Eyewitnesses recount Israel flotilla raid

Eyewitnesses recount Israel flotilla raid

edition.cnn.com

She said the people on her ship tried to keep them off. She said they were told the vessel was American and the people aboard were unarmed.

But, she said "they started beating people. My head was smashed against the ground and they stepped on my head. They later cuffed me and put a bag over my head. They did that to everybody."

(visit the link for the full news article)

An interview on CNN with an american who was aboard the challenger. Her account really doesn't jive too well with Israel's version.

She speaks of the brutality of the commandos and the non-resistance of those passengers on board. Israel really got caught this time I think.

Combine this with the live video feed and things are looking worse for Israel's image I would say .

edition.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

If anyone can tell me how to embed a non-google/youtube video I will post the interview.

[edit on 1-6-2010 by Shark_Feeder]

oh, so they commandos jumping onto the "terrible aid flotilla" in military gear from an attack helo weren't just popping in to chat, and join in on the peace?

And here i thought their intentions were good, and they were simply provoked by the unarmed civilians who threw shoes into the blades, causing catastrphic damage.

How could there be any pro-Israel perspective given the footage? They boarded their ship with rifles, in full military gear, from a chopper, surrounded by their own navy. And people think they were provoked... into killing 15 people?

This is just retarded.

I honestly thought there would be more of a response to the first american interviewed.

If anyone else knows how to embed the video of this interview please do so I would greatly appreciate it.

Originally posted by Shark_Feeder
I honestly thought there would be more of a response to the first american interviewed.

The problem is that its just hearsay. She states that her 'head was smashed against the ground and they stepped on my head.' I realize it was a phone interview, but pictures are worth a thousand words and a few pictures of the bruises would go a long way to verifying her account.

Instead, the article ends with:

Her account could not be independently verified.

reply to post by vor78


With the exception that the live feed of the attack backs up her story...as do many eye witness, and of course Turkish national TV(as the attacked was broadcast in Turkey).

reply to post by Shark_Feeder


The only video I've seen has been of the one ship, the Miva Marmara. No doubt there was an incident on that one.

This person claims to have been on one of the accompanying vessels. If there was additional video of the events on those, I have not seen it. Not saying it isn't out there, just that I haven't seen it.

Why is Israel saying they went in "using paintball guns"? Is that a blatant lie?

Then they come out with this video...
www.youtube.com...

So they were attacked, that's obvious, but how did they kill anyone with paintball guns?

Upon further inquiry you are correct sir, she was on a different vessel than that of the livestream.

However I think when you take that video into account with all the other accompanying stories you can clearly see that her version falls well in line with the majority of accounts of this horrendous assault.

Also from The Post

Most of those killed were aboard the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, and there have been conflicting accounts of what happened during the assault.

That would seem to imply that there were deaths aboard the other vessels in the flotilla...remember depending which source you look at we are talking about 15-20 deaths of multiple nationalities.

[edit on 1-6-2010 by Shark_Feeder]

I love how if you look at the comments below the article, people are blatantly calling her a liar. One said "she is less credible because she is American".

Personally, I think Israel had no right to board an American vessel in International waters. This really borders on piracy.

They don't want these ships to get to Gaza. They are trying to eradicate the Palestinian population.

That is why they did this IMO.

Why is it that Americans feel that the only news media in the world is, MSNBC, CNN, FOX or CBS. US news media is highly censored and out right biased. You only get a fraction of the news and then only what they want you to see.

Israel clearly attacked civilian ships in international waters. They then boarded the vessels by force and took comand of them. This is piracy on the high seas, an offence that carries the penility of hanging. The crew and all those aboard had the right to repel the attackers by any force required to defend the ship. Try and take my ship while in international waters and see what you get. If you are not successful you will not be going home the way you arrived.

There are always those that will defend Israel no matter what but that is insanity. When Israel does wrong take them to task over it. When the others do so to Israel, then take them to task like wise. Israel in this case is clearly in violation of international maritime law. No excuses and no letting them off either.

I'm surprised there isn't more video and pictures - FROM EITHER SIDE.

Between camera phones, flip phones, and security cameras, there should be some footage of a few of the shootings. At the minimum, shouldn't the military have sound recordings. I'm sure the military has communication devices - just like the police.

Couldn't trained military know how to take down unarmed people without using deadly force? Pepper spray, stun guns - all would have been effective. Did they really think the people on the boats would beat them to death? How about some pictures proving the people on the boats used deadly forced?

Originally posted by vor78

The only video I've seen has been of the one ship, the Miva Marmara. No doubt there was an incident on that one.

Why would Israel post videos of the other ships? Only one ship fought back, and they were hoping to make it look like the shooting was justified by only releasing the video in which the soldiers are being attacked as they came aboard. Of course they neglected to mention they fired on the ship before that.

I am sure they have video of all the boardings. But they arent going to give up the film that shows them slamming unarmed people who are NOT attacking them to the ground, now are they?

Good thread OP. I thought I saw reports that Israel fired on the ship first, but the link you posted confirms it.

Originally posted by Daughter2
I'm surprised there isn't more video and pictures - FROM EITHER SIDE.

According to the girl being interviewed, the Israelis took their stuff when they were taken into custody. So there may be (or have been) more film, but we may never see it.