Details of Israel's interrogation of Marmara passengers leak out

Israel's Intelligence and Terror Information Center, which has close ties to the IDF, has released a report that discusses in some detail the real story behind the Mavi Marmara, based on unreported IDF investigations in the days following its capture.

(Past experience has shown that the ITIC has been highly accurate. It is a far cry from Debka, for example, which has a more checkered track record.)

The upshot is that there was a core of about 40 IHH members who, with Turkish government support, unofficially took over the Mavi Marmara and planned the clashes with the IDF.

Their summary:

1. An initial analysis of statements taken from passengers aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara after it was towed to the port of Ashdod show that operatives belonging to the radical Islamic Turkish IHH1 led the violent confrontation with the IDF.

2. The statements confirmed that the violence met by the IDF soldiers was not spontaneous but rather an organized, premeditated action carried out by a hard core of 40 IHH operatives (among the 500 passengers). The operatives, who acted according to a clearly-defined internal hierarchy, boarded the ship in the port of Istanbul without undergoing a security inspection (as opposed to the other passengers, who boarded in Antalya after a full inspection).

3. The IHH operatives’ preparations included handing out walkie-talkies as they boarded the ship, taking over the upper deck, setting up a situation room for communications, and a briefing given to the operatives two hours before the confrontation by IHH head Bülent Yildirim, who was on board the ship and commanded his men. IHH operatives wore ceramic vests and gas masks, and were armed with large quantities of cold weapons which they had prepared from equipment found on board (knives, axes, metal cables, metal pipes used as clubs, wrenches, etc.). They were also equipped with box cutters which had been prepared on the upper deck in advance.

4. The passengers, including the IHH operatives, stated that there were close relations between the organization and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and that the Turkish government was involved in preparations for the flotilla. The statements reinforce the original assassment that the objective of the flotilla was not merely to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, but focused on provocation and a violent confrontation with Israel.

Interesting details:

* The Turkish prime minister Erdogan would not have been elected without the help of the IHH.

* " During the voyage a group of IHH operatives supervised the ship. IHH guards were posted in the passageways and did not permit passengers to reach the upper deck. They also limited the movements of the crew, who needed permission from the IHH men to go from one place to another."

* Eight of the nine killed were IHH operatives and volunteers (including an IHH journalist.)

There has been criticism in Turkey as well concerning the ties between Erdogan and the IHH.

As far as the accuracy of the passenger "eyewitness testimony," YNet reports on the firestorm in Egypt over an Egyptian passenger that detailed how the IHH took IDF soldiers captive:

A storm has been kicked up in Egyptian media after experiences on the flotilla are recounted. The version of events on the Gaza-bound flotilla as heard by an Egyptian member of parliament have evoked the ire of a number of state-run media outlets in the country because, they claim, the stories help Israeli PR efforts.

An Egyptian member of parliament from the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Beltagy, took part in the flotilla to the Gaza Strip that was commandeered by the Israeli Navy. After participating in the clashes on the deck of the Mavi Marmara, he was arrested by Israel and later released to Egypt.

On Tuesday of last week, he was interviewed on the "10 at Night" program on the Egyptian channel Dream. During the interview, he said that the flotilla participants overtook three Israeli commandos and snatched their weapons from them. This admission of employing force against IDF soldiers has evoked a media storm among Egyptian columnists, who claim this was a "public relations gift to Israel."

In other words, there is a usually unspoken rule in the Arab world not to say anything that could help Israel, especially if it is true. Pseudo-"peace activists" adopt the same rule as their hatred of Israel is what colors all of their actions, not their desire for helping Gazans.

The main factor that has helped Israel confirm its narrative has indeed been Muslims whose cultural desire to show their manliness in resisting the IDF outweighed their realization that this very testimony of supposed IDF weakness is really a clear demonstration of initial IDF restraint. The Free Gaza folks wouldn't fall into that trap because their own fake public narrative is that they are against all forms of violence - but Arabs and Turks have cultures that celebrate militancy and abhor any appearance of weakness, ironically making their testimonies more accurate.

