When societies live in denial of their abuses against others or justify them, their morality declines and the societies go downhill towards a characterless nation. This was blatantly demonstrated by Israeli troops storming Freedom Flotilla ship carrying humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza . The way the Israeli troops brutally murdered aid workers on the ship after raiding it on international waters clearly showed (for God knows how many times, actually...even God lost count) that Israel does not give a care in the world to international laws knowing very well that whatever Israel does, the US and European countries only give lip servicing , condemning and then veto any resolutions sentencing Israeli actions at the UN.
How can the US now justify drone attacks in Pakistan territories while practically doing nothing to stop Israelis from killing innocent Palestinians? Isn't Israel terrorizing the innocent Palestinians? Aren't Osama and Nethanyahu the two faces of the same coin?
There is something called international law. It's downright illegal to invade a civilian ship in international waters. Israel's blockade of GAZA is not legal, the quartet does not accept it. There is a very clear clause in international law for disproportionate force which Israel has used innumerous times. They did it when they massacred 1500 Palestinians against 4 Israeli casualties in the GAZA war and they have done it now on Freedom Flotilla.
If there were terrorists on the ship, then why have the Israelis released all foreign nationals aboard the ship? Israel said that there was no need for aid in GAZA. If that is true, then why is Israel scrambling to deliver the aid to GAZA? These questions will have to be answered.
Below are 3 excerpts of what some of the freed passengers had to say about the Israeli raid on the ships that they were in. These testimonies were extracted from the Al Jazeera English website.
Andre Abu-Khalil, Al Jazeera Cameraman
First they (the Israeli soldiers) tried to come by helicopter and tried to come down on the main deck. But the Turkish people were gathering on the roof top and they managed to grab 3 of the soldiers, which led to a second helicopter to come and start shooting live bullets at the people.
People (on board) did not have any guns. All that they had were some wooden sticks which is normal.
I was on the Mavi Marmara ( the lead ship of the flotilla).
I wasn't on the roof top deck. I was on the first deck floor where the Israeli soldiers tried to climb by the ropes on the deck.
There were 20 Turkish resistance guys throwing tomatoes, anything that they managed to throw on the Israeli soldiers.
Then one of these Turkish guys got a bullet just in the head. When the Turkish people saw that, they pulled him inside when the Israeli soldiers started firing on the deck.
(After the soldiers took over the ship), they kept us tied up, hands behind the back for 9 hours until we reached the Ashdod port and from there, they took us for individual interrogation and then shipped is all to Be'er Sheva jail.
The organizers (of the flotilla) swapped the 4 Israeli soldiers kidnapped or caught by the people on the ship, and because they were beaten up, because it was a kind of resistance from our side, we swapped the Israeli soldiers to (get) to treat our injured people.
Mohamed Vall, Al Jazeera Reporter
The Israeli assault took those of us on the ship by complete surprise. During that hour and half in the early morning, everybody on board the ship thought that no one would survive the Israeli attack because we saw about 30 war vessels surrounding this ship and helicopters attacking with very luminous bombs, the sound of them makes you think you are dead.
That was a fear of war, complete war, on a ship that was full of men, women and even children.
The first soldiers on the ship were not killed, they were not shot at, they were captured by the defenders of the ship.
Moments later, another bigger helicopter landed more troops and this time, they fired immediately at the people and killed as many as they could to reach the cabin and take control of the ship.
I saw blood spill on the ship and everyone knew that there were no weapons. We all knew that the Israelis would intercept us and try to stop us, but we didn't think that they would open fire at the first moment.
I was shown the picture of a Yemeni man who was on the ship (and this is ridiculous)...most people know that every Yemeni in the world has a Yemeni styled knife that is a cultural thing and it does not have anything to do with violence.
I understand now that in Israel, they are trying to make a big deal about that, saying that the boat was full of violent people and this was just because of that one man!!
Mihalis Grigoropoulos, Greece
I was steering the ship, we saw then (Israeli soldiers) capture another ship in front of us, which was the Turkish passenger vessel with more than 500 people on board and heard shots fired.
We did not resist at all...we couldn't even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?
The only thing some people tried was to delay them from getting to the bridge by forming a human shield. They were fired upon with plastic bullets and were stunned with electric devices.
