IDF Naval Forces Warned Flotilla Gaza Region Closed To Maritime Traffic

[Arrow]

IDF forces met with pre-planned violence when attempting to board flotilla
31 May 2010

Previously, Israel Navy warned the flotilla that the Gaza region is closed to maritime traffic.

(Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson)

Early this morning (31 May), IDF naval forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. This happened after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israel Navy that were issued prior to the action.

Link to report here:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2010/Israel_Navy_warns_flotilla_31-May-2010.htm

[Arrow]

[Arrow]

Seizure of the Gaza flotilla: Press conference with Dep FM Ayalon

Transcript:

DEPUTY FM AYALON: Good morning, everyone. I want to report this morning that the armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organization was a premeditated and outrageous provocation. The organizers are well-known for their ties to Global Jihad, Al-Qaeda and Hamas. They have a history of arms smuggling and deadly terror. On board the ship we found weapons that were prepared in advance and used against our forces. The organizers' intent was violent, their method was violent, and unfortunately, the results were violent.

Link to press conference here:
　
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2010/Gaza_flotilla_Press_conference_DepFM_Ayalon_31-May-2010.htm

[Arrow]

Despite attacks by Hamas, Israel maintains an ongoing humanitarian corridor for the transfer of food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza, used by internationally recognized organizations including the United Nations and the Red Cross.

Well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel over the last 18 months equaling nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza. Millions of dollars worth of international food aid continually flows through the Israeli humanitarian apparatus, ensuring that there is no food shortage in Gaza.

Food and supplies are shipped from Israel to Gaza six days a week. These items were channeled through aid organizations or via Gaza's private sector.

Large quantities of essential food items like baby formula, wheat, meat, dairy products and other perishables are transferred daily and weekly to Gaza. Fertilizers that cannot be used to make explosives are shipped into the Strip regularly, as are potato seeds, eggs for reproduction, bees, and equipment for the flower industry.

The rest of the story on the Israeli humanitarian lifeline to Gaza here:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israeli_humanitarian_lifeline_Gaza_25-May-2010.htm

[darrels joy]

The Gaza flotilla and the maritime blockade of Gaza - Legal background

31 May 2010A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. It has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza.
1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such blockade has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza, which has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.

2. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.

3. A blockade may be imposed at sea, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral states.

4. The naval manuals of several western countries, including the US and England recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure and set forth the various criteria that make a blockade valid, including the requirement of give due notice of the existence of the blockade.

5. In this vein, it should be noted that Israel publicized the existence of the blockade and the precise coordinates of such by means of the accepted international professional maritime channels. Israel also provided appropriate notification to the affected governments and to the organizers of the Gaza protest flotilla. Moreover, in real time, the ships participating in the protest flotilla were warned repeatedly that a maritime blockade is in effect.

6. Here, it should be noted that under customary law, knowledge of the blockade may be presumed once a blockade has been declared and appropriate notification has been granted, as above.

7. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian and enemy vessels.

8. A state may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law. The US Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.

9. Here we should note that the protesters indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade by means of written and oral statements. Moreover, the route of these vessels indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade in violation of international law.

10. Given the protesters explicit intention to violate the naval blockade, Israel exercised its right under international law to enforce the blockade. It should be noted that prior to undertaking enforcement measures, explicit warnings were relayed directly to the captains of the vessels, expressing Israel's intent to exercise its right to enforce the blockade.

11. Israel had attempted to take control of the vessels participating in the flotilla by peaceful means and in an orderly fashion in order to enforce the blockade. Given the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla, an operational decision was made to undertake measures to enforce the blockade a certain distance from the area of the blockade.

12. Israeli personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks.


http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government...1-May-2010.htm

[revwardoc]

Of course the world press doesn't mention that the IDF soldiers were attacked first. After all, the Muslims are such a peace loving people who would never resort to violence, like using metal poles, firebombs, guns, etc. Oh, wait! They did.

And of course Israel is trying to starve out the poor, poor people of the Gaza region and...Oh, wait! They're allowing millions of tons of supplies through.

So WTF are those stupid Muslims trying to prove?!

[darrels joy]

Gazans rush for Egyptian border

Activists send another boat as anti-Israel protests grow

By AMY TEIBEL
The Associated Press

updated 8:27 a.m. PT, Tues., June 1, 2010


JERUSALEM - Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Gaza Strip after a raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing civilians and pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat on Tuesday to challenge Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.

The raid provoked ferocious international condemnation of Israel, raised questions at home, and appeared likely to increase pressure to end the blockade that has deepened the poverty of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the strip. Turkey, which unofficially supported the flotilla, has led the criticism, calling the Israeli raid a "bloody massacre."

Amid the increasing tensions, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in Gaza on Tuesday, and an Islamic militant group said three of its members were killed after firing rockets into southern Israel. Israeli authorities said the rockets landed in open areas and caused no injuries.