(Update: deleted a sentence - I misunderstood a part of the report.)

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Saudi clerics want adults to breastfeed - to reduce temptation

From AOL News:

Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.

A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish "maternal relations" and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week's worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they're calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued.

Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, set off a firestorm of controversy recently when he said on TV that women who come into regular contact with men who aren't related to them ought to give them their breast milk so they will be considered relatives.

"The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman," Al Obeikan said, according to Gulf News. "He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing."

Obeikan said the fatwa applied to men who live in the same house or come into contact with women on a regular basis, except for drivers.

 Al Obeikan, who made the statement after being asked on TV about a 2007 fatwa issued by an Egyptian scholar about adult breast-feeding, said that the breast milk ought to be pumped out and given to men in a glass. 

But his remarks were followed by an announcement by another high-profile sheik, Abi Ishaq Al Huwaini, who said that men should suckle the breast milk directly from a woman's breast.

Shortly after the two sheiks weighed in on the matter, a bus driver in the country's Eastern Region reportedly told one of the female teachers whom he drives regularly that he wanted to suckle milk from her breast. The teacher has threaten to file a lawsuit against him.

Under Islamic law, women are encouraged to breast-feed their children until the age of 2. It is not uncommon for sisters, for example, to breast-feed their nephews so they and their daughters will not have to cover their faces in front of them later in life. The custom is called being a "breast milk sibling."

But under Islamic law, breast milk siblings have to be breastfed before the age of 2 in five "fulfilling" sessions. Islam prohibits sexual relations between a man and any woman who breastfed him in infancy. They are then allowed to be alone together when the man is an adult because he is not considered a potential mate.

"The whole issue just shows how clueless men are," blogger Eman Al Nafjan wrote on her website. "All this back and forth between sheiks and not one bothers to ask a woman if it's logical, let alone possible to breastfeed a grown man five fulfilling breast milk meals.

"Moreover, the thought of a huge hairy face at a woman's breast does not evoke motherly or even brotherly feelings. It could go from the grotesque to the erotic but definitely not maternal."

Al Nafjan said many in the country were appalled by the fatwa.

"We have many important issues that need discussing," Al Nafjan told AOL News Friday. "It's ridiculous to spend time talking about adult breast-feeding."

The original adult breast-feeding fatwa was issued three years ago by an Egyptian scholar at Egypt's al-Azhar University, considered Sunni Islam's top university. Ezzat Attiya was expelled from the university after advocating breast-feeding of men as a way to circumnavigate segregation of the sexes in Egypt.

A year ago, Attiya was reinstated to his post.

It is only a matter of time before we start hearing about Saudi lacto-porn.

Sorry about two posts in a row about sucking. (Three, if that's your opinion of the NJ terrorist/Juiceman.)

(h/t OBOZ & co)

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Syria at UNHRC: "Jewish kids sing of sucking Arab blood" (UPDATED)

From the Vancouver Sun:

Syria on Tuesday accused Israel of indoctrinating its children with hatred towards Arabs, telling the United Nations Human Rights Council that Israeli youngsters sing about sucking Arab blood, and learn how to sign missiles destined for military activity against Arabs.

The tirade, delivered by Syrian diplomat Rania Al Rifaiy, was part of a Syrian appeal at the world body for countries to unite behind a campaign to "put an end to Israeli brutality."

"Hatred is widespread, taught to even small children, who are taught to use weapons, and who are taught to sign missiles that will be fired at Arabs," Al Rifaiy said

"Let me quote a song that a group of children on a school bus in Israel sing merrily as they go to school: 'With my teeth I will rip your flesh, with my mouth I will suck your blood.'"

Come on - "blood" and "flesh" don't even rhyme!

This is, of course, the same Human Rights Council that the current US administration has joined, rather than treat it with the contempt it so richly deserves.

