After nearly 24 hours of hyperventilating people raging, raving and ranting about the "murderous government" of Israel - without any knowledge about what actually happened on the flotilla aside from what they were told by the people who deliberately staged this provocation, a different picture is emerging. Israel has released videos showing the commandos being attacked, which not even the most rabid Israel-hater could deny - although he might weep about the fact that it became public and is undermining his propaganda campaign against Israel.
Because I gave Israel the benefit of the doubt and considered its explanation that its soldiers were attacked by the "peace-activists" on the flotillas (while conceding that a small chance existed that the soldiers attacked without justification), I was called a "rotten human being" (see the earlier link). Not that being called such is a cause of any distress to me, I am amused by the lunacy of such individuals. Now it turns out that I was right after all. What a surprise.
The BBCreports:
Video released by the Israeli military shows individual commandos rappelling on to the ship from helicopters and, in one case at least, being outnumbered and attacked by several people on board the ship.
The video appears to show one of the activists charging commandos (it is difficult to distinguish between solders and civilians) with a long metal pole. Video on the Israeli Foreign Ministry website shows hand-held catapults, metal rods, bags of marbles and a hammer found on the ship.
An account of the clash by an Israeli reporter on ynetnews said that the "navy commandos fell right into the hands of the Gaza mission members".
He wrote that the troops had "paintball" rifles which made no impression. They then used stun grenades. They were not expecting such opposition, he said.
One soldier had his handgun seized and was knocked unconscious, according to the report. After that the order to use live fire was given. The report quoted one commando as saying that someone with a rifle fired at them.
Such peace-activists. I am truly impressed by their pacifism.
It is rather typical of Israel-haters that they spew their venom at the slightest (and in retrospect, justified) action that Israel takes, while completely ignoring the deaths of tens of thousands in places like Sri Lanka, and even hundreds of thousands, as in Darfur. For some reason, some critics of Israel seem to be obsessed with Israel and demonizing the country and blackening its reputation. I recognize that not all people who hyperventilated about what happened are Israel-haters (note: I do not use Israel-hater as a synonym for anti-Semite). Some might be genuinely concerned about human rights, who in a fit of anger temporarily lost all of their sense. In the position that they were, not having any information about what actually happened beyond what they were told by the Arab organizations, that is certainly understandable. It would not be understandable now.
You can't attack commandos and expect to live to see another day, as the people on the flotillas did according to the BBC. Case closed. I think all the hyperventilators owe the Israeli people an apology for all the repulsive and baseless attacks leveled at the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.