Two militants infiltrating into Israel from Gaza were killed in a separate incident Tuesday, the military said.

Deadly confrontation

The pro-Palestinian flotilla had been headed to Gaza with tens of thousands of tons of aid that Israel bans from Gaza. After days of warnings, Israel intercepted the flotilla under the cover of darkness early Monday, setting off a violent melee that left ten activists dead, according to the United Nations, and dozens of people, including seven soldiers, wounded. Most of the dead were believed to be Turks.




The United Nations Security Council condemned acts which resulted in the loss of civilian lives and called for an impartial investigation into Israel's deadly raid on the ships, but it stopped short of condemning Israel.

Israel said 679 people were arrested, and about 50 of those had left the country voluntarily. Hundreds who refused to cooperate remained jailed and subject to deportation.

Israel says the Gaza blockade is needed to prevent the Iranian-backed Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into the Jewish state, from building up its arsenal. It also wants to pressure Hamas to free an Israeli soldier it has held for four years.

Critics say the blockade has failed to weaken Hamas but further strapped an already impoverished economy. It also has prevented Gaza from rebuilding after a devastating Israeli military offensive early last year.

Furious rush to flee blockade

Egypt, which has enforced the blockade with Israel since Hamas militants seized control of Gaza in 2007, said it was opening the border for several days to allow aid into the area.

The governor of Egyptian's northern Sinai district, Murad Muwafi, said it was a humanitarian gesture meant to "alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers after the Israeli attack."


Several thousand Gazans made a furious rush to the Egyptian border, hoping to take advantage of a rare chance to escape the blockaded territory.

Cars with suitcases piled on their roofs streamed to the border, while many others lugged overstuffed bags on foot. Dozens of Hamas police with automatic weapons were patrolling the area to maintain order.

"We are working to help residents take advantage of this opportunity," said Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Ghussein. "We hope it will be open all the time, not just as a response to yesterday's events."


Activists send more boats

Greta Berlin said the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the flotilla, would not be deterred and that another cargo boat was off the coast of Italy en route to Gaza. A second boat carrying about three dozen passengers is expected to join it, Berlin said. She said the two boats would arrive in the region late this week or early next week.

"This initiative is not going to stop," she said from the group's base in Cyprus. "We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense.

They're going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats."


Protests have erupted in a number of Muslim countries including Turkey, which unofficially supported the flotilla, Indonesia and Malaysia, where a Palestinian man slashed himself outside the American Embassy.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel, told lawmakers Tuesday that the Israeli raid was an attack "on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace."

"This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse," he said, demanding that Israel immediately halt its "inhumane" blockade of Gaza.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said four Turkish citizens were confirmed slain by Israeli commandos and another five were also believed to be Turks. Israeli authorities were still trying to confirm their nationalities.

Thousands of pro-Islamic and nationalist Turks have poured into the streets in Istanbul and Ankara since the report of the Israeli raid.

Protesters with Palestinian and Turkish flags shouted "Down with Israel!" outside Israeli diplomatic missions.

Intense debate within Israel

Within Israel, the raid sparked intense debate over why the military operation went awry.

Israel sent commandos onto the six ships carrying nearly 700 activists after mission organizers ignored the government's call to bring the cargo to an Israeli port, where it would be inspected and transferred to Gaza. In most cases, the passengers quickly surrendered. But on the largest ship, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the forces encountered resistance.

Israeli commandos rappelled on ropes from a helicopter one by one and army videos showed them being attacked by angry activists with metal rods and one soldier being thrown off the ship. Others jumped overboard to escape the angry mob. Israeli authorities said they were attacked with knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers. The soldiers then opened fire, killing nine.

Israeli military analysts said it was a mistake to send commandos to board the ship and the military could have used non-lethal weapons such as tear gas. They also said the intelligence-gathering was faulty.

Retired Gen. Shlomo Brom asked why the ships' engines weren't sabotaged instead.

"There were certain objectives to this operation. One was not to let the vessels get to Gaza, but the other objective was to do it without any damage to Israel's image," Brom told The Associated Press. "Certainly it failed."

The daily Maariv, in a front-page headline, called the raid a "debacle."

Hundreds sent to jail

Sabine Haddad, spokeswoman for the Israeli Interior Ministry, said 679 people were arrested and handed deportation orders. By midafternoon Tuesday, some 50 people had left the country voluntarily. But hundreds refused to cooperate and were sent to jail.




"The rest said they wanted to go to jail and are at Beersheba jail going through a process of deportation," she said. She said judges were hearing the cases and that almost everyone would be expelled within the next few days.

She said more than half of those arrested were from Turkey, with others coming from more than 30 other countries, including Britain, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Germany and the U.S. Israeli police said four Arab Israeli citizens would face criminal charges.

Israel did not allow access to the activists, but a handful who were deported arrived home Tuesday, including a Turkish woman and her 1-year-old son, six Greeks and three German lawmakers.