But to me, when I hear the phrase "teeth ripping flesh" and "sucking blood" together, I am reminded not of Israeli children, but - Syrian girls!

As I mentioned a while back, Syria used to have annual celebrations of the Yom Kippur war, featuring Syrian girls ripping apart live snakes with their teeth and then eating them, as well as soldiers breaking puppies' necks and drinking their blood, while President Assad watched and smiled his approval.

I have the video of the Syrian Snake Eating Girls. (You only have to watch the first two minutes. Warning: Very gruesome.)


Can you say "projection"?

UPDATE: I had heard rumors about Syrian soldiers breaking the necks of puppies and then ripping their flesh with their teeth as well. This very poor quality video seems to show it (they start with eating scorpions, then snakes, and finally what appears to be a living puppy or other small animal.) The apparent puppy murder starts at about the 6:30 mark. Warning: Very gruesome.

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The Juiceman is arrested

A while back, a lot of the blogosphere was enjoying this picture taken at a Muslim demonstration:

Well, the Jawa Report is saying that this hater is none other than Carlos Almonte - one of the would-be jihadists who were just caught trying to go to Africa to fight Americans!

Almonte had posted it on his Facebook page.

Some of his defenders have stated that he really doesn't hate all juice, just the ones with pulp. In fact, some of his best friends are said to be juice - but the righteous, clear kind, the kind that is watered down so much that it is indistinguishable from any flavored water. His pals are saying that he only hates the juice that looks and tastes like juice.

Orange and grapefruit juices are much more skeptical, saying that when he says "death to all juice" he really means all juice, and it would be foolhardy not to take him at his word. His defenders, however, say that this is merely a cultural thing, and not to take it seriously. Even some of the clear juices themselves are vociferously defending Almonte and attacking the slanders from the 100% juices.  Certainly, they proclaim, clear watery juice has no reason to be worried, as they cannot possibly be mixed up with the pulpy, opaque kind - it looks more like water, or maybe Kool-Aid, and how can Almonte even consider killing all juice when he might end up killing some innocent Gatorade instead?

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Kuwaiti Journalist: The Flotilla Was Violent; Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself

Kuwaiti journalist 'Abdallah Al-Hadlaq supported Israel's decision to stop the Gaza flotilla in the daily Al-Watan, saying that the outcome of the Israeli navy's operation was "in direct proportion to the violence" of the flotilla activists, and that the flotilla organizers are known to have ties with global and regional terror organizations.

The following are excerpts:[1]
"The Weapons had Clearly been Prepared in Advance... and the Soldiers had No Choice but to Respond"
"The Israeli navy gave repeated warnings to the ships [of the flotilla], which tried to break the blockade on the terroristic Hamas movement in Gaza, and also invited them to enter the Ashdod port and unload their cargo of 'aid' supplies, so it could be thoroughly examined by the security [forces] before being delivered by land to the Gaza Strip. When the flotilla failed to heed these warnings and requests, the Israeli navy had no choice but to take over the ships. [In doing so], the IDF troops encountered violent [opposition] that had been planned in advance: the flotilla participants assaulted them with firearms, metal pipes, knives and clubs, and grabbed the rifle of one of the soldiers. The weapons had clearly been prepared in advance... and the soldiers had no choice but to respond, including with live fire.

"The Israeli navy operation was conducted according to orders and instructions of the highest political echelons, [and aimed at] stopping the ships and keeping them from breaching the naval blockade and reaching Gaza. The warning message sent by the Israeli navy [to the Mavi Marmara] was as follows: 'To the captain of the [Mavi] Marmara: You are approaching an area of hostilities, which is under a naval blockade. The Gaza coastal area and Gaza Harbor are closed to maritime traffic. We invite you to enter the Ashdod port, from whence the aid supplies will be delivered through the formal land crossing [to Gaza], after which you can return to your home ports."[2] It should be noted that, according to the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel retains control of a 40-kilometer strip of water off the Gaza coast."

