From witnesses: Israel fired first.

[backscatter712]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/1/871974/-Flotilla-Members-%28Inc.-Knesset-MP!%29-Debunking-IDFs-Storyline

The IDF's storyline to justify its attack on an unarmed humanitarian vessel in international waters has been to claim that the flotilla members dared to defend themselves against armed IDF commandos with -- pipe wrenches.

In order to prop up this storyline, the Israeli government has been trying to deny the international media access to the flotilla survivors -- but their effort to create an information blockade is failing.

...
From CNN, of all places:

Hanin Zoabi, a member of the Israeli parliament, was on board the Miva Marmara, the ship that was the scene of the confrontation between activists and Israeli soldiers. The Israeli Navy fired on the ships five minutes before commandos descended from ropes that dangled from helicopters, Zoabi said during a news conference in Nazareth, Israel. She said passengers on board the ship were unarmed.

Three visibly shaken Germans who experienced at first hand a deadly raid by the Israeli military on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza denied on Tuesday that anyone on board was armed.

"The Israeli government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case," former member of parliament Norman Paech, 72, wrapped in a blue blanket, told reporters in Berlin.

<...>

His comments were backed up by two others on board the convoy when it was raided at dawn on Monday in international waters, MPs Inge Hoeger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56.

[DJ13]

1. The video clearly shows them firing prior to boarding

Of course to counter that they are claiming now that the shock troops were armed with paintball guns, but the funny thing is there were no paint splats in the videos.

[activa8tr]

2. This is big news. Let's hope we hear it elsewhere! A member of

the Israeli Parliament?

There goes all IDF credibility in their claims of "justifiable" force.

[grassfed]

3. Missing Biblical Irony, Nuclear Power Israel Complains about Slingshot Attacks

Israeli commandos attacked humanitarian ships bringing supplies to Gaza. A number of civilians were killed.

Since then, the IDF has released a series of videos, captioned in English, apparently attempting to spin their own raid as an attack on the poor defenseless Israelis. I found this one–in which a latter-day Israeli Goliath complains about the slingshots civilians used to defend themselves–particularly ironic:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/05/31/apparently-missing-biblical-irony-nuclear-power-israel-complains-about-slingshot-attacks/

[backscatter712]

4. Indeed.

Poor wittle commandos were afraid of a few sticks and slingshots after machine-gunning the ship.

[Name removed]

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