A Turkish civilian ship carrying medical supplies to Gazza was stopped by the Israili Navy in open sea. The rumor is that the soldiers bluntly shot at the totally defensless crew; 2 dead, 30 wounded.

Israil radio says the civilians in the relief ship showed resistance and 10 of them had to be killed....Israil claims to be very sorry..

Yes it was on TV news this morning.

Tragic.

Turks are storming up against the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul.

Sorry about those civilians.

Latest news from Israeli radio; 19 dead, 10 Turks, the rest from other nationalities...Turkia demanded all killed and wounded civilians to be returned to Turkia immediately.

serefsizlerr

Allah belani versin onlara

the israeli troops say they were protecting themselves from the activists, they didn´t even have any weapons

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10195838.stm

A despicable act of unprovoked violence.........

This is outrageous, I wonder what lie will Israel come up with to clean themselves. Still, it doesn´t stand a chance to do it as most countries are shocked by the murder they committed and nobody will believe that they were provoked to kill unarmed people bringind aid to the Gaza strip. EU demands an international investigation...

Its absolutley disgusting - this has gone on far too long, too many people are dying over this.

May all the civillians who lost their lives for this stupid war rest in peace

amin

Where the hell is the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE winning President of the UNITED STATES !

Where is he hiding, why is he silent?

Bunch of hypocrats !

What can you expect from a bunch of criminals? Condolences to  everyone who suffered from this horrible attack.

 He is busy with cleaning the Mexican Gulf most probably...

Few hundred Turks, captured in a civilian ship, on high seas, are currently in detention in Israel. Even the wounded ones being carried to hospitals seem to be handcuffed in pictures by Israili TV.

Would it be too racist, if Turkia was to round up all Israili citizens currently in Turkia and kept them hancuffed in a detention area, until Israelies free the Turkish prisoners?

outrageous act from the nation that claims to be chosen..chosen for what? for attacking others? The nation that has been crying for understanding and compensation for all past sufferings behaves like this...Horrible.

My sympathy goes to all innocent victims of this attack ..and I support my bro Alpha in his anger!!!

I know, you are interested in only Turkish citizens there, but according to the news, there are also people from 32 different countries, possibly among the killed and the wounded ones as well. But whatever nationality they might be from, it is saddening as well as inflaming.

My first reaction was, WHAT the HELL is wrong with those people?! In any case, let me state up front that nobody deserved to be killed on that boat. But now I have seen the images on tv, and heard about what happened before this boat went on its way, and I have nuanced my view a bit. I heard that the convoy was warned for weeks that they couldn´t take that route to provide aid, that they would be stopped, and that there were alternative routes available. And the images on the news showed that the scary army-guys were attacked once they got on the boat. But to be honest, if I was on an aid boat, I would probably also get a stick and hit around if some guy with a gun would drop on the boat... no, acutally, I would be hiding in the corner... Still a horrible act though. When will this big mess end...

Correct...

For an ethnic group that has been living off international sympathy for almost a 100 years now, Israel has turned the town of GAZZA to the biggest and cruelest concentration camp in history. People are not only dying there, but also being forced to watch their babies die.

Who the hell is Israel to highjack civilian ships in open sea? What is their difference from the pirates of Somali?

Are we all supposed to keep silent now, just because the Israelies had warned us all in advance? What else do you think we can allow them to do?; how far can they go,  provided they warn us in advance?

 My condolences go to everyone who suffered this horrible attack.

What is happening in Gaza is horrible, and human rights have seemed to have vanished there, but please don´t say that it is the "biggest and cruelest concentration camp in history" ... cruelest? My family has died in concentration camps, and believe me, you don´t want to start a competition on which form of oppression is the cruelest. Nobody "wins" in the cruelty race. I have to live with the knowledge, that some nazi-idiot might have turned my uncle into a lamp (yes, this really happened), that he might have been worked to death, might have been gassed to death, but hopefully he died by an allied bombing of a concentration camp.

And I also want to make clear that this is not a "Jewish thing". It´s not like all the Jews in the world get to vote during the Israeli elections. We need to let go of the whole Jew-Muslim thing, and not make this an idiological question. It´s this religious aspect that has hindered the peace process in the past, and it´s time for a chance.

People should see what this is really about...basic human rights, the choice to live your life, and the opportunity to earn a living. It doesn´t matter if a gun is held by a Jew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, or an Atheist... the bullet will be just as harmful in any case. It´s the people in high places who play with human lives like they are playing a game of chess, on both sides. Did you ever here of an Israeli minister going on a fighting mission? Was it ever a high placed guy from Hamaz who did a suicide bombing?

Hmmm....ummm....how about Yitzhak Rabin.....Ariel Sharon....Moshe Dayan........as for the guy from Hamaz...he wasn´t around after the suicide bombing......and no, I don´t condone suicide bombing in any way....but I do think the Israili policies are certainly counter productive...so say the least.

........and to tell the truth....this situation in Gaza certainly rivals "others".....but this is not a time for competition as to who has, or had it the worst....

How long is this going to go on....enough already!

