http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137780
Published: 05/31/10, 12:18 AM / Last Update: 05/31/10, 12:19 AM
“IDF Surprised Flotilla at Night and Arrested Passengers”
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
SNIPPET: “Late Sunday night, the Israeli Navy surprised the flotilla bound for Hamas-controlled Gaza in international waters and hundreds of IDF soldiers who came by air and sea boarded the ships and announced to all passengers that they are under arrest..
One of the crew said that one “Navy warship” had contacted the six boats in the flotilla and asked them to identify themselves. They were told the Navy would board the boats if the ships’s crew and passengers do not agree to head for the Ashdod port instead of the Gaza Coast, where Israel maintains sovereignty under the Oslo Accords and does not allow ships to approach without searching them for arms.
International law allows for countries to ask suspicious boats to identify themselves. The vessels’ passengers did not cooperate and called the move “scare tactics” on their streamed broadcasts.
The IDF searched the boats for arms immediately after the takeover. The soldiers were forced to use tear gas after they were attacked with knives, daggers and cudgels, putting their lives in danger.”
One question I have not heard asked or answered yet: Were any weapons or munitions found on the flotilla? Or, was this just a test run to see how Israel would react?
I suspect that part of the idea here was to raise an international stink in the hope that Israel would get bashful about reacting similarly to the next “flotilla”, or the one after that or the one after that... I also suspect that no way would Israel get that stupid.