Tel Aviv-Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior ministers have attempted to blame army commanders for “the bungled raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla,” according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph. The AP reported that “Israel’s bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating US-led Mideast peace efforts.” And according to Reuters, “Israeli military admits errors in bungled boarding.”
But was the raid really bungled? Did the Israeli military command and Netanyahu government have no clear strategy going in? Or was the violence they meted out against the flotilla activists deliberate and methodically planned?
Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre revealed that the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected.
On May 28, three days before the raid, top Israeli military officials revealed details of their strategy to Maariv, Israel’s most widely circulated paper. The caption of the Maariv article reflected the military command’s plan to use force: “On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way.”
Here is a translation of relevant portions of the article:
Maariv, 5/28/10 P. 4
Title: Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea
Caption: On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way.”
Subhead: The sea encounter that will occur at the end of the weekend is already planned detail by detail. From the moment that the ships will pass the “red line” on their way to Gaza, the fighters of Unit 13 will take control and transfer 800 passengers from their boats back to where they came from. And special arrest units were set up.
From the body of article: This operation was approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak and will be led by the commander of the Navy, Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who is nicknamed “Cheney.” If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force. “We are afraid that there will be a terror attack by the boats,” said a high ranking officer. “If terrorists have gotten on the boats or if there is an intention to use hot weapons against our forces, we will use full seriousness and caution. We want to avoid using force but as soon as there will be danger to the life of our forces we will be forced to use live fire as a last resort.
[...]
After our fighters take over the boats, OKETZ unit dogs and forces of the IHLM unit corps of engineers will inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools.
A Maariv article from 5/28/10, page 4, reveals the Israeli military command's flotilla raid plan
So the Israeli military broadcast its plan for violence, inciting the Israeli public and the soldiers of Unit 13 with fevered visions of a kill-or-be-killed encounter with a group of Arab “terrorists.” The stated conditions for using live fire were arbitrary and poorly defined, giving the commandos little direction and lots of leeway to kill — at the very least the plan demanded force in some form.
After the initial violent stages, the plan called for the gathering of the activists’ “fighting tools,” an acknowledgment by the Israeli military that the activists might try to repel its commandos once they forced their way on the ships. The plan to search for “sabotage materials” also foreshadowed the IDF’s post-raid propaganda campaign.
An alternative plan that would have been likely to avert violence could have been set into motion. The Israeli Navy could have done what it had in the past and hijacked the aid ships without boarding them, then towed them to shore. However, the Rambo-style plan concocted by Netanyahu, his top aides and the Naval commander with the unfortunate nickname of “Cheney” made the killing of activists likely, if not inevitable.
Why didn’t Israel’s leaders choose to deal with the flotilla in a more judicious fashion? Were they that stupid, or just crazy? From the details of the plan it appears that Netanyahu and his cohorts had envisioned Entebbe Part Deux, a daring anti-terror raid that would lift the sinking morale of the Israeli public while intimidating Iran and the Arab world. Though Israel may be more isolated than ever as a result of the massacre, the Netanyahu administration is reaping considerable political benefits at home.
The day after the massacre, spontaneous celebrations broke out in Ashdod, Tel Aviv, and throughout the country, bringing together right-wing elements with everyday Israelis. Over a thousand Israelis gathered tonight outside the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv to rally against the Turkish government and express their support for the raid. Multiple demonstrators including one man who has lived in Israel for 60 years told me, “What Turkey [the sponsor of the Mavi Marmara boat] has done is great. I have never seen this country more united in my entire life. We are all standing together now.” (Video coming soon).
Israeli newscasters are routinely using the term “mechabel,” or terrorist, to refer to the flotilla activists, while the violence that broke out on the deck of the Mavi Marmara is called “the lynch.” (Nevermind that zero commandos were hung and nine activists were killed, including an American citizen who was shot in the head four times.) No evidence is required to support claims in the Israeli media. The public desperately wants to believe that its government is right, so much so that Israel’s media is not even making a token effort to challenge the increasingly hysterical press releases disseminated by the IDF press office every few hours.
Hanin Zoabi, a Palestinian-Israeli member of the Knesset who was on the Mavi Marmara, was physically accosted in the Knesset by fellow legislators for attempting to relate her experience aboard the flotilla. MK Miri Regev of Likud called her a “traitor,” while Yoel Hasson of Kadima, a supposedly centrist party, denounced Zoabi as a “terrorist.” An Israeli Facebook group devoted to inciting Zoabi’s assassination has gathered 600 members in just a day and a half. In the meantime, Israel’s Interior Minster Eli Yishai is “looking into” means of stripping Zoabi of her citizenship.
This Friday, anti-occupation activists expect to encounter intense violence from the Israeli Army and Border Police at the weekly demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah and Nebi Salah. “In this atmosphere, you can expect with pretty reasonable certainty that the soldiers will go crazy,” a veteran of the Sheikh Jarrah protest movement told me.