Why did the parents of those toddlers onboard took them on this obviously dangerous journey? Regardless what cause they are advocating, they must have thought about the safety of their children first. They should never have trusted the Israeli government. These guys are always doing this and walk away with blood in their hands. They will walk away this time too. We may look forward to a few more Holocaust movies this year. It is guranteed that in a couple of years from now, all this will be forgotten but the sufferings of the Jewish nation will always be high on the agenda.

 Ah yes, but they were only part of army offences as young soldiers. Once they grew in the ranks, once they got power, they sat more and more safely behind bigger and bigger desks. In the end, a big problem in any conflict is that the guys on top, decide what happens... "We move this group of guys to there, in the fight about 5% will die, then the remaining 95% will move here... perfect." They make decisions about human lives without respecting the value of every single life.

And what?! Children on board? Seriously? Which idiot thought THAT would be a good idea

I read in the news that no communication is possible wiith the vessels since Israeli troops are using jammers. Ever since I saw the picture of the two year old son of a ship officer, my mind has been set on him. I have a child about the same age. Without him my life wouldbe meaningless. Through empathy, I know the psychological condition of the family(s) in question. I can´t stop blaming them for what they did though. For the time being the details of the incident are still sketchy.

I don´t know when Israel´s cruelty will end. I don´t know how many more people have to die to it finish. But Israel´s name was already written to the black pages of the history. I respect the brave and innocent people who are killed by Israeli soldiers on that ship. They showed us what courage means. They defended themselves with their fists against machine guns. And they became martyrs for us. This is what courage means. I learned one of the ships´ name is Rachel Corrie. It is also so meaningful.

What? Children on board? I can´t even imagine wanting to take my child on a ship going anywhere near places with war going on!

I know there was a journalist of Polish origin on one of the ships.

I saw on the news that Israel claims to have been provoked and that the ships were smuggling guns to Palestinians. Right, as if anyone is going to believe them. Had there been weapons, why weren´t they used during the Israeli attack?

I wonder what measures the Arab League will decide on taking tomorrow. And what the EU and USA are going to do.

Yes, the MV Rachel Corrie, it is the Irish ship, it sure is a very meaningful name... I think Israel will get away with this as it always does. But still, I am waiting to see what the reactions from the likes of the EU and US will be.....  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved

I cannot comprehend why anyone would take their child with them on such a dangerous mission!  Why would anyone put their own child in danger like this?  It boggles the mind!

My guess is that Ehud Barak wil get this year´s NOBEL PEACE PRIZE...

You may be right........stranger things have happened.......

Here is an interesting commentary by Juan Cole...the comments are also worth reading....and maybe contributing to.

This has always been a genocide and shame on the world for watching this for years

and never stepping up to the plate and stopping Israel.

Every product made in Israel should be boycotted and not touched

bargained for or used. All fundings to Israel should be stopped both

deportation and importation.

Let them become a 3rd class country and lose all economical power.

Let the the world make them stand on trial for this and hurt them

in the pocket book. I really hope USA stops sending funding and weapons

which they have continually done.

Turkey should stop all ships going to TEL AVIV  "><"

The death toll from the Israeli navy´s takeover of a Gaza

aid convoy has risen to 20 while Israel carefully censors reports

on the casualties from the attack.

Gaza Freedom Flotilla came under fire early on Monday

by Israeli navy forces in international waters more than

150km (90 miles) off the coast of Gaza.

The six-ship aid fleet was soon stormed by commandos

descending from helicopters.

At least 20 people were killed in the takeover of the Gaza aid

convoy, al-Aqsa TV channel reported, saying that more than 50

people, including leader of the Palestinian Islamic Movement Sheikh

Raed Salah, were wounded in the attack.

Released by Israeli Armed Forces, the following clip shows how Israelly commandos attacked the relief ship.

The relief workers are defending the ship with two chains, plenty of water and a shower of dirty soup plates......a positive proof  that the ship carried heavily armed terrorists.

Though the story is tragic, when you consider 19 of the defenders were eventually killed,  I laughed my ...... off watching the clowns in the military attack boat.

http://video.ntvmsnbc.com/israilden-yeni-iddia.html

The Rachel Corrie, the Irish aid ship, is en route to Gaza

http://www.independent.ie/topics/Rachel+Corrie

This confrontatial attack was planned through the previous week. They had established a plan to do a commando attack with 1000 Israel soldiers in the middle of the night. Not only is Israel in the wrong  attacking civilians in international water and acting like a lunatic country Obama also is responsibile for this attack. I am sure he was well aware of the ongoings and this is why he has yet to make any statement regarding this. This act was not an accident the Israel cabinet met for a full week discussing this and numerous reports in the israel press and suggestions. This attack on a humanitarian convoy was planned and premeditated. The USA is sending 15 million dollars a day to Israel to fund the army and the 200 to 300 nucular devices Israel has. Israel has threaten Iran and Lebanon saying look at what we can do on the Gaza we act like mad dogs. Shame it took the world this long to see or act on this genocide. I honor every person who took part in this humanitarian convoy to bring the world a little closer to the truth.

