The first to reach the deck was the squad commander, who was immediately hurt and neutralized. A. was the second man down the rope. He is a 23-year-old resident of northern Israel, whose mother also served in the elite unit.Remember, the IHH terrorists shot first, as the Eiland report showed. And while that first shot seems to have come from the gun of an soldier who lost it, we have photos of at least one weapon on the ship and we know that shell casings found on the ship did not match any IDF handguns.
"At first I didn't understand what's happening," he said. "Just as I came down, five or six terrorists carrying crowbars, clubs, chairs and anything else they could fight with jumped at me. I sustained blows to my head and they also tried to choke me. While doing it, they also tried to lift me and throw me down to the lower deck."
"When I realized what was going on, I also realized that I was fighting for my life; it was either I overcome them, or they'll throw me into the sea," he said.
So what did you do?
I fought with my fists and started to push them away. When I came down to the deck, I only held a paintball gun…so in the initial stage I only fought with my hands. This is what we were taught to do when we have no weapons.
But you had a handgun.
It was attached to my calf. I tried to reach it, but this takes time.
What was going through your mind at that time?
You're fighting for your life. The struggle lasted some 30 seconds. They tried to throw me overboard, yet just when I managed to reach my handgun, I was hit with that bullet to the stomach."
Meanwhile, Y. also landed on the deck. "As I was sliding down the rope, I saw a group of people fighting. I had no choice, as I couldn't climb back up. So I kept sliding down and saw four or five terrorists waiting for me there, armed with clubs, metal pipes and chairs. I came down, and they immediate started to beat me up, focusing on my head. I was wearing a military helmet, but they got it off, shattered it and started to pulverize me with blows to the head. While doing it, they started pulling me towards the edge of the deck, in order to throw my overboard."
Seconds after landing on the Marmara's deck, his left arm was completely crushed and remained hanging from his shoulder. Y. managed to pull out his handgun with his other hand and fired at the legs of his assailants.
"At that moment, I spotted one of our soldiers on the other side of the deck, with two terrorists standing above him and beating him up; he was bleeding on the floor. So I fired at the two terrorists and brought them down."
How did you know who's a terrorist and who's an innocent civilian?
"There was no problem identifying them. The terrorists wore orange life vests, protective vests, and gas masks. All of them were equipped with cold arms. This is not what innocent peace activists look like."
By this time, A. also managed to pull out his handgun. "The moment the assailants saw that I was holding a gun and waving it, they got away. I then looked up and saw another terrorist with a handgun aiming at a member of my squad. At that moment I opened fire at him and finished him off. I went back and saw that the terrorists who were on top of me earlier were now fighting my comrades. I opened fire at another one who jeopardized another soldier and took him down."
The IHH "peace activists" were terrorists, period.