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Israel’s propaganda about the Gaza flotilla is aimed at delegitimising the activists

06.07.2010 | Tribune Magazine

Before civilian blood hit the deck of the ill-fated Mavi Marmara, the Israeli government, IDF and right-wing press had already launched their PR offensive.

The propaganda battle had begun the previous Friday with official statements characterising the activists as violent terrorist sympathisers. To steal a word from Israeli military jargon, such statements were directed at ’delegitimising’ the flotilla’s passengers, who, stripped of their rights as people, could now expect the brutality routinely directed at Israel’s perceived enemies.

Phase two followed on Monday before the attack. Media and communication channels from the boats were scrambled, preventing all but one Al-Jazeera journalist from broadcasting live footage. Mobile phones were later jammed for the duration of the attack. Phones and laptops were confiscated and remain impounded.

As reports of the massacre hit the wires, prompting outrage around the world, the navy revealed their version of events. At this time there could be no contradiction, as all activists and journalists were being quietly herded to Ashdod without means of communication to the outside world.

Before they arrived stories of the lynch mob had been widely disseminated. Foreign Ministry Deputy Danny Ayalon terrified the world’s media that morning, announcing the aid flotilla was in fact an “armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organization. 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.” Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu continued in the same vein, “they were mobbed, they were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed, there was even a report of gunfire. Our soldiers had to defend themselves”.

The IDF information channels were full of accounts from the real victims, Israeli commandos. One frightened young man, still in a state of shock and disbelief reported “we came to talk, but they came to fight”. One Naval Special Forces Commander stated on Tuesday that “there were terrorists who wanted to kill us. I cannot explain it any other way.” Meanwhile a steady stream of videos was released by the IDF to bolster their story. 13 videos have been uploaded to the their YouTube channel.

Meanwhile journalists not on the flotilla have been banned from entering the interrogation facility at Ashdod port. The Independent reports IDF officials fanned out through the crowd of reporters outside and on Jonah’s Hill overlooking the facility, recounting the military’s version of events.

But for all the speed and efficiency with which the military built their defence, holes began to emerge. First the Free Gaza movement released a statement that “under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck.”

This is confirmed by video reports from journalists aboard the flotilla during the attack, who detail the use of teargas and stun grenades as well as live ammunition, making no mention of violence from the activists. Al Jazeera confirmed that Israeli commandos continued to fire even when a white flag had been raised. IDF claims that passengers used live rounds were not backed up by any independent sources aboard the ship.

Report of live fire against the army initially suggested the ships’ passengers were armed. The IDF later admitted this was untrue, subsequently claiming two handguns had been taken from soldiers and used against them. This morning the IDF released a video of soldiers taking fire “from all directions”. The video does not show the origin of the shots, but the volume generated is clearly incompatible with two hand guns. The dialogue between two soldiers is a little too on message.

Scaling down the claims of live fire, army spokesmen have taken to broadcasting pictures of the tools found aboard. Among them are bags of marbles and an angle grinder, allegedly a weapon “used to saw off metal railings used to hit soldiers”. Little to suggest the ensuing massacre was a proportional response. Stretching credibility, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor told us “we havent inspected the ship yet”, despite soldiers turning up any object that could conceivably have been used in violence, including parts of the ship itself. Palmor suggested more serious weapons could yet be found, recalling memories of Saddam’s WMDs. Palmor was unwilling to contradict the claims of ’Free Gaza’ activists that “every item on board each ship had been inspected by port authorities and manifests issued”.

The focus now is on establishing links between global terror networks and the flotilla. To this end most of the attention has been directed toward the Turkish humanitarian group IHH, drawing on the supposedly independent NGO ’Intelligence and Information Centre’, which is funded and staffed by army officials. The group have published a report in which Danish security services accuse the IHH of funding terrorist groups.

Given that the Afghan groups referred to have taken funding from a colourful array of sources (the White House and Downing Street) and that Hamas has itself been funded by Israel in the 1980s against the Palestinian Authority, it would be unwise to dismiss these claims out of hand. But even the Danish report describes only a fractional minority of the IHH to have any links whatsoever with these groups. Given that IHH members made up a small percentage of the Mavi Marmara’s 600 passengers, which included hundreds of unaffiliated citizens from dozens of other nations, Palmor’s claim “terror elements were not a minority” is poorly founded. When asked if he believed the flotilla intended to supply arms to Hamas he commented “that is the reason we were concerned. They are establishing a supply line to Hamas. If there were not weapons on this ship, they will be on the next one.” So pity the Rachel Corrie, still en route to Gaza, carrying such dubious individuals as Nobel peace prize winner Mairead Maguire and former UN diplomat Denis Halliday.

