheme? Uhh, yeah, good idea.
Israel ceasing to exist will not make diaspora Jewry magically behave. Therefore, I see no legitimate reason to oppose Israel's existence. On the other side of the coin, one can look at the behavior of pro-Palestinian Arabs in white nations. Does that delegitimatize the existence of the Palestinian cause?
Kook the Elder?
Who does he represent. An absolute fringe.
Again, talking about Judaism, while knowing nothing about it.
Middle Easterners are Caucasians. Caucasians are White. If you insist on Whites being purely White with no Southern Features, then you are a Nordicist. And your group are the Nordics, not Whites.
AngryJew,
I am neither a Nordicist (too narrow) nor a Caucasianist (too broad).
I am a Europeanist. Greeks, Icelanders, Spaniards, Russians and everyone in between (except for unassimilated Middle Eastern peoples such as the Turks, Gypsies and Jews) are the macro-ethnic group of which I am a part.
I say this neither to assert the superiority of Europeans nor to incite hatred of non-Europeans.
Admittedly, this macro-ethnic group has cultural as well as racial components: IndoEuropean language (with exceptions such as Basques), a long history of Christian religion, a higher culture with roots in ancient Greece etc.
And, admittedly, "White" is an awkward term for people of European ancestry, since many Turks, Syrians and Jews have features which, compared to southern Europeans, are equally Caucasian.