There was great mistreatment after our arrest. We were essentially hostages, like animals on the ground.
They wouldn't let us use the bathroom, wouldn't give us food or water and they took video of us despite international conventions banning this act.
There is something called international law. It's downright illegal to invade a civilian ship in international waters. Israel's blockade of GAZA is not legal, the quartet does not accept it. There is a very clear clause in international law for disproportionate force which Israel has used innumerous times. They did it when they massacred 1500 Palestinians against 4 Israeli casualties in the GAZA war and they have done it now on Freedom Flotilla.
If there were terrorists on the ship, then why have the Israelis released all foreign nationals aboard the ship? Israel said that there was no need for aid in GAZA. If that is true, then why is Israel scrambling to deliver the aid to GAZA? These questions will have to be answered.
Below are 3 excerpts of what some of the freed passengers had to say about the Israeli raid on the ships that they were in. These testimonies were extracted from the Al Jazeera English website.
Andre Abu-Khalil, Al Jazeera Cameraman
First they (the Israeli soldiers) tried to come by helicopter and tried to come down on the main deck. But the Turkish people were gathering on the roof top and they managed to grab 3 of the soldiers, which led to a second helicopter to come and start shooting live bullets at the people.
People (on board) did not have any guns. All that they had were some wooden sticks which is normal.
I was on the Mavi Marmara ( the lead ship of the flotilla).
I wasn't on the roof top deck. I was on the first deck floor where the Israeli soldiers tried to climb by the ropes on the deck.
There were 20 Turkish resistance guys throwing tomatoes, anything that they managed to throw on the Israeli soldiers.
Then one of these Turkish guys got a bullet just in the head. When the Turkish people saw that, they pulled him inside when the Israeli soldiers started firing on the deck.
(After the soldiers took over the ship), they kept us tied up, hands behind the back for 9 hours until we reached the Ashdod port and from there, they took us for individual interrogation and then shipped is all to Be'er Sheva jail.
The organizers (of the flotilla) swapped the 4 Israeli soldiers kidnapped or caught by the people on the ship, and because they were beaten up, because it was a kind of resistance from our side, we swapped the Israeli soldiers to (get) to treat our injured people.
Mohamed Vall, Al Jazeera Reporter
The Israeli assault took those of us on the ship by complete surprise. During that hour and half in the early morning, everybody on board the ship thought that no one would survive the Israeli attack because we saw about 30 war vessels surrounding this ship and helicopters attacking with very luminous bombs, the sound of them makes you think you are dead.
That was a fear of war, complete war, on a ship that was full of men, women and even children.
The first soldiers on the ship were not killed, they were not shot at, they were captured by the defenders of the ship.
Moments later, another bigger helicopter landed more troops and this time, they fired immediately at the people and killed as many as they could to reach the cabin and take control of the ship.
I saw blood spill on the ship and everyone knew that there were no weapons. We all knew that the Israelis would intercept us and try to stop us, but we didn't think that they would open fire at the first moment.
I was shown the picture of a Yemeni man who was on the ship (and this is ridiculous)...most people know that every Yemeni in the world has a Yemeni styled knife that is a cultural thing and it does not have anything to do with violence.
I understand now that in Israel, they are trying to make a big deal about that, saying that the boat was full of violent people and this was just because of that one man!!
Mihalis Grigoropoulos, Greece
I was steering the ship, we saw then (Israeli soldiers) capture another ship in front of us, which was the Turkish passenger vessel with more than 500 people on board and heard shots fired.
We did not resist at all...we couldn't even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?
The only thing some people tried was to delay them from getting to the bridge by forming a human shield. They were fired upon with plastic bullets and were stunned with electric devices.
There was great mistreatment after our arrest. We were essentially hostages, like animals on the ground.
They wouldn't let us use the bathroom, wouldn't give us food or water and they took video of us despite international conventions banning this act.
The US can actually win the war on terror sooner than expected by recognizing Palestine as a nation and acting as a sincere catalyst in the creation of a Palestinian state. I truly believe that only the formation of a Palestinian state can finally bring peace in the middle east and the world as this will show that US policy is indeed consistent towards the Muslim world too.