I think you should keep your focus on the Israeli government, and not bring Obama into this. I think the guy was busy enough trying to take care of the messes in his own country. Right now, the oil that is ruining parts of the economy, the nature, and the food supply of his country is more important than a boat somewhere near Israeli waters.

 Totally agree with you - Israel created the mess now they have to sort it out.  Obama should keep his buggle out and sort the environmental disaster which will eventually affect us globally.....

When they (US/UK etc) condem these sort of things I am sorry but I never take them seriously as it is never backed up with anything tangible.

 My thoughts exactly.  What good is a condemnation if it is not backed up by action?  Empty words.

again..........?? the last time you got involved in a political science debate you failed.

I am referring to you saying the dutch army never killed children or civilians. Perhaps you should go back to kitchen and make cookies for the survivors or something. If you read and search there is so much information to verify the  USA is involved with this and the very reason why Obama has not said anything much regarding this horrible inhumane act

this letter is from :

The Ohio Democrat began circulating a letter to colleagues on Wednesday condemning the attack in no uncertain terms, saying the raid “constitutes an act of belligerence against Turkey” and “undermines United States’ troops efforts in Iraq.”

June 2, 2010

The Honorable Barack Obama

President of the United States

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Israeli commandos, acting at the direction of the State of Israel, attacked and seized a Turkish ship in international waters, in the Mediterranean Sea.

At least nine were killed in the incident aboard the Mavi Marmara.  Hundreds of civilians were taken into custody and goods were confiscated. Since the United States considers Israel our most important ally in the region, whose survival is a of primary concern, it is incumbent upon the Commander in Chief to call Israel to an accounting for its conduct in planning and executing the deadly military attack in international waters upon a peaceful flotilla carrying citizens from over 50 countries.

The State of Israel’s conduct, attacking a Turkish ship in international waters, constitutes an act of belligerence against Turkey, which at one time Israel considered an important ally. It also undermines United States’ troops efforts in Iraq, since your administration’s efforts to achieve stability in the region and to withdraw troops from Iraq has depended upon Turkey’s cooperation through use of its air bases.

In its violent commando raid on the Mavi Marmara, the government of Israel showed no concern as to how its conduct may affect the lives of defenseless, innocent people, its friends and allies, and in particular the United States. The United States must remind Israel as well as all of our other friends and allies:

It is not acceptable to repeatedly violate international law.

It is not acceptable to shoot and kill innocent civilians.

It is not acceptable to commit an act of aggression against another U.S. ally.

It is not acceptable to continue a blockade which denies humanitarian relief.

It is not acceptable to heighten tensions in a region while the United States continues to put so much blood and treasure on the line.

The State of Israel’s action necessitates that the United States, which is Israel’s partner in the region, begin to redefine its relationship and to establish such boundaries and conditions which are sufficient for mutual respect and cooperation.

It is incumbent upon Israeli officials to bring forth the truth about the planning for and the attack upon the Mavi Marmara.

No one questions the right of Israel to defend its border, but that defense does not extend to shooting innocent civilians anywhere in the world, anytime it pleases.

Israel must account for our support, for the lives of our soldiers, for the investment of billions from our taxpayers.  Israel owes the United States more than reckless, pre-meditated violence waged against innocent people.

The attack on the Mavi Marmara requires consequences for the Netanyahu Administration and for the State of Israel. Those consequences must be dealt by the United States. They must be diplomatic and they must be financial. The U.S. can begin by calling for an independent international inquiry of the Mavi Marmara incident. The integrity of such inquiry necessitates that it not be led by the nation whose conduct is under scrutiny. If our nation fails to act in any substantive way, the United States licenses the violence and we are complicit in it and our own citizens will be forced to pay the consequences.

We the undersigned deeply regret the loss of life. We are also fully aware of the dangers to world security which exist in the region, which is why the United States has been unstinting it its defense of Israel. We have a right to expect that Israel not add to those dangers with military conduct which all people of good will know is neither defensible nor moral. There must be consequences for such conduct. We await your response.

Sorry to inform you but Obama is involved in this. This is sort of like reading your tax dollars at work ........

For many years the American media said that “Israel receives $1.8 billion in military aid” or that “Israel receives $1.2 billion in economic aid.” Both statements were true, but since they were never combined to give us the complete total of annual U.S. aid to Israel, they also were lies—true lies.

Recently Americans have begun to read and hear that “Israel receives $3 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid.” That´s true. But it´s still a lie. The problem is that in fiscal 1997 alone, Israel received from a variety of other U.S. federal budgets at least $525.8 million above and beyond its $3 billion from the foreign aid budget, and yet another $2 billion in federal loan guarantees. So the complete total of U.S. grants and loan guarantees to Israel for fiscal 1997 was $5,525,800,000.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/cost_of_israel.html

That letter was composed by the honorable Democratic Congressman from Ohio

Dennis Kucinich....

Paramedic, please when you post these type of things, give credit and a link.

Kucinich letter link

and for the record, I agree with what he says in the letter. I´m deeply ashamed of the action by Vice President Joe Biden in his interview on Charlie Rose...and by Obama´s lack of forcefull commentary.  What happened to the flotilla was wrong.....period.....