With two more ships on their way towards Gaza with aid for the besieged civilian population, the Israeli military and Netanyahu administration are not wasting time in hatching a new strategy to stop them. Once again, the plan calls for violence and possibly more death. “Next time we’ll use more force,” a top Naval commander told the Jerusalem Post. “We will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war.”
[...] Max Blumenthal cites an article in Hebrew that denies current Israeli claims that the violence was the result of a “bungled” operation. [...]
I strongly urge anyone reading this to take some kind of action on this. Email or call your elected representatives and tell them you no longer want the US to support Israel’s terrorism and murder, whether it’s on the high seas or on land. Tell them to vote against all funding for Israel. This incident could start a big wave of change in our policies, but you must make yourself heard. Check out http://www.endtheoccupation.org Perhaps they’ve finally gone too far – an American Citizen was murdered along with others.
Great and useful report Max … we’ll be watching (and linking). Thanks for being there!
[...] The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance. The Israeli military broadcast its plan for violence, inciting the Israeli public and the soldiers of Unit 13 with fevered visions of a kill-or-be-killed encounter with a group of Arab “terrorists.” The stated conditions for using live fire were arbitrary and poorly defined, giving the commandos little direction and lots of leeway to kill — at the very least the plan demanded force in some form…. [...]
[...] The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance. The Israeli military broadcast its plan for violence, inciting the Israeli public and the soldiers of Unit 13 with fevered visions of a kill-or-be-killed encounter with a group of Arab “terrorists.” The stated conditions for using live fire were arbitrary and poorly defined, giving the commandos little direction and lots of leeway to kill — at the very least the plan demanded force in some form…. [...]
[...] on June 4, 2010 by grubgamer So I still stand by everything said in the last post. But if this report by Max Blumenthal is to be believed, then I may have to be slightly more generous to the ISM [...]
[...] of us journalists are doing our jobs. As Max “Maxzilla” Blumenthal points out in his latest post, written from ground zero in Tel Aviv, Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the [...]
RE: Multiple demonstrators including one man who has lived in Israel for 60 years told me, “What Turkey [the sponsor of the Mavi Marmara boat] has done is great. I have never seen this country more united in my entire life. We are all standing together now.”
THE WORDS OF A FORMER ISRAELI: “…Israelis have never been particularly kind to each other. It’s one of the reasons I left actually. In my late twenties I started to grow weary of the unkind, harsh and unforgiving atmosphere around me. It was a tough place to live in not because of our ‘enemies’ but because of how people treated one another. You would believe that we were all enemies rather than people who have some kind of a shared heritage. The only thing that could unite people and temporarily brought out more kindness and a sense of cooperation was a feeling of being under collective threat, and in particular a ‘good wholesome war’…” – Avigail Abarbanel, 01/04/09
SOURCE – http://www.avigailabarbanel.me.uk/gaza-2009-01-04.html
[...] Blumenthal has a blog, where he quotes from a translated Maariv article. Subhead: The sea encounter that will occur at the end of the [...]
[...] Max Blumenthal: The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance. Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre [...]
[...] Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre r… and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected. [...]
[...] evidence from Max Blumenthal that the raid was not an outlier, but was planned in advance as part of a general strategy of [...]
So, Israel says clearly that it’s going to use force as a last resort, and you read it as a violent strategy?
You’re making this up as you go along, Max. There is nothing at all that suggests that the use of force was calculated or planned in advance, other than the usual planning that would go into an operation like this. It is clear that the entire thing was planned to avoid the use of force.
[...] Max Blumenthal says that the Israeli raid was not “bungled,” but was calculated [...]
[...] El ataque con fuego real a la flotilla fue calculado con semanas de antelación [eng] maxblumenthal.com/2010/06/the-flotilla-raid-was-not-bungled-… por jota23 hace 2 segundos [...]
[...] they meted out against the flotilla activists deliberate and methodically planned?”And asnwers:Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre [...]
Among the people who signed up for the FB page to murder Hanaan Zuabi are also people who joined to protest against the call to murder her, which is not really sensible. All they need to do is report the page as abusive. But somehow there is a lot of emotion involved.
The Swedish crime novel writer Henning Mankell in an interview:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/gaza-flotilla-attack-henning-mankell
The bestselling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell today accused Israel of murder, piracy and kidnapping after describing how the aid ship he was travelling on was seized by Israeli forces this week.
Mankell, whose detective novels featuring the commissar Kurt Wallander have sold almost 30m copies worldwide, was aboard the Swedish ship Sofia, one of six ships in the flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. The 25-strong crew, including Mankell, were all arrested and held in custody.
Henning Mankell speaks to Kate Connolly Link to this audio
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in Berlin, Mankell, 62, described the “horrifying moment” when he realised the Israelis had chosen to attack the ships “deep in international waters”.
