[ShepherdsDog]

10 dead...pity.

[N_Fiddledog]

$1:

The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That's because the organizers belong to a nonprofit that was banned by the Israeli government in July 2008 for its ties to terrorism finance.

The Turkish IHH (Islan Haklary Ve Hurriyetleri Vakfi in Turkish) was founded in 1992, and reportedly popped up on the CIA's radar in 1996 for its radical Islamist leanings. Like many other Islamist charities, the IHH has a record of providing relief to areas where disaster has struck in the Muslim world.

However, the organization is not a force for good. The Turkish nonprofit belongs to a Saudi-based umbrella organization known to finance terrorism called the Union of Good (Ittilaf al-Kheir in Arabic). Notably, the Union is chaired by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who is known best for his religious ruling that encourages suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. According to one report, Qardawi personally transferred millions of dollars to the Union in an effort to provide financial support to Hamas.

In 2008, the Israelis banned IHH, along with 35 other Islamist charities worldwide, for its ties to the Union of Good. This was a follow-on designation; Israelis first blocked the Union of Good from operating in the West Bank and Gaza in 2002.

Interestingly, the Union of Good may not only be tied to Hamas. Included in the Israeli list of 36 designees was the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). In 2006, both the U.S. government and the United Nations designated the IIRO branch offices in Indonesia and the Philippines for financing al Qaeda. French magistrate Jean-Louis Brougiere also testified that IHH had an "important role" in Ahmed Ressam's failed "millennium plot" to bomb the Los Angeles airport in late 1999.


The U.S. government, it should be noted, also views the Union of Good as a terrorist organization. On November 12, 2008, a press release from the U.S. Treasury announced the umbrella group's leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT), stating that the group was "created by Hamas leadership to transfer funds to the terrorist organization."

"Terrorist groups such as Hamas continue to exploit charities to radicalize vulnerable communities and cultivate support for their violent activities," said Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey.

According to Treasury, Hamas's leadership actually created the Union of Good in 2000—just after the launch of the armed campaign against Israel—as a means to transfer funds to Hamas. At the time of designation in 2008, the Treasury believed that the Union of Good was transferring "tens of millions of dollars a year" to Hamas-controlled entities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

As the Treasury release explained, "The Union of Good acts as a broker for Hamas by facilitating financial transfers between a web of charitable organizations—including several organizations previously designated… for providing support to Hamas—and Hamas-controlled organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. The primary purpose of this activity is to strengthen Hamas' political and military position in the West Bank and Gaza."

It gets worse. The Treasury, drawing from declassified documents, stated unequivocally that the Union of Good "compensated Hamas terrorists by providing payments to the families of suicide bombers. One of [the charities], the Al-Salah Society, previously identified as a key support node for Hamas, was designated in August 2007... The Society employed a number of members of the Hamas military wing and supported Hamas-affiliated combatants during the first Intifada."

Then there's the leadership. Apart from the aforementioned Qardawi, Union of Good's top officials include Hamas members, as well as Yemeni national Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, who was designated by the U.S. Treasury as a terrorist in 2004 for providing support to al Qaeda.

Thus, the convoy of ships allegedly trying to bring aid to the Gaza Strip could never be characterized as a "peace flotilla." With ties to Hamas and other dangerous groups, the IHH can only be described as a dangerous organization. Its members only underscored this fact when they attacked Israeli naval personnel with iron bars and knives, ultimately leading to the regrettable deaths this morning on the Mediterranean Sea.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ter ... lla?page=2

[Scape]

A brutal ambush at sea

$1:

Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of ‘peace activists,’ and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter
Ron Ben-Yishai

Our Navy commandoes fell right into the hands of the Gaza mission members. A few minutes before the takeover attempt aboard the Marmara got underway, the operation commander was told that 20 people were waiting on the deck where a helicopter was to deploy the first team of the elite Flotilla 13 unit. The original plan was to disembark on the top deck, and from there rush to the vessel’s bridge and order the Marmara’s captain to stop.

Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operation’s commander decided to bring the helicopter directly above the top deck. The first rope that soldiers used in order to descend down to the ship was wrested away by activists, most of them Turks, and tied to an antenna with the hopes of bringing the chopper down. However, Flotilla 13 fighters decided to carry on.


Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.


However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.


One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows.


‘I saw the tip of a rifle’

The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.


The planned rush towards the vessel’s bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. “Throw stun grenades,” shouted Flotilla 13’s commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship.


The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandoes who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter. At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.


Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters’ legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes.


“I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell,” one commando said. “He fired at us and we fired back. We didn’t see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldn’t find him.” Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops.


2 errors

During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover. It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight.


Some passengers on the ship stood at the back and pounded the soldiers’ hands as they attempted to climb on board. Only after a 30-minute shootout and brutal assaults using clubs and knifes did commandoes manage to reach the bridge and take over the Marmara.


It appears that the error in planning the operation was the estimate that passengers were indeed political activists and members of humanitarian groups who seek a political provocation, but would not resort to brutal violence. The soldiers thought they will encounter Bilin-style violence; instead, they got Bangkok. The forces that disembarked from the helicopters were few; just dozens of troops – not enough to contend with the large group awaiting them.


The second error was that commanders did not address seriously enough the fact that a group of men were expecting the soldiers on the top deck. Had they addressed this more seriously, they may have hurled tear-gas grenades and smoke grenades from the helicopter to create a screen that would have enabled them to carry out their mission, without the fighters falling right into the hands of the rioters, who severely assaulted them.

[xerxes]

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

$1:

The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That's because the organizers belong to a nonprofit that was banned by the Israeli government in July 2008 for its ties to terrorism finance....

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ter ... lla?page=2

That's all well and good but it doesn't change what happened.