Turkey Mourns Murdered Gaza peace activists

See; Today´s ZAMAN

THE IRISH PETITION

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?Israelno&1

Hi ....... I thought you might like to sign the petition to put pressure on the Irish Government to expel the Israeli Ambassador immediately. He refused to attend a metting with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Michael Martin, citing a
"prior engagement"!!!!. As a nation who suffered 800 years of English tyranny and wanton Ethnic Cleansing, under The Great British Empire, we stand firmly behind the People of Palastine as a whole in their fight for freedom.
If possible can you pass the link onto your friends and family to sign also.
Wishing you well
Ann xxx

If you track down money, then you can make Obama, being the president of the U.S., responsible for everything that happens in the world, including attacks on the U.S. itself. That´s why I said, just keep him out of this debate. You can make the Dutch prime minister resposible, you can even make the Turkish president responsible. Focus your attention on the directly involved people, who gave the order to jump on that boat. Focus on Israel, it seems more usefull than showing worldwide networks of financial support to Israeli organizations.

USA has funded the Israel Army for years if they did not fund this the army would not exist.

you can read this whole article  at http://www.wrmea.com/us_aid_to_israel/index.htm

good luck with your reading......... or baking cookies

THE STRATEGIC FUNCTIONS OF U.S. AID TO ISRAEL

By Stephen Zunes

Dr. Zunes is an assistant professor in the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco

Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Congressional researchers have disclosed that between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U.S. military loans were converted to grants and that this was the understanding from the beginning. Indeed, all past U.S. loans to Israel have eventually been forgiven by Congress, which has undoubtedly helped Israel´s often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan. U.S. policy since 1984 has been that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel´s annual debt repayment to the United States. Unlike other countries, which receive aid in quarterly installments, aid to Israel since 1982 has been given in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year, leaving the U.S. government to borrow from future revenues. Israel even lends some of this money back through U.S. treasury bills and collects the additional interest.

In addition, there is the more than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds that go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds. The ability of Americans to make what amounts to tax-deductible contributions to a foreign government, made possible through a number of Jewish charities, does not exist with any other country. Nor do these figures include short- and long-term commercial loans from U.S. banks, which have been as high as $1 billion annually in recent years.

Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world´s population and already has one of the world´s higher per capita incomes. Indeed, Israel´s GNP is higher than the combined GNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. With a per capita income of about $14,000, Israel ranks as the sixteenth wealthiest country in the world; Israelis enjoy a higher per capita income than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and are only slightly less well-off than most Western European countries.

AID does not term economic aid to Israel as development assistance, but instead uses the term "economic support funding." Given Israel´s relative prosperity, U.S. aid to Israel is becoming increasingly controversial. In 1994, Yossi Beilen, deputy foreign minister of Israel and a Knesset member, told the Women´s International Zionist organization, "If our economic situation is better than in many of your countries, how can we go on asking for your charity?"

U.S. Aid to Israel: What U.S. Taxpayer Should Know

by Tom Malthaner

This morning as I was walking down Shuhada Street in Hebron, I saw graffiti marking the newly painted storefronts and awnings. Although three months past schedule and 100 percent over budget, the renovation of Shuhada Street was finally completed this week. The project manager said the reason for the delay and cost overruns was the sabotage of the project by the Israeli settlers of the Beit Hadassah settlement complex in Hebron. They broke the street lights, stoned project workers, shot out the windows of bulldozers and other heavy equipment with pellet guns, broke paving stones before they were laid and now have defaced again the homes and shops of Palestinians with graffiti. The settlers did not want Shuhada St. opened to Palestinian traffic as was agreed to under Oslo 2. This renovation project is paid for by USAID funds and it makes me angry that my tax dollars have paid for improvements that have been destroyed by the settlers.

Most Americans are not aware how much of their tax revenue our government sends to Israel. For the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, the U.S. has given Israel $6.72 billion: $6.194 billion falls under Israel´s foreign aid allotment and $526 million comes from agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Information Agency and the Pentagon. The $6.72 billion figure does not include loan guarantees and annual compound interest totalling $3.122 billion the U.S. pays on money borrowed to give to Israel. It does not include the cost to U.S. taxpayers of IRS tax exemptions that donors can claim when they donate money to Israeli charities. (Donors claim approximately $1 billion in Federal tax deductions annually. This ultimately costs other U.S. tax payers $280 million to $390 million.)

When grant, loans, interest and tax deductions are added together for the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, our special relationship with Israel cost U.S. taxpayers over $10 billion.

Since 1949 the U.S. has given Israel a total of $83.205 billion. The interest costs borne by U.S. tax payers on behalf of Israel are $49.937 billion, thus making the total amount of aid given to Israel since 1949 $133.132 billion. This may mean that U.S. government has given more federal aid to the average Israeli citizen in a given year than it has given to the average American citizen.

I am angry when I see Israeli settlers from Hebron destroy improvements made to Shuhada Street with my tax money. Also, it angers me that my government is giving over $10 billion to a country that is more prosperous than most of the other countries in the world and uses much of its money for strengthening its military and the oppression of the Palestinian people.

