The Ambush at Sea

Expect to hear worldwide condemnation of Israel for this morning's raid on the "Freedom Flotilla." As you listen to the reports, here are some questions to keep in mind:

1. What were the motives of those on board the flotilla?

Palestinian Media Watch just released this video. It's an al-Jazeera report before today's incident showing men on one of the ships chanting " Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!"

As PMW explains, "Khaibar is the name of the last Jewish village defeated by Muhammad's army in 628. Many Jews were killed in that battle, which marked the end of Jewish presence in Arabia. There are Muslims who see that as a precursor for future wars against Jews. At gatherings and rallies of extremists, this chant is often heard as a threat to Jews to expect to be defeated and killed again by Muslims."

The clip also shows an interview with a woman who said the goal of the participants on the flotilla had "one of two happy endings: either martyrdom or reaching Gaza."

This story reveals a group girding themselves for battle and martyrdom, not simply on a humanitarian mission.

2. What happened to the soldiers during the battle?

Here are two YouTube clips released by the IDF. This clip shows one member of the flotilla stabbing an IDF soldier from behind:
The other clip shows a number of incidents including thefirst IDF soldier deployed on the ship being attacked and thrown to the lower deck and attacks on the IDF soldiers using metal objects, a stun grenade and a firebomb
Here's an article giving a first-hand account of what happened.(http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,l-3896796,00.html) It shows Israeli commandoes did not anticipate the level of violence when they attempted to board the ship and even came equipped with paintball guns to disperse the crowd. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"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."

3. Who were these "peace activists" on a humanitarian mission?

Here's an excerpt from a report by Col. Jonathan Fighel, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism.

1. Prominent among the coalition organizations participating in the aid flotilla scheduled to arrive in the Gaza Strip in the coming days is the Turkish IHH. It is a radical Islamic organization which was established in 1992 and formally registered in Istanbul in 1995.

2. Already back in 1996,the organization was identified by the CIA as a radical Islamic humanitarian organization bearing the name of INTERNATIONAL HUMANITAIRE HILFSORGANIZATION A.K.A International Humanitarian Relief Organization, whose main offices were located in Zagreb and Sarajevo, its Headquarters in Germany, established by a member of the Turkish Refah Party. The CIA report mentioned that the organization was at that time in connections with Extremist groups in Iran and Algeria.

. "IHH, which plays a central role in organizing the flotilla to the Gaza Strip, is a Turkish humanitarian relief fund with a radical Islamic anti-Western orientation. Besides its legitimate philanthropic activities, it supports radical Islamic networks, including Hamas, and at least in the past, even global jihad elements"

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