“Our idea had been a non-violent, non-fighting back method. But we soon realised the Israelis had chosen the real, real ugly solution to attack in international water … It was only when I got on my flight home that I realised that people had died in the attack, when the stewardess told me on the plane,” he said.
He called on the international community to step up its pressure on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and said he would like to see an investigation into whether Israel could be prosecuted for its alleged attack on the ships, believing it had set out to deliberately kill protesters. Nine Turkish citizens, one of whom had a US passport, were killed in the attack.
“I think the Israeli military went out to commit murder,” Mankell said. “If they had wanted to stop us they could have attacked our rudder and propeller, instead they preferred to send masked commando soldiers to attack us. This was Israel’s choice to do this.
If the Flotilla Raid strikes a nerve with you, you must see this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg
also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3L7OV414Kk
[...] the massacre, the Netanyahu administration is reaping considerable political benefits at home. The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance. __________________ "Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter!" Shakespeare, King [...]
[...] The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance. by thewhaler on June 4, 2010 http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/06/the-flotilla-raid-was-not-bungled-the-idf-detailed-its-violent-stra... [...]
[...] In Israel itself the raid is being openly celebrated as a triumph with an Israel member of the Knesset who was on board the flotilla attacked in parliament and subjected to death threats. [...]
[...] artyku?: The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent … Tags: a-big-wave, along-with, big-wave, but-you, finally-gone, incident, must-make, others–, [...]
[...] periodista independiente Max Blumenthal afirma que tanto él como un colega israelí pidieron a la oficina de prensa del Ejército israelí [...]
[...] asnwers: Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre [...]
[...] asnwers: Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre [...]
[...] Israeli soldiers have boarded the Rachel Corrie. An autopsy into the deaths of activists on the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times. This totally trashes Israel’s insistence that the shootings were in self-defence. It looks more like execution style killings at that close range (especially as many were head shots…). And that a ‘shoot to kill’ policy was being operated, in other words murder. They came prepared to use violence. [...]
[...] And asnwers: [...]
[...] now the latest conspiracy theory: Blumenthal claims in the headline of his blog post that “The Flotilla Raid Was Not ‘Bungled.’ The IDF Detailed Its Violent [...]
Many bloggers in Israel are contemplating over the choice of location and time to raid the flotillas in international waters:
“One reason why the Isrealis boarded so far off shore-Close inshore means more phones etc working making it easier to send voice/pictures/video. Far offshore limits the communications to specialised gear like sat phones etc.
Perhaps that is why Israel chose to intercept the boats in international waters. But the actual reason is still unknown.”
“As the activists reach their home countries, I am sure we will start receiving more information about what happened. Help us unveil all the pieces of information from the many sides of the story and keep sending us links to perspectives that have not been heard or highlighted.
When planning the operation, IDF placed an emphasis on making sure no updates would leak from the activists during the operation by means of electronic warfare.
Israel was to be the first to deliver news on the turnout of events.
Their intent was to block all forms of communication coming from the activist boats and let a group of journalists onboard the Israeli boats be the first to report to the world. To their chagrin, their plan did not succeed.”
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/06/02/israel-fighting-the-flotilla-digital-war/
[...] Blumenthal argues that this was no bungled raid but planned violence. Indeed 19 year old Turkish-American, Furkan Dogan, was shot in the head and body several times at close [...]
The last ship raid was bungled abseiling into a mob never a good idea.
even if your intent on mayhem.
much better to shoot people from a distance than give them the chance to lamp you
Please vote in the VoteGlobal poll “Was Israel attack on Gaza flotilla right or wrong?” Vote at http://bit.ly/9FFZMU
[...] to a 28 May Maariv article found by Max Blumenthal, this raid was premeditated, having been planned “detail by detail” as much as a week in [...]
[...] The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.. June 6th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments are closed | [...]
[...] Source: Max Blumental [...]
[...] the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv to demonstrate in support of the Israeli Naval commando unit that killed nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-backed boat from the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Egged on by the Israeli [...]
[...] to a 28 May Maariv article found by Max Blumenthal, this raid was premeditated, having been planned “detail by detail” as much as a [...]
[...] the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv to demonstrate in support of the Israeli Naval commando unit that killed nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-backed boat from the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Egged on by the Israeli [...]
[...] Israel’s Maariv newspaper documented the significant planning that went into the raid, including the approval of the use of force by [...]
[...] 6/1/10), the military admitted three days before the raid that it planned to use violence (maxblumenthal.com, 6/4/10), and the Israelis warned the captains of each ship while in international waters that “lethal [...]
[...] Indeed, the known likelihood of violence is worse for them, because it shows, as Max Blumenthal eloquently argues, that the violent raid was pre-planned and deliberate. They can no longer plead manslaughter, [...]