Why did you only quote a part of my message? I know the other part of my message is true too, but you don´t seem to care about that What I mean is, that theories about U.S. aid isn´t going to help anybody. How about seeing what is possible for the people in Gaza. People are too caught up with the politics, to see the human suffering. Talking about Obama isn´t going to accomplish anything. I´m wondering what kind of concrete thing I can do right now to help the people in Gaza, but nobody seems to be able to tell me what to do. All I get are responses about international politics.

If baking cookies would help people in Gaza (perhaps a bake sale!) I would do it.

You could boycott anything that come from israel you could also boycott the usa or you could go on the next flotilla if none of these help

you can write to your own media and politicians and express outrage and yes money helps

you can help fund the next flotilla

http://www.vivirlatino.com/2009/01/01/ways-to-help-gaza.php

http://www.yayacanada.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-you-can-help-gaza.html

The general population of Gaza is lacking the basic necessities of life such as shelter, food, clean water, and medicine.

• Over 80% of Gaza´s population depend on International Aid
• 70% live on $3 or less everyday
• 80% require Food Aid
• Around 32,000 people have no running water
• About 100,000 have access to water once every 2-3 days
• 80% of the water supply is unfit to drink and does not meet the World Health Organization´s standards for drinking

This is a humanitarian crisis. Your donations are desperately needed in order to help the needy people in Gaza.

http://www.irfan.ca/help_gaza_11.html

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19199.htm

I´m not going on the next boat since I have some problems with the orgaizations which provides the financial support for this. They had close contact with the top of Hamas.  I understand that they did this, because Hamas is in power in Gaza, and that way they can perhaps  know better what is needed, and make sure that the aid goes to the right places. But in any case, I can´t be part of any organization that has this kind of contact with Hamas. (In all honesty, ofcourse this is not the only reason why I will not hop on the next boat )

Trust me, you wouldn´t hop on the next boat even if you knew there was no link between them and Hamas.

I am not sure whether Hamas are as evil as the current Israeli government. But then you would go there running wouldn´t you. Patriots can tolerate a few little mistakes here and there.

MEET RACHEL CORRIE, HERSELF

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pex9_rachel-corrie_news

I think nobody on earth with sensible views can defend what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. Israel is trying to use anti semitizm as a weapon by calling all their critics as anti semite. Alas so far..

But there is one more thing, there is a pact in the Middle East against Israel.. In this pact, in this alliance, there are many who dont want to Israel to live at all!! They want to scrape Israel from the Middle east!!

I think almost in my entire life I have never seen any cause "more right" than  cause of Palestinians..

I have always supported Arafat/Habash/PLO with all my heart.

I even support Hamas/Hezbullah -in Lebanon-.

But in order to achive a peace in the Middle East, people should agree ´the right of Israel´s existance´ there too..

Ok.. It has been a great injustice since the beining of Israel..But in the end, there has to be a solution there and that solution must include ´everybody´s right to exist!!´

Now, coming to the incident.. Of course it was barbaric.. Of course, apart from afew ultra right wing Israelis, no body on earth can support those killings  or attacking a ship in international waters..Who do Isrealies think they are?

But,  I have been hearing that there were people on those ships, who went there to fight the greatest enemy of Islam!! They went there to become shahid- martyrs!!

Well, Isreal is using anti Semitism as a propaganda to silence her critics. They are almost paranoid about this..We all know that..

But if those ships were full of people  whom ´went there to become martyrs´, can you turn around and say that Israel´s paranoia was  an empty paranoia entirely? what was the percentage of anti semite people in those ships?

When people protest in front of the consulates, they are shouting ´allahu ekber´ or reciting verses from Quran.. When doing that, are those people not pulling the entire protest into a war between religions?

I think we should be quite careful with what we want and do not sideline ourselves with anti-semitism .

Robert Fisk: The truth behind the Israeli propaganda

"I have, of course, been outraged at armed men boarding ships in international waters, killing passengers on board who attempt to resist and then forcing their ship to the hijackers´ home port. I am, of course, talking about the Somali pirates who are preying on Western ships in the Indian Ocean. How dare those terrorists dare to touch our unarmed vessels on the high seas? And how right we are to have our warships there to prevent such terrorist acts.

But whoops! At least the Israelis have not demanded ransom. They just want to get journalists to win the propaganda war for them. Scarcely had the week begun when Israel´s warrior "commandos" stormed a Turkish boat bringing aid to Gaza and shot nine of the passengers dead. Yet by week´s end, the protesters had become "armed peace activists", vicious anti-Semites "professing pacifism, seething with hate, pounding away at another human being with a metal pole". I liked the last bit. The fact that the person being beaten was apparently shooting another human being with a rifle didn´t quite get into this weird version of reality.