Smearing of the IHH has been undermined by today’s debunking of another piece of army fiction. The IDF had claimed the five ships other than the Mavi Marmara were re-directed peacefully. Greek activist Dimitris Gielalis from the Sfendoni vessel disagrees, “they came up and used plastic bullets, we had beatings, we had electric shocks, any method we can think of, they used”. Similar accounts have emerged from the other ships.

Within Israel chinks have emerged in the united front. While Netanyahu and Barak have praised their armed forces, dissenting Knesset members have made their voices heard “The crimes of the pirate government in killing some of the sail’s participants put the government beyond international and human law. Tyrants like Bibi and Barak will find themselves in the suitable place in the garbage can of history”, said MK Barake of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality. Even the staunch nationalists of the Jerusalem Post agreed the navy had “erred strikingly” and would now be “overwhelmed in the media”. MK Haneen Zoubi, on board the Mavi Maria reported “the army wanted many deaths to terrorise us”.

As facts emerge from those onboard the flotilla, more holes are shot through the official version of events. As the façade crumbles, the cover up grows more obvious. Israel may finally be held to account for its crimes. This time it wont go away.

O’Keefe: Gandhi would have defended the ‘Mavi Marmara’

06.07.2010 | Mondoweiss

by Paul Woodward on June 7, 2010 · 20 comments

“All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns.” These are the words of Ken O’Keefe, a former US Marine who was just deported from Israel after surviving the Mavi Marmara massacre.

In 2002, O’Keefe initiated what some would regard as a quixotic endeavor: an effort to prevent the war in Iraq by positioning Western volunteers as human shields at strategic sites in Iraq. The Truth Justice Peace action failed, but O’Keefe’s passion to follow the dictates of his own conscience has continued unabated.

This is part of a statement O’Keefe made upon arriving in Istanbul on Friday after his expulsion from Israel:

I remember being asked during the TJP Human Shield Action to Iraq if I was a pacifist, I responded with a quote from Gandhi by saying I am not a passive anything. To the contrary I believe in action, and I also believe in self-defence, 100%, without reservation. I would be incapable of standing by while a tyrant murders my family, and the attack on the Mavi Marmara was like an attack on my Palestinian family. I am proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with those who refused to let a rogue Israeli military exert their will without a fight. And yes, we fought.

When I was asked, in the event of an Israeli attack on the Mavi Mamara, would I use the camera, or would I defend the ship? I enthusiastically committed to defence of the ship. Although I am also a huge supporter of non-violence, in fact I believe non-violence must always be the first option. Nonetheless I joined the defence of the Mavi Mamara understanding that violence could be used against us and that we may very well be compelled to use violence in self-defence.

I said this straight to Israeli agents, probably of Mossad or Shin Bet, and I say it again now, on the morning of the attack I was directly involved in the disarming of two Israeli Commandos. This was a forcible, non-negotiable, separation of weapons from commandos who had already murdered two brothers that I had seen that day. One brother with a bullet entering dead center in his forehead, in what appeared to be an execution. I knew the commandos were murdering when I removed a 9mm pistol from one of them. I had that gun in my hands and as an ex-US Marine with training in the use of guns it was completely within my power to use that gun on the commando who may have been the murderer of one of my brothers. But that is not what I, nor any other defender of the ship did. I took that weapon away, removed the bullets, proper lead bullets, separated them from the weapon and hid the gun. I did this in the hopes that we would repel the attack and submit this weapon as evidence in a criminal trial against Israeli authorities for mass murder.

I also helped to physically separate one commando from his assault rifle, which another brother apparently threw into the sea. I and hundreds of others know the truth that makes a mockery of the brave and moral Israeli military. We had in our full possession, three completely disarmed and helpless commandos. These boys were at our mercy, they were out of reach of their fellow murderers, inside the ship and surrounded by 100 or more men. I looked into the eyes of all three of these boys and I can tell you they had the fear of God in them. They looked at us as if we were them, and I have no doubt they did not believe there was any way they would survive that day. They looked like frightened children in the face of an abusive father.

