The aftermath of the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla - Links & Posts part two

Latest News
The ship MV Rachel Corrie is on its way to Gaza bringing more aid supplies. It was supposed to be part of the original flotilla, but it was delayed. It is currently waiting for another ship in the Mediterranean, and it expects to reach Gaza sometime before Monday.
The MV Rachel Corrie is carrying aid activists from Ireland, Malaysia, Scotland and England, including former United Nations assistant secretary-general and advisory panel member of the Perdana Global Peace Organization Denis Halliday and Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire.

The Irish Prime Minister has said that Israel will face serious consequences if any harm comes to the Irish citizens on board.
The Israeli ambassador to Ireland has said that Israel does not expect any confrontation or violence when the MV Rachel Corrie reaches the exclusion zone.
However:
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177134
Israel will use more aggressive force in the future to prevent ships from breaking the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, a top Navy commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war," the officer said. "That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war."

Hmmm. But, the Israeli forces attacked the flotilla in international waters. They shot and killed people on the ships before they were ever on board, and then they shot and killed more once they boarded (according to witnesses on the ships). What the Israeli forces did constitutes a war crime and an act of war.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-backs-us-opposition-to-un-led-flotilla-inquiry/article1588895/
The USA and Canada are against an impartial UN investigation of the attack, and prefer that Israel run the investigation.


Links/Posts
Turkey will never forgive Israel
... Nine people - eight Turks and a US national of Turkish origin- were killed in Monday's pre-dawn raid on the Mavi Mamara, which was carrying aid to Gaza in a bid to break Israel's strangling blockade of the territory. ...
... Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, who reported from the ship during the raid, confirmed that live ammunition had been used by Israeli commandos as they stormed the ship.

He said that he witnessed some of the killings, and confirmed that at least "one person was shot through the top of the head from [the helicopter] above."
Activists killed

Elshayyal was on the top deck when the ship was attacked and said that within a few minutes of seeing the Israeli helicopters, there were shots being fired from above.

"The first shots [coming from Israeli boats at sea] were tear gas, sound grenades and rubber coated steel bullets," said Eshayyal.

"Live shots came five minutes after that. There was definitely live fire from the air and from the sea as well."

He confirmed that some passengers took apart some of the ship's railings to defend themselves as they saw the Israeli soldiers approaching.

"After the shooting and the first deaths, people put up white flags and signs in English and Hebrew," he said.

"An Israeli [on the ship] asked the soldiers to take away the injured, but they did not and the injured died on the ship." ...


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0603/breaking24.html
... an Indonesian doctor was shot in the stomach as he helped a wounded Israeli soldier.

"As the clash was going on upstairs on the deck, we were taking care of Israelis downstairs, as we gave them water, we were informed that our friends died there," Mr Yildirim said.

"We told the Indonesian doctor to take the soldier back. He took his patient back, and as he was going back, they shot him 5 times in the stomach." He added soldiers had herded activists on deck and a helicopter had sprayed them with water to subdue them.

It Was Pure Hell
A 2-man Malaysian news crew that was on board the MV Mavi Marmara recounts the attack.

We are all with the MV Rachel Corrie
... We are all watching Israel, we are all watching the MV Rachel Corrie, a vessel constructed in Germany in 1967 and owned by the Irish arm of the Free Gaza Movement. The MV Rachel Corrie is carrying medical equipment, wheelchairs, school supplies and cement. ...

City aid worker seized in massacre "badly beaten"
AN EDINBURGH activist seized by Israel in the Gaza aid massacre was today reported to have been badly beaten. ...

World enraged with Israel's attack on Peace Flotilla

MV Rachel Corrie heading for Gaza - With the full support of the Irish Government

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0603/breaking60.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0603/breaking3.html

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=289291

http://www.examiner.com/x-17122-SF-Muslim-Examiner~y2010m6d3-The-MV-Rachel-Corrie-carries-foreward-the-Freedom-Flotilla-Movement

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/06/01/evidence-belies-israeli-claim

The Silent Jewish Majority
... the majority of Jews remain silent about the "controversial" policies Israel carries out in their name as a self-declared "state of the Jewish people" ...

Children behind Israeli bars

Can the MV Rachel Corrie heal the wounds left in the wake of the USS Liberty?

IDF murder of Rachel Corrie Remembered