Turkish family protests that their sons wanted to be martyrs – something which most Turkish family members might say if their relatives had been shot by the Israelis – had been transformed into confirmation that they had been jihadis. "On that aid ship," a Sri Lankan texted me this week, "I had my niece, nephew and his wife on board. Unfortunately Ahmed (20-year-old nephew) got shot in the leg and now treated (sic) under military custody. I will keep you posted." He did indeed. Within hours, the press was at his family´s home in Australia, demanding to know if Ahmed was a jihadi – or even a potential suicide bomber. Propaganda works, you see. We haven´t seen a frame of film from the protesters because the Israelis have stolen the lot. No one has told us – if the Turkish ship was carrying such ruthless men – how their terrible plots to help the "terrorists" of Gaza were not uncovered in the long voyage from Turkey, even when it called at other ports. But Professor Gil Troy of McGill University in Montreal – in the rabid Canadian National Post, of course – was able to spout all that gunk about "armed peace activists" on Thursday.

I wasn´t personally at all surprised at the killings on the Turkish ship. In Lebanon, I´ve seen this indisciplined rabble of an army – as "elite" as the average rabble of Arab armies – shooting at civilians. I saw them watching the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinians on the morning of 18 September (the last day of the slaughter) by their vicious Lebanese militia allies. I was present at the Qana massacre by Israeli gunners in 1996 – "Arabushim" (the equivalent of the abusive term "Ayrab" in English), one of the gunners called the 106 dead civilians, more than half of them children, in the Israeli press. Then the Israeli government of Nobel laureate Shimon Peres said there were terrorists among the dead civilians – totally untrue, but who cares? – and then came the second Qana massacre in 2006 and then the 2008-09 Gaza slaughter of 1,300 Palestinians, most of them children, and then...

Well, then came the Goldstone report, which found that Israeli troops (as well as Hamas) committed war crimes in Gaza, but this was condemned as anti-Semitic – poor old honourable Goldstone, himself a prominent Jewish jurist from South Africa, slandered as "an evil man" by the raving Al Dershowitz of Harvard – and was called "controversial" by the brave Obama administration. "Controversial", by the way, basically means "fuck you".

There´s doubts about it, you see. It´s dodgy stuff.

But back to our chronology. Then we had the Mossad murder of a Hamas official in Dubai with the Israelis using at least 19 forged passports from Britain and other countries. And the pathetic response of our then foreign secretary, David Miliband? He called it "an incident" – not the murder of the guy in Dubai, mind you, just the forgery of UK passports, a highly "controversial" matter – and then... Well, now we´ve had the shooting down of nine passengers at sea by more Israeli heroes.

The amazing thing in all this is that so many Western journalists – and I´m including the BBC´s pusillanimous coverage of the Gaza aid ships – are writing like Israeli journalists, while many Israeli journalists are writing about the killings with the courage that Western journalists should demonstrate. And about the Israeli army itself. Take Amos Harel´s devastating report in Haaretz which analyses the make-up of the Israeli army´s officer corps. In the past, many of them came from the leftist kibbutzim tradition, from greater Tel Aviv or from the coastal plain of Sharon. In 1990, only 2 per cent of army cadets were religious Orthodox Jews. Today the figure is 30 per cent. Six of the seven lieutenant-colonels in the Golani Brigade are religious. More than 50 per cent of local commanders are "national" religious in some infantry brigades.

There´s nothing wrong with being religious. But – although Harel does not make this point quite so strongly – many of the Orthodox are supporters of the colonisation of the West Bank and thus oppose a Palestinian state.

And the Orthodox colonists are the Israelis who most hate the Palestinians, who want to erase the chances of a Palestinian state as surely as some Hamas officials would like to erase Israel. Ironically, it was senior officers of the "old" Israeli army who first encouraged the "terrorist" Hamas to build mosques in Gaza – as a counterbalance to the "terrorist" Yasser Arafat up in Beirut – and I was a witness to one of their meetings. But it will stay the same old story before the world wakes up. "I have never known an army as democratic as Israel´s," the hapless French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy said a few hours before the slaughter.

Yes, the Israeli army is second to none, elite, humanitarian, heroic. Just don´t tell the Somali pirates".

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-truth-behind-the-israeli-propaganda-1991803.html

Queen Rania of Jordan: Hardliners are now the face of Israel

"What do chocolate, cookies, A4 paper, potato chips, cumin, toys, jelly, nuts, dried fruit, nutmeg, and goats have in common? It´s a tricky one. If you´re a moderate, they have nothing in common. But if you are a hard-line Israeli politician, they are all potentially dangerous goods that could threaten Israel´s security. It seems that side of the political spectrum has won the argument, as all the above are items that the Israeli government has prohibited from entering Gaza.

It´s understandable. I mean, you can inflict a lot of damage on your oppressors with a chocolate biscuit. And those paper cuts, boy, they can really hurt. But I don´t want to over-dramatize the situation, because it´s not all doom and gloom down in Gaza. Many items are allowed in: mops, sponges for washing, egg cartons, glass cleaner, hair combs, plastic chicken cages, and lentils, for example. So what exactly are the 1.5 million Gazan people complaining about? What could possibly have been on the Freedom Flotilla that Israeli commandos attacked early last Sunday morning in international waters, in yet another assault that has appalled our global community?