"The [Flotilla] Organizers are Supporters of Movements and Organizations such as [Global] Jihad, Hamas, Hizbullah and Al-Qaeda"
"The flotilla, which was supported by the terroristic Hamas movement and tried to breach the blockade on this movement in Gaza, was a preplanned provocation against Israel. The grave outcome [of the takeover] was in direct proportion to the violence [employed by the flotilla activists] as they tried [to breach the blockade]. The [flotilla] organizers are supporters of movements and organizations such as [global] Jihad, Hamas, Hizbullah and Al-Qaeda, and have a black record in terms of smuggling arms and [perpetrating] terror operations. And indeed, the Israeli forces discovered on the ships weapons and ammunition that had been prepared in advance.
"The naval blockade on the Hamas movement in Gaza is legal in light of this movement's actions in the Strip. Had Israel allowed the flotilla – which was not legal – to reach the Hamas movement, it would have opened a route for smuggling weapons and terrorists into the Gaza Strip. No sovereign country would allow its citizens or its sovereignty to be harmed. Moreover, the attempt to force a path to Gaza by sea does not [really] benefit the people of Gaza, since the land crossings are sufficient for [the purpose of] supplying their needs. International aid organizations provide Gaza with all the necessary food, clothing and medical [supplies]. Over 15,000 tons of basic aid supplies enter the Strip every week. Construction materials enter it under the supervision of international organizations, in order to prevent the terroristic Hamas movement from commandeering them and using them for building military fortifications. The land crossings are the most efficient way to deliver supplies to Gaza, and the flotilla organizers know this perfectly well. They also know that since December 2008, their ships are not allowed to approach [the Gaza coast].
"The protests and demonstrations that broke out in various capitals are without meaning or value, as are the emergency summits [convened by] the Arab League, the E.U. and the U.N. The wave of protests will not change a thing, but a full and immediate investigation of the events will reveal all the details of what really happened... and [then] everyone will know the truth about the Hamas movement..."

Endnotes:
[1] Al-Watan (Kuwait), June 3, 2010. It should be noted that, at a June 4, 2010 rally, Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah said that some papers in the Gulf had published papers supporting the IDF raid on the flotilla, but their authors were a minority that would be taken care of by people of honor. Al-Safir (Lebanon), June 5, 2010.

[2] The full message of the Israeli navy was as follows: "You are approaching an area of hostilities, which is under a naval blockade. Gaza coastal area and Gaza Harbor are closed to maritime traffic. The Israeli government supports delivery of humanitarian supplies to the civilian population in Gaza Strip and invites you to enter Ashdod port. Delivery of supplies will be in accordance with the authorities' regulations and through the formal land crossing to Gaza and under your observation, after which you can return to your home ports." The reply was: "Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza."

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Away from computer - open thread

Will be away from my desk most of the day. Posting from a phone just ain't fun.

Feel free to post anything new. Although i do admit to being a bit sick of the word "flotilla."

Even if it tripled my readership. 

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Did the IDF shoot people from the helicopter?

One of the more consistent stories from the interviews of people aboard the Mavi Marmara is that the IDF started shooting and killing them from the helicopters in the air. For example, from an Al Jazeera reporter on the ship:

Two helicopters at a time hovered above the vessel. Commandos on board the choppers joined the firing, using live ammunition, before any of the soldiers had descended onto the ship.

Two unarmed civilians were killed just metres away from me. Dozens of unarmed civilians were injured right before my eyes.

One Israeli soldier, armed with a large automatic gun and a side pistol, was overpowered by several passengers. They disarmed him. They did not use his weapons or fire them; instead they threw his weapons over board and into the sea.

There have been other reports that made the same accusation.

However, no one was killed from the helicopters.

First of all, if there was really shooting from the choppers, it seems highly unlikely that the IHH thugs would be hanging around on deck like sitting ducks.

Moreover, Turkish forensics reports indicate that all the people killed had 9mm gunshot wounds. I am no gun expert, but a 9mm gun has a limited range and does not seem to be a weapon that could be used with any effectiveness from a helicopter.

