The Mavi Marmara

On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, killing nine. This incident is well known, but the facts are less well known. Antisemites would have you believe that this was a slaughter of innocent people. This couldn't be farther from reality.

The Mavi Marmara was part of a flotilla of ships calling themselves the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla". Let's take a closer look at this name. Where and what is Gaza? Here, Gaza refers to the Gaza Strip, a small piece of land on the Eastern Mediterranean, bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. The Gaza Strip takes its name from the main city of Gaza. The word "freedom" implies that this group is seeking to help an oppressed people. But who oppresses the people in the Gaza Strip? People claim the Israelis do. There is a problem with this claim. Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip on September 12, 2005, and hasn't reentered except during Operation Cast Lead during the winter of 2008 and 2009 and minor skirmishes. The word "flotilla" merely denotes a fleet of small crafts.

The question is, since there are currently no Israelis in the Gaza Strip, who is oppressing the people of Gaza? The answer to that is Hamas, but that's a different topic. Let's just focus on the events surrounding the Mavi Marmara.

So, the Mavi Marmara was part of a flotilla seeking to aid people against imagined oppressors, and it wasn't even necessary. Israel offered to transfer the aid to the Gaza Strip after an inspection for weapons and materials that could be used to make weapons. The previous link also shows how Israel sends thousands of tons of goods to the Gaza Strip every single day, both directly from Israel and from international organizations. How, then was there a need for a flotilla to break through a military blockade? While the left wing media enjoys depicting Gaza under attack, very little attention is given to Gaza from the day to day. Though difficult to find, pictures like this, this, and these show the Gaza Strip when Israel is not forced to counterattack against terrorist forces. Other than the architecture, Gaza does not look that different from most Western nations.

It is impossible to give any logical argument in favour of this flotilla. With that in mind, why, then, was it necessary to send this flotilla, and why couldn't they go through the Port of Ashdod as Israel had offered instead? The answer is simple; the flotilla wasn't sent to aid the Gazans, it was sent to create political ammunition against Israel.

To further complicate matters for the Antisemitic liars, there were six ships in this flotilla. The question is, if Israel was out to slaughter innocent people, why is it we hear nothing about the other ships? The other five ships, and one ship which arrived later, surrendered peacefully. The Mavi Marmara was the only ship with a violent incident. Why?

Videotaped statements from two members of the Mavi Marmara crew answer this question. The Mavi Marmara was preparing to fight the IDF two hours before the Israeli commandos boarded the ship. This video from the day before the raid shows how the people on board the Mavi Marmara were told by their leaders to resist the Israelis boarding the ship. This video shows how the Israeli commandos were attacked, and also exposes the lies of the leaders of the flotilla, who claimed there were no weapons on board, even though Israel has video proof of the weaponry. When the last commando had hit the deck, two others had already been shot by the terrorists on board.

Later, Israel confirmed that the Mavi Marmara had no humanitarian aid on board. What aid was sent was improperly packaged and stored, and some of the medicine was already expired. After the incident, Israel filtered out materials that could be used to produce weapons and sent the aid to Gaza. However, Hamas refused to accept the aid.

It is clear to anyone but the Antisemitic that the fault for the incident on the Mavi Marmara lies 100% with the terrorists on the Mavi Marmara. The Israeli commandos, improperly equipped and carrying paintball guns, with their sidearms only there as a last resort, were attacked by people intent on murder and were forced to defend themselves. What occurred was not a massacre, but a fight for survival by people defending Israel from those who would support terrorism.