By most accounts, on the flotilla were 10,000 tonnes of, not guns, but vital humanitarian aid. The people of Gaza desperately need it to survive the 1,000 days of illegal blockade which has crippled Gaza and reduced it to a barely functioning, open-air prison. This is aid like cement to rebuild homes, which have lain in rubble and ruin since the monstrous attacks on Gaza last year; school supplies; and medical equipment, like water purification tablets and wheelchairs.

The attack stunned the world because of its blatant and absurd disregard for anything resembling international law, human rights, and diplomatic norms. Its glaring outrageousness stunned, but didn´t surprise, me. It cannot be viewed in isolation. It is another upshot of a dogma long fermenting on Israel´s political landscape.

It is a doctrine that lives for itself and off others. It survives by tapping into the subliminal and cognisant levels. It implants into public consciousness a set of tenets that see Israeli´s very existence as eternally under threat, to be defended through any means (preferably through use of force to show the enemy who´s boss). It is best served through the adoption of an "us against the world" mentality. By its very nature, hardline ideology is self-serving and self-perpetuating. Its primary goal is to survive – and that precludes everything. If to exist it must redefine what is acceptable, redraw the lines of international law, and re-imagine what weapons are appropriate – so be it. Assigning themselves authority and immunity, Israel´s leaders feel licensed to do whatever they like and not expect an international outcry.

But this hardened path is fraught with dangers for all of us. These radical policies debar Palestinian value and, by extension, human value. Harsh measures then become more palatable. Inflicting violence upon an innocent majority to punish the guilty few now seems necessary. Every day the blockade continues is another day our humanity remains under siege.

The effect is a people trapped between a rock and a hardline policy. The product is desperation; the reaction, more hardline policies, attempting to defend previous hardline policies. After all, did this outrageous attack take place to preserve Israel´s security, or to sustain the blockade itself?

What is most frustrating is Israel´s defence of its actions. By attacking criticism as part of an anti-Israel, anti-Semitic propaganda war, Israel, yet again, fails to understand that the problem is policy, not PR. Now and always, hardline policy and those who embrace it are vessels for darker forces that are at once self-cannibalising and combustible. No good can come of them. They are unsustainable because their sense of righteousness denies human worth. Apart from other hardliners on all sides who now have been gifted the fuel to invigorate their fanaticism and circulate it far and wide, everyone else loses out. The people of Gaza lose out: 80 per cent of them live below the poverty line. The children of Gaza lose out: one third of their schools, destroyed during the attack on Gaza last year, still haven´t been rebuilt. The newborns of Gaza lose out: 95% of Gaza´s nitrate-full water fails the World Health Organization´s standards, leaving thousands of babies at risk of poisoning.

The people of Israel lose out: rejected by a third of the countries in the United Nations, shunned by much of the global community, ordinary Israelis find themselves persona non grata outside their "borders". Living defensively isn´t a way of life; people only thrive on secure foundations. Is the Israeli government really prepared to condemn its own people to the shaky foundations of rule-by-fear, and its consequences?

Israel´s leadership needs to ask itself some tough questions. "Is our long term strategy to rule by fear? Is our long term outlook for the Israeli people one of constant defence? Are these horizons of hopelessness what we want for our people?". And moderates around the world lose out: people like me, who dared to believe that the road to peace doesn´t have to be a lonely and desolate one. That a two-state solution is not the figment of a naïve idealist´s imagination. And those whose ethical responsibility it is now to deal with the science of reality, to form a coalition of humans that question and confront the assumptions of those on their far right, and to reaffirm the ethos of moderation. After all, isn´t moderation where most of the living is done?

Speaking as a moderate, I fear if the tides don´t turn in our region, moderation will be amongst the most painful casualties of continued aggression and hardline policies. As someone who lived through the late King Hussein´s fight for peace, until his very last breath, and watches his son, my husband, King Abdullah, continue that fight, it actually breaks my heart to see us moving further and further away from peace.

Peace. People. Moderation. I would have thought that those were too heavy a price to pay for sustaining a hardened stance. So, when flotillas came to break the blockade, they came to help the people of Gaza. But, just as important, they came to break the blockade on the Israeli mind".

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/queen-rania-of-jordan-hardliners-are-now-the-face-of-israel-1993157.html

You are aware of the fact that the Likud party platform does not allow for any Palestinian state?

"Self-Rule. The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel´s existence, security and national needs."

You actually think shouting "Allah Akbar" is antisemetic? Someone saying Allah Akbar scares you? Hearing recitations of the Quran scares you? What do you think the very idea of Eretz Israel is about? Then there are the Christian Zionists....

You talk about marters....Rachel Corrie was one, as was Emily Henochowicz, the girl who recently lost her eye....I don´t think they set out to be martyrs.  Rather, they were standing up for their ideals.  Most can only talk the talk, they can´t walk the walk.  I admire Rachel and Emily. I think it´s called moral fortitude...some have it, most don´t. 

thehandsom, I think, you need to see a psychiatrist periodically. You, just tell him your problem as: "Whenever people call something "white" I can´t stand and call it "black"? What is the problem with me, doctor?"