But they did not face an enemy as ruthless as they. Instead the woman provided basic first aid, and ultimately they were released, battered and bruised for sure, but alive. Able to live another day. Able to feel the sun over head and the embrace of loved ones. Unlike those they murdered. Despite mourning the loss of our brothers, feeling rage towards these boys, we let them go. The Israeli prostitutes of propaganda can spew all of their ing bile all they wish, the commandos are the murders, we are the defenders, and yet we fought. We fought not just for our lives, not just for our cargo, not just for the people of Palestine, we fought in the name of justice and humanity. We were right to do so, in every way.

While in Israeli custody I, along with everyone else was subjected to endless abuse and flagrant acts of disrespect. Women and elderly were physically and mentally assaulted. Access to food and water and toilets was denied. Dogs were used against us, we ourselves were treated like dogs. We were exposed to direct sun in stress positions while hand cuffed to the point of losing circulation of blood in our hands. We were lied to incessantly, in fact I am awed at the routineness and comfort in their ability to lie, it is remarkable really. We were abused in just about every way imaginable and I myself was beaten and choked to the point of blacking out… and I was beaten again while in my cell.

In all this what I saw more than anything else were cowards… and yet I also see my brothers. Because no matter how vile and wrong the Israeli agents and government are, they are still my brothers and sisters and for now I only have pity for them. Because they are relinquishing the most precious thing a human being has, their humanity.

In conclusion; I would like to challenge every endorser of Gandhi, every person who thinks they understand him, who acknowledges him as one of the great souls of our time (which is just about every western leader), I challenge you in the form of a question. Please explain how we, the defenders of the Mavi Marmara, are not the modern example of Gandhi’s essence? But first read the words of Gandhi himself.

“I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence…. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour.” – Gandhi

And lastly I have one more challenge. I challenge any critic of merit, publicly, to debate me on a large stage over our actions that day. I would especially love to debate with any Israeli leader who accuses us of wrongdoing, it would be my tremendous pleasure to face off with you. All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns, so I am ripe to see you in a new context. I want to debate with you on the largest stage possible. Take that as an open challenge and let us see just how brave Israeli leaders are.

I doubt that there is a single Israeli official who would have the guts to take up O’Keefe’s challenge. Instead, the IDF has issued a laughable claim:

Ken O’Keefe (Born 1969), an American and British citizen, is a radical anti-Israel activist and operative of the Hamas Terror organization. He attempted to enter the Gaza Strip in order to form and train a commando unit for the Palestinian terror organization.

The IDF spelled his name correctly and the year he was born — thereafter, the errors and deceptions follow. O’Keefe renounced his US citizenship in March 2001. He is now an Irish and Palestinian citizen, though describes himself as “in truth a world citizen.”

If the IDF had a shred of evidence that O’Keefe was heading to Gaza to train a commando unit for Hamas, I guarantee he would not now be in Istanbul. He would be in an Israeli jail awaiting trial. (In an interview with Al Jazeera he does indeed dismiss Israel’s claims.)

But when O’Keefe says that all he saw in Israel was “cowards with guns” he points to a fundamental truth that reveals the character of the Jewish state.

As a nation that revels in its willingness to crush its opponents, Israel operates with the mindset of every bully: it only feels convinced of its strength when facing a weak opponent.

Lacking the courage to hold its own among equals, Israel operates in a world defined by dominance and oppression.

I also helped to physically separate one commando from his assault rifle, which another brother apparently threw into the sea. I and hundreds of others know the truth that makes a mockery of the brave and moral Israeli military. We had in our full possession, three completely disarmed and helpless commandos. These boys were at our mercy, they were out of reach of their fellow murderers, inside the ship and surrounded by 100 or more men. I looked into the eyes of all three of these boys and I can tell you they had the fear of God in them. They looked at us as if we were them, and I have no doubt they did not believe there was any way they would survive that day. They looked like frightened children in the face of an abusive father.

But they did not face an enemy as ruthless as they. Instead the woman provided basic first aid, and ultimately they were released, battered and bruised for sure, but alive. Able to live another day. Able to feel the sun over head and the embrace of loved ones. Unlike those they murdered. Despite mourning the loss of our brothers, feeling rage towards these boys, we let them go. The Israeli prostitutes of propaganda can spew all of their disgus.ting bile all they wish, the commandos are the murders, we are the defenders, and yet we fought. We fought not just for our lives, not just for our cargo, not just for the people of Palestine, we fought in the name of justice and humanity. We were right to do so, in every way.