Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

"Many of the people on board said that the commandos were firing as they landed"

You're spending too much time with Fred. Watch the videos. No shots were fired until the mob attack was in full swing.

Cynic

Arms: No nuclear bombs or machine guns - just a huge haul of low grade stuff like steel truncheons, slingshots, pick axe handles, hunting knives, tear gas, pepper spray, smoke bombs and fire bombs. And, puzzlingly, lots and lots of carefully packed sharp stones. Is Gaza short of stones and slingshots? And surely they don't need the humanitarian aid bombs? They already have enough bomb making equipment to export thousands every year to their next door neighbours.

Humanitarian aid: see video 3 or 4 posts above.

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gausie - with regards to the arms being shipped, the israelis have been suitably gulled by the sounds of it

with regard to the humanitarian aid being carried on this convoy, can you tell me yes or no, whether the israelis have guaranteed that 100% of it will be released into gaza? ..... and if so, how quickly?

Cynic - Do you know how to google? Martini does lessons.

G
"Many of the people on board said that the commandos were firing as they landed"

You're spending too much time with Fred. Watch the videos. No shots were fired until the mob attack was in full swing.

How do you know? It is being reported as such and by journalists who were on board. I would prefer the view of people who were present. It also seems to fit the trigger happy profile of Israeli soldiers.

600 people on these ships?
100 to crew them?
I suppose 400-500 are Turks doing a Med cruise
or Palestinians returning from their hols in Turkey?

H

The key part was the middle sentence of the second paragraph that you just reposted. "Watch the videos".

Everybody on board had an axe to grind, so I'm not surprised that their accounts are so coloured. You know this. If you "prefer" the propogandist view then that is entirely your right. I prefer the truth.

The videos above show the truth, with no commentary and no spin.

G

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Mnamreh -

Tyketto was being sarcastic. The ship wasn't really packed with peaceful tourists on their med cruise.

Everyone (and I mean everyone) on board was part of the rabble machinery and knew the rough details of what they were getting into. Even the journalists took covert satellite broadcasting equipment, in the knowledge that there would be a confrontation with the Israeli military and that mobile signals would be blocked as a matter of course.

can't be arsed to watch the videos ..... i really just asked one simple question, and that was in regard to the humanitarian aid ...... my bet is that if the israelis even said that they would release the humanitarian aid to gaza, they did not state that it was absolutely all of it, nor when it would actually be released - i.e. listen to what is NOT said!

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cynic - bullshit.

If you really wanted to know the answer to your questions you'd have watched the videos.

You prefer instead to try to make disingenuous cheap political points. Well you'll have to try a little harder.

You doubt that Israel said that they'd release the aid - well check the video you'll hear them promise exactly that.

You say they didn't state it would be absolutely all of the aid - I would hope that they didn't release the weapons.

And they didn't say when - I believe that all of the rest of the cargo crossed the border into Gaza over an hour ago.

what's bullshit? ..... and no i'm not ..... and now, after all that unnecessary flannel, you have answered my question about the prompt release of the humanitarian aid .... thank you

now they can carry on killing each other for no good reason other than each side follows what the lunatics tell them

a visitation of the plagues on both houses would be no bad thing

I am not Jewish. Ideologically I am left and by profession a journalist. Why am I not anti- Israeli like my colleagues? Because as a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and currently against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel . To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of the Jews, it is the duty of the non-Jews.

As a journalist it is my duty to search for the truth beyond prejudice, lies and manipulations. The truth about Israel is not told. As a person from the left who loves progress, I am obligated to defend liberty, culture, civic education for children, coexistence and the laws that the Tablets of the Covenant made into universal principles.

Principles that Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. That is to say that as a non-Jew, journalist and lefty, I have a triple moral duty with Israel , because if Israel is destroyed, liberty, modernity and culture will be destroyed too.

Isreal, they done wrong. They are the first to complain if anything is done against their people, but will they admit guilt, I think not.

During the Falklands war, Britain employed a blockade of this island that was beyond its international borders. This is a standard practice by countries that are at war. US coastal guards often intercepts drug boats well before they reach US waters. Israel gave plenty of warnings and gave the organisers an option to dock in Israeli port. Israel had no option but to treat this flotilla as hostile.

So what is the problem in asking 6 vessels carrying aid cargo interspersed with armamants to stop and be checked out?

The Turks have used this incident to their full advantage to ally themselves to the Syrian/Iranian axis.

Hey Clubman

I wonder why you've sprung up on this thread. I thought you were a well balanced rational individual. Until I started to read your posts.

pointless anti-semitic post

How sad that we have people on here making such silly comments.

More generally Gausie well done for your research and putting the other side.

New and serious escalation.

IHH sending another two ships to try to run the blockade. (One registered in Ireland, the other in USA)

Israel vowing not to use paintball guns next time, but instead to treat this as a war.

The west has been struggling with this for some time - new instability is less likely to be between governments of warring states, but rather between governments and armed hostile ideological groups with bases in many countries.

There's no textbook on how to defend against this sort of aggression - and so the world will be watching and making notes. I sure hope that we can learn from what Israel get right and what they get wrong. Because this is the shape of things to come. For all of us.