The idea that the IDF would send soldiers into an already-existing combat situation - shooting live ammo at the people on deck - while armed with paintball guns is beyond absurd.

Every video I've seen - of the IDF soldiers on the deck and in the boats alongside the ship - show them with paintball guns, not submachine guns or other large lethal weapons.

And one thing is very clear: the witnesses on the ship did not know the difference between paintball guns and large automatic weapons. 

 Paintball guns have a much wider barrel than ordinary submachine guns, and I can imagine that those guns look terrifying to people, especially since there was so much confusion and the sight of the rappelling soldiers were probably accompanied by non-lethal percussion grenades making loud noises, not to mention the noise of the choppers themselves.  There is also no doubt that seeing a paintball gun being shot in such circumstances would also be disorienting - especially if the pellets were of red paint.

This could explain a lot of the discrepancies between the witnesses and the videos/IDF/soldier testimonies. Combine the confusion with the certainty that the activists have to assume that Israel is inherently bloodthirsty and you have the ingredients for highly inaccurate "eyewitness" testimonies. (Other statements, such as the Free Gaza claims that the IDF was shooting people in their sleep or that there was no resistance by the Mavi Marmara people, are absurd on the face of it and have been quietly dropped, although never corrected.)

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Libya's leader calls Turkey a Muslim "Trojan Horse" into the EU

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a speech to a delegation of European Muslim leaders from the Balkans, discussed how he longs for the day that Turkey joins the European Union  - and becomes a Trojan Horse for Islam in Europe.

Firas Press reports:

Gaddafi spoke at the meeting on Thursday evening in the Libyan capital Tripoli to the heads of delegations of leaders Islamic People's Leadership, Muammar Friendship & Inter-Communication Forum in the Balkans, and Gaddafi Youth Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were visiting Libya.

He stated: "If Turkey joined the European Union, and the presence of both states of the Balkans are in the European Union and Albania is in the European Union, the meaning of this is that the European continent is no longer crusader or a Christian as it was, but Islam has become a strong partner in the European continent.

"We await the day when Turkey joins the European Union to serve as a Trojan horse, which tells the history."

And Qadhafi, who holds the rotating presidency of the Arab summit, spoke of the importance of demographics that determine the number of Muslims in Europe, said the official statistics were not true, because these tendentious statistics show that Muslims are a minority. However, he said, "There are more Muslims [in Europe] than the numbers declared by the official statistics."

He added, saying: "Fortunately, the Muslims started to multiply and multiply more than the rest of the other religions, maybe this is a sign of God. Thus the will of God, to made Muslims multiply times higher than other peoples. Perhaps this is proof that God wants to be more Muslims than anyone else in the end ."

Gaddafi continued, saying, "Therefore, if [trends continue] so that our numbers increase more, if the Islamic Front in Europe is to defend the Muslims, there will not be another massacre, as experienced in Bosnia and Herzegovina."

He said: "We must unite in Europe, and to be an Islamic state and one under the banner of the World Islamic People's Leadership», pointing out that God created the earth for all people."

Gaddafi concluded by saying: "No one can prevent us from living in Europe: Europe was created by God. Europeans did not create it, and you are the people of Europe, you are European, this is your land. How can you live there and be servile or persecuted?! You cannot."

Interestingly, in 2004, Gaddafi used the same terminology of Turkey being an Islamic "Trojan horse" into Europe - but he stated it as a warning for Europeans to be careful about radical Islam, and AL Qaeda, to enter Europe via Turkey.

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PA worried about Hamas political gains, "No humanitarian crisis in Gaza"

The Palestinian Authority is rightly worried that the flotilla incident has strengthened Hamas' rule over Gaza.

From JPost:

The Palestinian Authority is concerned about Turkey’s increased support for Hamas, a PA official in Ramallah said on Monday.

The official said that the PA leadership was “unhappy” with Turkey’s policy toward Hamas, especially with regard to pressure to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip unconditionally.

