CounterVortex

What happened in flotilla incident?
The latest media accounts are claiming nine dead, and five soldiers hurt—and raising Israeli assertions that the activists were armed and fired at the troops. “Our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives or they would have been killed,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Netanyahu has canceled his scheduled meeting at the White House with President Obama to deal with the crisis.

Each side has released its own video of the incident, each portraying the other as the aggressor. While the Israeli-released video shows metal pipes that the activists supposedly used as weapons, it does not show any firearms.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Danny Ayalon called the incident an “outrageous provocation” and claimed passengers aboard the ships had links to al-Qaeda.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a “full investigation” into the bloodshed. “I condemn this violence,” he said. (NY Daily News, May 31)

Propaganda wars in flotilla attack
Michael B. Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the US, charges in a June 2 New York Times op-ed:

Israel discovered spent bullet cartridges on the Mavi Marmara that are of a caliber not used by the Israeli commandos, some of whom suffered gunshot wounds. Also found on the boat were propaganda clips showing passengers “injured” by Israeli forces; these videos, however, were filmed during daylight, hours before the nighttime operation occurred.

But a blogger on Straight.com notes:

The authenticity of photographs linked to the May 31 Israel Defense Force interception of the Free Gaza flotilla is being called into question…. [A] number of blogs are arguing that there is evidence indicating some of the photographs were taken years before the IDF stopped the ships.

Writers such as the Morocco-based “Ibn Kafka” are pointing to the photographs’ date and time stamps, which can be seen along with the photographs on the Israeli ministry of foreign affair’s Flickr page.

Kafka writes that a photograph of bullet-proof vests was taken in February 2007, that a photograph of an axe was taken in 2003, and so on.

However, as a minority of readers have noted in the comments section of Kafka’s site, it is possible that the early time stamps on the photographs are merely the result of incorrectly programmed cameras.

Meanwhile, hundreds of detained flotilla activists have returned from Israel to Turkey, where they have received a hero’s welcome. (NPR, June 3)

Israeli MK on aid ship refutes government claims
From Middle East Online, June 4:

An Arab member of the Israeli parliament who was on board the international flotilla that was attacked on Monday as it tried to take humanitarian aid to Gaza accused Israel yesterday of intending to kill peace activists as a way to deter future convoys.

Haneen Zoubi [Balad Party] said Israeli naval vessels had surrounded the flotilla’s flagship, the Mavi Marmara, and fired on it a few minutes before commandos abseiled from a helicopter directly above them.

Terrified passengers had been forced off the deck when water was sprayed at them. She said she was not aware of any provocation or resistance by the passengers, who were all unarmed.

She added that within minutes of the raid beginning, three bodies had been brought to the main room on the upper deck in which she and most other passengers were confined. Two had gunshot wounds to the head, in what she suggested had been executions.

Two other passengers slowly bled to death in the room after Israeli soldiers ignored messages in Hebrew she had held up at the window calling for medical help to save them. She said she saw seven other passengers seriously wounded.

“Israel had days to plan this military operation,” she told a press conference in Nazareth. “They wanted many deaths to terrorise us and to send a message that no future aid convoys should try to break the siege of Gaza.”

Released early yesterday by police, apparently because of her parliamentary immunity, she said she was speaking out while most of the hundreds of other peace activists were either being held by Israel for deportation or were under arrest.

Three other leaders of Israel’s large Palestinian Arab minority, including Sheikh Raed Salah, a spiritual leader, were arrested as their ships docked in the southern port of Ashdod. Lawyers said that under Israeli law they could be held and questioned for up to 30 days without being charged.

Contradicting Israeli claims, Ms Zoubi said a search by the soldiers after they took control of the Marmara discovered no arms or other weapons.

It was vital, she added, that the world demand an independent UN inquiry to find out what had happened on the ship rather than allow Israel to carry out a “whitewash” with its own military investigation.

Flotilla attack propaganda wars redux
From IPS, June 7, emphasis added:

Beatings, Abuse, Doctored Evidence Emerge
RAMALLAH — Although Israel successfully controlled news of its deadly commando raid on the Free Gaza (FG) flotilla during the first crucial 48 hours of media coverage, emerging evidence from witnesses and survivors is challenging the Israeli government’s version of events.

These include claims of medical treatment being withheld; beatings and abuse of passengers who never resisted; the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) doctoring audio and selectively editing videos.

Furthermore, allegations of a possible shoot-to-kill policy, amidst autopsies revealing repeated gun shots to the heads of the victims, are also part of an emerging pattern.

One of the first targets of Israeli commandos raiding the FG flotilla was the international media. Photographers were attacked, and journalists had their video, audio and other communications equipment confiscated. The equipment has still not been returned.

“It was clear that Israel wanted to control the media coverage of the situation from the very beginning,” Huwaida Arraf, FG’s chairwoman, told IPS.

Approximately 60 journalists from around the globe were on board the FG flotilla. They were amongst the last to be released by the Israelis.

Israeli authorities denied other media access to the imprisoned journalists and activists during the entire period they were incarcerated. Reporters were also prevented from speaking to the FG activists when they were deported from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International airport.

The IDF imposed a media blackout on the wounded being interviewed in Israeli hospitals, with soldiers stationed in hospital wards to enforce the ban. Journalists trying to enter Gaza to cover the raid were turned back by the Israeli authorities at the Erez crossing.

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has denounced Israel’s editing and distribution of footage it confiscated from foreign journalists aboard the FG flotilla.

CPJ refers to claims by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel that the military “is selectively using footage to bolster its claims that commandos opened fire only after being attacked.”

In another incident, the IDF had to clarify and correct another audio tape it released to the media after questions were raised as to its authenticity.

In the audio one of the “activists” on board the FG allegedly tells the Israelis, amongst other things, to “go back to Auschwitz” in what appears to be a fake accent from the United States’ deep south. The “activist” is also heard telling the Israelis: “We are helping Arabs go against the US. Don’t forget 9/11 guys.”

The IDF also claimed that the voice of Arraf was recorded on the Mavi Marmara, the boat where the activists were shot dead. However, she was on a different boat, the Challenger 1.

“There were no Americans from the south on the flotilla. Furthermore, the only people to communicate with the Israelis other than myself were the captains,” Arraf told IPS.

“One of them was British, two were Greek, two Turkish and one Algerian and they acted in a very professional manner. I was near the VHF radio during the entire period of communication with the IDF and none of those alleged slurs were made,” added Arraf.

However, despite the IDF’s retraction/correction, discrepancies remain even in the edited IDF audio which was released five days after the original one. The alleged slurs about Auschwitz and 9/11 remain.

From the Committee to Protect Journalists, June 3:

CPJ denounces Israel’s use of footage seized in flotilla raid
New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Israel’s editing and distribution of footage confiscated from foreign journalists aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla that was raided on Monday.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman’s office released edited portions of confiscated video on its YouTube channel, where the footage was labeled as “captured.” The Foreign Press Association in Israel, which represents hundreds of foreign correspondents in Israel, called the use a “clear violation of journalistic ethics and unacceptable” and warned news outlets to “treat the material with appropriate caution.”

CPJ called on the Israeli government to immediately return all equipment, notes, and footage confiscated from journalists. “Israel has confiscated journalistic material and then manipulated it to serve its interests,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “It must cease this practice without delay, and return all property seized from journalists who were covering this legitimate news event.”

Journalists have complained of mistreatment during the raid. Al-Jazeera cameraman Issam Zaatar told the Qatar-based channel that as he was filming the raid an Israeli soldier struck him with a stun gun. He said he suffered a broken arm and his camera was damaged during the altercation.

There’s plenty more if you want to read it…