http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo
Now a little background on me : I am Jewish, in fact I even lived in Israel. So now that we have that out in the open you can openly criticize me on that with your ignorant beliefs about Israeli's, whatever those beliefs may be. In truth, I have been known to be openly critical of Israel whenever mistakes have been made or decisions were followed that were contrary to my beliefs. That being said, Israel made only one mistake in boarding the ships bound for Gaza on May 31st, that mistake was simple : You do NOT board foreign ships in international waters. Doing so has exposed them to criticism on two fronts, firstly, did they board in international waters and what gave them the right to do so? Secondly, what triggered the violence that led to loss of life?
I will agree that upon first reading the news this morning I was irritated when I learned Israel had used force against a bunch of "aid workers" and was concerned about the fallout that would result as a consequence of such actions, however, ignorance soon fades as one opens their eyes up to factual evidence. The evidence I am reflecting on is the night-vision video that was taken by the Israeli army during these events - finally, someone smartened up and thought of using video cameras to prove Israel's side. To anyone who is even the least bit unbiased, or perhaps less biased than the protestors you normally see on TV burning flags and screaming at bricks and mortar, it is clear that the soldiers WERE attacked as their feet touched the deck of the ship. The Canadian media however with it's "impartial" broadcasting has decided to focus on the protests happening in our cities, which is fine and all, yet when they fail to ask those protestors relevant questions reflecting on THE FACTS, as opposed to "how does this make you feel," it really renders their broadcasts irrelevant.
Word of mouth is NOT a fact, I am a firm believer in pictures and videos. The facts as we have them right now are simple and are provided by two sources: The Israeli army and a camera that appears to have been held by a protestor. In both it is not only clear but certain that the Israeli soldiers were attacked by what I could only describe as a pack of rabid wolves as they repelled to the ships. The world wants an explanation of what resulted in the deaths? There you bloody have it. The "aid workers" went at the soldiers with clubs, knives, and threw one soldier off the deck. Is it that hard to believe that at least one of those individuals had also ripped off a soldiers side-arm and began shooting at the soldiers? Common sense people. And here we get down to the bottom of my distaste for the individuals that run or take part in campaigns like "The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid." Their perspectives and knowledge base are so full of ideology and so devoid of factual basis and common sense that rather than promoting economic, political, and social reform in Gaza and the West Bank, they support terrorist organizations and extremist clerics that push them further away from those goals.
Did Israel have reason to believe that the flotilla was carrying weapons? Yes they did because it has been done in the past. Were they right in boarding the boats? Yes they were, seeing as how one of those boats contained knives (not the type for cooking), steel rods, and baseball bats (not a big sport in the Middle East). Should they have boarded in international water? No, but as of right now no one is certain about whether or not they did board outside of their jurisdiction. Should they have shot at the attackers? Now here is that grey area where grey rules come into play. Last I read, the rifles that the soldiers had boarded the boats with were outfitted with paintballs not bullets, however their pistols did in fact have live rounds. Remember, these are not some run of the mill infantry soldiers boarding the flotilla, these are soldiers trained for these types of missions. As we can see on the video it appears as though paintball bullets would not have effective, does that justify shooting with live ammo at "civilians"? I can't say because from what I have heard and from what seems perfectly possible to me, one of the "aid-workers" had ripped off a gun from a soldier and began shooting, in that case yes the soldiers acted appropriately. If that did not take place then yes that MAY have been excessive unless of course some of the soldiers were being stabbed which DID occur- soldiers were admitted to hospitals with stab wounds. Only time will tell what the UNSC and IDF investigations will reveal, right now I simply hope some of you will open your eyes to the truth.
Oh and could people please define CIVILIAN, the whole of the Middle East are civilians that were or will be at one time of another in the Army. Do not call people branding knives and steel bats as weapons "civilians," would perpetrators not be a better word?
Also, I read someone brought a child on-board. Here is a message to those supporting these "aid workers," ARE YOU MAD? How can you support someone who carries a child into harms way.
The Rules of Today :
The Media knows about as much as any of us do. They learn about events on the ground as soon as we do, why? Because of this wonderful tool known as the World Wide Web. So get several points of view before you go to riot in the streets with the anarchists as they burn YOUR city.
Ignorance is addictive, if you see a bunch of people yelling, screaming, and burning flags, listen to what they have to say, then listen to the other side. Let the two sides marinate in your mind as you read up on the actual facts, then brush most of them off as psychopaths and sheep. Stand up for what you believe to be RIGHT based on FACTS and FIGURES, and NOT GROUP THINK and PUBLICITY STUNTS.
Also, since this is my first blog post, I will soon post an introduction. This just seemed a tad more urgent so please excuse the many grammatical errors. And so we continue into the land of Grey...