“Turkey’s policy is emboldening Hamas and undermining the Palestinian Authority,” the official told The Jerusalem Post.

“Of course we want to see the blockade lifted, but Hamas must also end its coup in the Gaza Strip and accept an Egyptian proposal for achieving reconciliation with Fatah.”

The PA is also concerned the reopening of the Rafah border crossing to Sinai would enable Hamas to tighten its grip on the Strip.

“We wish to remind the Turkish and Egyptian governments that the border crossing was controlled by the Palestinian Authority before Hamas launched its coup in 2007,” the official added. “If the Rafah border crossing is going to be reopened, that should be done in coordination with us and not with Hamas.”

Azzam al-Ahmed, a top Fatah official in the West Bank, was quoted over the weekend as saying that he was opposed to the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip until Hamas agreed to end the dispute with his faction.

Ahmed stressed that there was no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip because the PA government was sending aid through Israeli border crossings.

At the very least, if Hamas does agree to a reconciliation it will be on terms far more favorable to Hamas.

As far as the goods now crossing the Rafah crossing, Egypt is still not allowing cement - but will coordinate the delivery of cement with Israel via the Kerem Shalom crossing to NGOs such as UNRWA.

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NYT ignores Reuters photo manipulation story

The New York Times blog, The Lede, has a lengthy overview of the videos and photos that have been released by Israel and Turkey since the raid on the blockade-breaking ships, especially the photos of the Israeli commandos being held hostage. It goes into detail on a number of issues (some of which we covered, some not) about when and how various videos, audio recordings and photographs were released to the public.

Yet throughout that entire article, posted Monday evening, not a word was mentioned about Reuters' blatant manipulation of the Turkish photos that has been a lead story in much of the blogosphere for the previous 24 hours.

Isn't that interesting?

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The usual suspects

2nd of June 2010: members of various NGOs gather around a donkey, wrapped in a U.S. flag, stands on an Israeli flag with people’s shoes placed on it during a protest in Karachi.

I wonder which NGOs, btw.

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Original marriage in Iraq

Forward to 2:30

I know that this organization is serious business, otherwise I'd be sure this is a Monty Python sketch.

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Pearls' Potus, part 2

Pearls Before Swine seems to again be discussing the piece process. Literally.

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Zionist pigs attack yet again!

Palestine Press Agency reports on yet another attack of wild boars on the fields of the residents of Salfit - and their utter conviction that Jewish settlers are behind this evil.

Pigs from settlers from the settlement of "Ariel" continued their attacks on the rights of farms and houses in Salfit and surrounding villages.

Witnesses said that a swine herd consisting of twenty pigs attacked the farming communities, breaking down peach and apricot trees...

Witnesses said the pigs made scary sounds and also attacked a field of wheat belonging to farmers Imran Ahmed Khalil Masri and Abu Dar....

The farmers expressed their indignation at the repeated attacks of pigs and have shown that attempts to eliminate them and get rid of them have failed dismally.

Farmer Abu Amer blamed the occupation, saying that they deliberate disseminate pigs for the sabotage and destruction of land, which is then easily stolen by the occupation authorities to establish more settlements.

There's the missing link - I had always assumed from previous Zionist Pig stories that the Jews raised and trained these pigs purely out malice, but now I see it is to drive the Palestinian Arabs away from their land - a new form of ethnic cleansing, of course.

Another vital detail - the evil Jews did not only train the pigs to distinguish between Arab and Jewish farmlands, but they also train them to make scary noises!

And we know that Arabs have, in the past, left their beloved family homes en masse because of nothing more than loud, scary noises.

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Is this a gun?

I just again looked at the 9 minute Al Jazeera Mavi Marmara video and saw something I never noticed before:



Doesn't that look like a gun that the IHH is firing at the helicopter? Or is it something else - a camera, a mic?

UPDATE: The LGFers pretty much all think it is a camera. I'm intrigued by the possibility that it was one of the initial kidnapped IDF officer paintball guns.

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