It doesn't change the fact that the IDF boarded ships in international waters. Moreover, they boarded ships registered under the flag of Turkey and killed citizens of Turkey, a NATO member.
It doesn't change the fact that the ships had nothing resembling weapons or anything that could have been used to threaten or attack Israel.

Even taking the motivations of the group that launched the ships into consideration, this is still a lose-lose situation for Israel. This group threw down a challenge and Israel played right into their hands. Now the Israeli's look like a bunch of thugs as they maintain a blockade that is illegal and immoral.

Israel has just shot itself in the foot and has yet to feel the pain much less realise how much damage they've done.

[martin14]

xerxes xerxes:

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

$1:

The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That's because the organizers belong to a nonprofit that was banned by the Israeli government in July 2008 for its ties to terrorism finance....

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ter ... lla?page=2

That's all well and good but it doesn't change what happened.

It doesn't change the fact that the IDF boarded ships in international waters. Moreover, they boarded ships registered under the flag of Turkey and killed citizens of Turkey, a NATO member.
It doesn't change the fact that the ships had nothing resembling weapons or anything that could have been used to threaten or attack Israel.

Even taking the motivations of the group that launched the ships into consideration, this is still a lose-lose situation for Israel. This group threw down a challenge and Israel played right into their hands. Now the Israeli's look like a bunch of thugs as they maintain a blockade that is illegal and immoral.

Israel has just shot itself in the foot and has yet to feel the pain much less realise how much damage they've done.

ships get stopped in international waters all the time.

If the ships had behaved in a normal manner, and complied with requests,
the aid would have been docked, inspected and delivered, without incident.

But its clear the attention whores were looking for a confrontation.


So xerxes, you have a better solution obviously.

hmm, let the ship get closer next time, and then sink it.

Or, throw up their hands and surrender, letting anyone and anything get into Gaza.

[xerxes]

$1:

But its clear the attention whores were looking for a confrontation.

And they got everything they wanted. By attempting to run an illegal blockade, they got the reaction they wanted from Israel.

[martin14]

Not much of a solution...

[Benn]

martin14 martin14:

ships get stopped in international waters all the time.

If the ships had behaved in a normal manner, and complied with requests,
the aid would have been docked, inspected and delivered, without incident.

Yes they do, pirates board ships all the time in international waters under no authority but their own.

I don't know enough about laws about boarding ships on international waters for one. At face value if I was sailing along and some guy repelled onto my boat I'd whack him too. Under what authority was this blockade operating?

Why could they not have waited to launch this assault once the ship entered domestic waters?

As far as talk of the assault organization, it did, from the little one can tell, seem ill planned. I'm guessing by how it was carried out and what I have read, that they had bad intel and poorly assessed what they were running into. Obviously using paintball guns and no distraction or smoke cover they did not expect any resistance. They won't make that mistake again and next time it will be assault rifles used to mow anyone that moves down and things will end much worse.

Turkey threatening Naval intervention here add to that the Korean thing and the world is setting itself up for some real conflicts.

[EyeBrock]

I agree Benn. All Israel did here is raise the level of force and drag Turkey into the mix. Having Turkish destroyers escorting Hamas led convoys is a victory for Hamas.

[GreenTiger]

Not very good PR for Israel. It shows them to be the thugs that they can be a a moments notice.

[RUEZ]

xerxes xerxes:

$1:

But its clear the attention whores were looking for a confrontation.

And they got everything they wanted. By attempting to run an illegal blockade, they got the reaction they wanted from Israel.

You say it's illegal. Is that your opinion or is that fact?

[Scape]

International waters is a free for all. Israel intercepted them at night because they wanted to contain the situation rather then give them the media spotlight of a daytime meeting in their territorial waters with all the media coverage that would ensue. They had already declared their intent to breach the blockade so the argument that they had no right to board in international waters is void.

The boarding party was armed with paint guns and were expecting protesters, not armed thugs. The people that died as a result have no one to blame but themselves just like drawing a gun on a cop is an act of suicide.

[SprCForr]

I suspect that having the Turk navy escort the blockade runners is merely empty rhetoric pushed out for the masses. They know full well the danger in establishing such a precedent.

[xerxes]

RUEZ RUEZ:

xerxes xerxes:

$1:

But its clear the attention whores were looking for a confrontation.

And they got everything they wanted. By attempting to run an illegal blockade, they got the reaction they wanted from Israel.

You say it's illegal. Is that your opinion or is that fact?

A bit of both. The blockade itself has been legally put in place by Israel. But the result of the blckade is what makes it illegal, and it's the issue of the blockade of the Gaza strip that this whole affair is about.

The fact is that because of this blockade and the way Israel restricts the flow of goods into Gaza, the Palestinians are being collectively punished by Israel becuase of Hamas. Collective punishments are illegal under the Geneva Conventions, but of course the regular rules don't apply to Israel or the US anymore.

[commanderkai]

xerxes xerxes:

A bit of both. The blockade itself has been legally put in place by Israel. But the result of the blckade is what makes it illegal, and it's the issue of the blockade of the Gaza strip that this whole affair is about.

The fact is that because of this blockade and the way Israel restricts the flow of goods into Gaza, the Palestinians are being collectively punished by Israel becuase of Hamas. Collective punishments are illegal under the Geneva Conventions, but of course the regular rules don't apply to Israel or the US anymore.

Israel has allowed aid shipments to Gaza when they're inspected and such. Interestingly enough, they even told the ship the proper procedure to have their aid sent into Gaza. Of course, the ship wanted to make a political statement, and not actually help Palestinians. The whole point of a blockade is to restrict goods into Gaza, especially weapons and building material. Restricting the flow of goods is necessary to have an effective blockade. Basically, the fact is, the blockade is legal. Your opinion is that the blockade is "collectively punishing" Palestinians.