Israel and the Gaza flotilla

If you relied on the mainstream media for your news about the recent incident with the Israeli armed forces boarding the flotilla of boats that was sailing for Gaza that resulted in casualties, you'd have a fairly one-sided view of things. Media reports have referred to 'an aid convey', 'peace activists' and 'humanitarian aid' and the number of these 'peace activists' who were killed.  

Yet a Turkish Islamist group connected to Al Qa'ida was responsible for the 'convoy'.... read on for another look at the issue...  

Reports of national leaders condemning Israel for their actions have been prominent, including from PM Kevin Rudd. Little mention was made of the fact that Egypt did not join in the condemnation. One report noted, in the last line of their article, that Egypt had been silent - but they didn't explain that Egypt had also imposed a blockade on Gaza along with Israel because of Hamas being in control in Gaza!   

Protests by Islamic and left-wing groups around the world condemned Israel. In Sydney, a protest was led by Sheik al Hilaly, the former Islamic mufti of Australia - SMH reported "Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, from Lakemba mosque, addressed the protest, calling Israel a terrorist state. He held up a Turkish flag, chanting ''Turkey is coming'', before leading the protesters on the march down George Street."  

The ABC's Kerry O'Brien interviewed a spokesmen for Israel's foreign ministry - who explained what had happened and pointed out that the convoy to try and break the sanctions was coordinated by an Islamist group from Turkey called the the Turkish IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) that Israel has designated a terrorist organization. Nevertheless the ABC ignored this and continued with their approach of condemning the Israeli soldiers for boarding the ships.
(View report here - scroll down to "Israel faces criticism over fatal raid on Gaza aid ship"). They spoke to people on some ships who assured the media that they didn't have guns or weapons and it was all 'peaceful'.  

However, Greg Sheridan of The Australian points out that the real violence occurred on one ship. He explains "It's too early to call it definitively, but the evidence is disturbing. In the melee of the Gaza ships, real violence occurred on only one ship, the Marmara. It was a Turkish vessel and its activists came from the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH)."He also notes "The IHH is a pro-Hamas Islamist terror group implicated in numerous al-Qa'ida operations."

Some news reports have shown video footage of the soldiers being beaten with iron rods and more as they landed on the ship.  

We thought we'd include several reports to give the other side of the story:  

Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor - The Australian, June 2, 2010 
Grotesque theatre succeeded brilliantly  

Rev Mark Durie wrote an insightful piece on his blog pointing out that the Islamist activists in the Marmara chanted about the Jews of Khaybar, who were defeated by Mohammed, "enslaving many and subjecting the rest to a dhimma pact of surrender." In 2008 Mark wrote an article in Quadrant titled Remembering Khaybar explaining the significance of this word.

The Khaybar Chant and the Gaza flotilla
Mark Durie, Posted 2 June, 2010 

In these days, the Israel Defense Force's fatal engagement with Islamists on the Marmara has been drawing intense criticism from far and wide.
However of particular interest to me was an Al-Jazeera report on the flotilla, showing interviews with an international collection of Muslim radicals on one of the boats. 
The report includes a scene of a group of Muslim men sitting around on board and cheerfully punching their fists in the air as they recite the popular Arabic chant:  Khaybar, Khaybar ya Yahud, jaish Muhammad sa ya 'ud
'Remember Khaybar, O Jews, Muhammad's army will return!' . . .

Bill Muehlenberg: Terrorism, the Media, and Israel  

 

Honest Reporting: Boats, Bias and Big Lies - Media Unable to Ignore the Evidence -
Channel 4 in the UK commissioned an analysis of the attack by a naval expert. Includes video footage of attacks as well as photos of weapons and bullet proof vests found on the Marmara.  

 

Andrew Bolt - column: How Hamas fooled the West plus follow-up here and here.  

 

David Horowitz, Jerusalem Post editor   Comment: A scandalous saga of withheld film

David Frum, CNN -  Stop the hypocrisy about Israel  

 

Melanie Phillips, The Spectator - Peace Convoy - this was an Islamist terror ambush