"There was a massacre on board," said the woman, Nilufer Cetin, whose husband, Ekrem, is the ship's engineer and was still in Israeli custody. "The ship turned into a lake of blood."

Turkey said it was sending three ambulance planes to Israel to return 20 Turkish activists injured in the operation and had other aircraft ready to get other activists. About 400 Turks took part in the flotilla.


9th attempt to breach blockade

The flotilla was the ninth attempt by sea to breach the blockade Israel and Egypt imposed after Hamas violently seized the territory. Israel allowed five seaborne aid shipments through but snapped the blockade shut after its 2009 war in Gaza.

There was little call in Israel for an end to the blockade. Israelis have little sympathy for Gaza, which sent thousands of rockets and mortar rounds crashing into Israel for years before last year's war.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37442104/

[darrels joy]

Photo by: IDF
'Next time we'll use more force' By YAAKOV KATZ, AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
01/06/2010 Navy prepares for expected arrival of 2 more activist ships. Israel will use more aggressive force in the future to prevent ships from breaking the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, a top Navy commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

"We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war," the officer said. "That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war."


RELATED:
Analysis: Israel's PR machine fails again
Editorial: The rush to judgment

The anonymous comment came the day after the Israeli Navy raided a flotilla of international aid ships headed to the Strip. Nine activists were killed in the raid, and dozens were injured.

The flotilla which arrived late Sunday night was comprised of six ships, and another two ships, including The Rachel Corrie, were expected to attempt to enter Israeli waters in the coming days.



Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement said earlier Tuesday that a cargo boat was already on the way to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

A second boat carrying about three dozen passengers was expected to join the first, she added.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?ID=177134

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3L7O...layer_embedded

[darrels joy]

IDF: Global Jihad on flotilla By YAAKOV KATZ
01/06/2010 Israel concerned next flotilla will be accompanied by Turkish Navy. Dozens of passengers who were aboard the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship are suspected of having connections with Global Jihad-affiliated terrorist organizations, defense officials said Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Turkey will dispatch Navy warships to accompany a future flotilla to the Gaza Strip.

According to the defense officials, the IDF identified a group of about 100 passengers on the ship that could have terrorist connections with Global Jihad affiliated groups.

RELATED:
'Equipment not in shortage in Gaza'
'Next time we'll use more force'
What is the IHH?


During its searches of the Mavi Marmara on Tuesday, the military also discovered a cache of bulletproof vests, night-vision goggles as well as gas masks. On Monday morning, nine international activists were killed during the Navy’s takeover of the Mavi Marmara which was trying to break the Israel-imposed sea blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The group of over 50 passengers with possible terror connections have refused to identify themselves and were not carrying passports. Many of them were however carrying envelopes packed with thousands of dollars in cash.

The military is working to identify the passengers and is looking into the possibility that some of them have ties with Global Jihad-affiliated terror organizations and that some were involved in past global terror attacks. Some of them are apparently known Islamic extremists.

“This is the group that was behind the violent lynch against the naval commandos,” a defense official said. “They came on board the ship prepared and after they had trained for the expected Navy takeover.”

IDF fears Turkey might send Navy ships with next flotilla

On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister threatened Israel not to test Turkey’s patience.

"Turkey's hostility is as strong as its friendship is valuable,” he said, adding “"Israel in no way can legitimize this murder, it cannot wash its hand of this blood."

This comment, officials said, could signify a change in Turkish military action in the event that another flotilla is dispatched to the Gaza Strip. One official said that the possibility that Turkey would send navy ships was slim – due to the country’s membership in NATO – but that the possibility was of great concern.

“This is a definite possibility that we need to prepare for,” a senior defense official said on Tuesday.

The flotilla which arrived late Sunday night was comprised of six ships, and another two ships, including The Rachel Corrie, were expected to attempt to enter Israeli waters in the coming days.

Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the flotilla, said that two boats, one of which was carrying about three dozen passengers, would arrive in the region late this week or early next week.

"This initiative is not going to stop," she said from the group's base in Cyprus. "We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They're going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats."

Navy sources said that the coming ships would be intercepted the same way the flotilla was stopped on Monday morning although it had yet to be decided if the operation would be carried out by Sayetet 13, the Navy’s commando unit.

“We are tracking the ships and are under orders to stop them,” a top Navy officer said.

According to the sources, the Navy, in a future operation will use more force to prevent ships from reaching the Gaza Strip. "We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war," one officer said. "That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war." http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/Pri...aspx?id=177169

[revwardoc]

"During its searches of the Mavi Marmara on Tuesday, the military also discovered a cache of bulletproof vests, night-vision goggles as well as gas masks."

I guess the impoverished peace-loving people of Gaza need the night-vision goggles to find the "humanitarian aid" in the dark; and the bulletproof vests will keep them warm...in the desert...in the Summer; and the gas masks are there to be used if the "humanitarian aid" has extra cases of beans. Yeah, right!