Posted on 05/30/2010 7:15:40 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Israeli navy made its first contact with a flotilla carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists and thousands of tons of supplies for Gaza shortly before midnight on Sunday, surprising the boats in international waters, according to activists on one vessel.
Israel has vowed not to let the flotilla reach the shores of Gaza, where the Islamic militant group Hamas holds sway, putting the activists and the Israelis on a high-profile public relations collision course. Named the Freedom Flotilla and led by the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement and a Turkish organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi, the convoy of six cargo and passenger boats represents the most ambitious attempt yet to break Israel’s three-year blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave.
Three Israeli navy missile boats left the Haifa naval base in northern Israel a few minutes after 9 p.m. local time, planning to intercept the flotilla.
After asking the captains of the boats to identify themselves, the navy told them they were approaching a blockaded area and asked them either to proceed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, or to turn around and go back to their countries of origin.
The activists responded that they would continue toward their destination, Gaza.
Speaking by satellite phone from the Challenger 1 boat, which has foreign legislators and other high-profile figures on board, a Free Gaza Movement leader, Huwaida Arraf, said, “We communicated to them clearly that we are unarmed civilians. “We asked them not to use violence.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Shoot across bow then sink.
Believe that when I see it.
Shoot to kill. If the ship goes down, order the helicopters to strafe swimmers.
There won't be a second round of this silliness.
No you must give a warning shot unless they fire upon you.
What happened to BANG, BANG BANG, STOP or I’ll shoot?
Why do I doubt both claims?
foul the props or whatever is propelling the things.
CNN Turkey video looks pretty real. Go Israel!
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/05/026419.php
“...
Now, Israeli naval vessels are moving to intercept the flotilla. They will tell the ships that they must proceed to Ashdod harbor or else be boarded. Israel’s Government Press Office also responded to the activists’ claim of hardship in Gaza by recommending the Roots Club in Gaza City. “We have been told the beef stroganoff and cream of spinach soup are highly recommended,” the Press Office said in an email to reporters.
...”
Or just shoot out the rudder.
Frogmen or SEALS can work wonders.
IDF commandos have boarded one of the boats via helicopter.
Looks to be a fairly orderly process, if boarding a ship can ever be orderly.
It doesn’t look like Israel was shooting and anyone was killed. It looks like they just boarded the ship.
“If they were really interested in the well being of the people of Gaza,” said an Israeli government spokesman, Mark Regev, said in a statement, “they would have accepted the offers of Egypt or Israel to transfer humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, along with the other 15 thousand tons sent every week. Instead they have chosen a cheap political stunt.”
Stupid organizers!
It looks like a bunch of the muzzies are faking being injured. The boarding does look orderly.
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