This is not the question of anti-semitism. Some people want to convey urgent needs to the people who deadly needs those things, and then, suddenly, the merciless soldiers appear and attack on the civilians and kill some of them. All the civilians could be Christians, Hindus or Muslims; their religion didn´t matter for the  soldiers. They attacked, killed and injured the civilians. This is called "cruelty" and we can not stand alongside of the cruels.

 That´s right. If Arabs accept Isralel´s existance, if Israel goes back to 1967 borders, the peace will come to the region.  

Meanwhile I should say that Turkey is just trying to come into something of a regional power among its muslim neighborgs -instead of being the poor beggar in Europe´s backyard, and AKP´s current foreign policy in the Middle East is nothing but adding fuel to the fire and intentionally trying to provoke the sides... 

ISRAEL IS TERRORIST! ISRAEL IS PIRATE! ISRAEL IS OCCUPANT! ISRAEL IS KILLER!

New Videos of Mavi Marmara

http://www.culturesofresistance.org/gaza-freedom-flotilla

The Israeli government has apologised after its press office emailed to journalists a spoof video about the flotilla which tried to dock in Gaza.

The video shows people dressed as peace activists singing "we con the world" to the tune of We Are the World.

A spokesman said the video did not represent the Israeli government´s view.

The video contains real footage of the Israeli raid on the flotilla in which nine activists died.

´Bluff´

In the clip, which parodies the video made for the 1985 charity song, the singers are dressed up in costumes representing the captain of the flotilla, western peace activists, and Arabs wearing keffiyeh scarves.

"There´s no people dying, so the best that we can do, is create the greatest bluff of all", they sing.

"We are peaceful travellers, we´re waving our own knives," the song goes.

The song builds to a chorus of "we con the world, we con the people. We´ll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is Jack the Ripper."

another example of poor taste is usa involvement with israel

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/usaid.html

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34996&Cr=Gaza&Cr1=

Well this will be a bit poor taste and inappropriate too:

Israeli Students to Send Flotilla to Aid Turkey’s Oppressed Kurds, Armenians

TEL AVIV (A.W.) Israeli students are planning a ´peace flotilla´ to Turkey with humanitarian aid for two nations that have suffered under Turkish imperialism´Kurds and Armenians. The initiative comes in response to the world’s sharp criticism of Israel’s lethal raid on the Gaza flotilla, which left nine activists dead and many wounded, reported ynetnews.com.

The organizers are currently seeking a suitable vessel and are trying to recruit other students to the cause. No date has yet been set, but a skipper has been found: Arik Ofir, a member of the navy veteran’s union and owner of a private business. They have also obtained medical supplies, and hope that by the end of the week they will be able to set out.

....

http://asbarez.com/81764/israeli-students-to-send-fl...-oppressed-kurds-armenians/

 Well, your close friends are coming from Israel, maybe you welcome and guide them. They will be needed experienced guides when they reach their destinations.

Tell them not to give the aids to wrong people, they wont give the aid to innocent 10 million Kurds or 250.000 Armenians who are comfortable in Turkey.

They will give to PKK as usual!

That what thehandsome expect from Israel

, Right, Turkey welcomes them if they are sincere but smells provocation. Anyway their government has been helping, supporting, arming PKK for years. How cheap each time they play the Armenian card, Armenians also disturbed i guess, if they really want to help, we have too many illegal Armenians in Turkey, they can take them and give job to them.

Israeli investigation into CRYING COMMANDOS operation will be by Judge TURKEL

Bu soyadina sasiranlar icin hemen soyleyeyim ki, Turkel Ashkenaz-Y´leri arasinda sik gorulen bir soyadidir.

Y soyadlari ansiklopedisindeki bilgiye gore, 16-18 yy´lari boyunca TR´den, yani Osmanli topraklarindan, Dogu Avrupa´daki Ashkenaz toplumlara goceden kimselere verilen bir soyadidir.

Anlami ise "TR´den gelen" demek oluyor.

Zamaninda Ashkenaz bolgelerinden gelip Osmanli-Sefarad cemaatlerine entegre olan TR-Y´eri arasinda gordugumuz Eskenazi veya Franko soyadi mukabili bir uygulama.

Diyelim ki Edirne´de yasayan Behar soyadli biri, 18. yy´da kalkip Transilvanya veya Podolya civarina yerlesiyor ve oradaki Ashkenaz cemaatine asimile oluyor. Bu durumda Behar soyadi kayboluyor ve yerine Turkel soyadini aliyordu.

Ayni soyadin tum yazilis versiyonlari shoyle:

Turkel, Tuerkel, Terkel, Tarklis, Terk

Chicago´lu unlu yazar ve radyo sahsiyeti Studs Terkel de ayni soyadi tasiyanlardandir. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel

Gelelim Gazze Filosu tahkikatini yurutecek IL yargicina...

Adamin adi Yaakov Turkel...

TR basininda Yakup Turkel diye gecerse, TR´de bircok insanin afalliyacagi muhakkak...

Adami TR zannedip, TR basininin malum kesimleri bu baglamda yeni bir komplo teorisi uretirse hic sasmayin !!!

Yazisi:
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=178271

as I said before and I repeat USA is at fault too, however as usual Israel is trying to put the blame somewhere else

source http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21297