Overnight, the Jerusalem Post carried a story titled Navy Sends Activist Boat Back to Cyprus which said:
The Navy has turned back a boat trying to carry pro-Palestinian protesters to the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the boat ignored an Israeli radio order to turn back early Tuesday. He said the boat tried to outmaneuver the navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels. The navy then escorted the boat to the territorial waters of Cyprus.
In a report from the AFP, Israeli authorities said is was all just a mistake:
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP that the naval vessel tried to contact the aid boat by radio for identification and to inform it that it could not enter Gaza.
"After the boat did not answer the radio, it sharply veered and the two vessels collided, causing only light damage," Palmor said.
The Israeli spokesman accused the pro-Palestinian activists of "seeking provocation more than ever."
But this time, a reporter, Karl Penhaul from CNN, was actually on the boat – and gave the report you see above as the events were happening:
… the boat while still in international waters has been rammed by Israeli patrol boats, our vessel has been damaged …there’s been some damage to a roof section and to glass windows around the steering area and the captain says that the vessel is taking on a small amount of water, that at this stage is not life threatening but the ship was very severely rammed by one of those Israeli patrol boats, those patrol boats have been following the vessel for the half hour prior to the ramming incident … they rammed the vessel without warning but after the ramming there was a radio message saying the Israeli patrol boat was accusing the Dignity of being involved in terrorist activities.
No wonder Israel is continuing their refusal to allow foreign journalists into Gaza.
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Thanks for this Siun.
Digg is open
Israel attacked a boat with an American reporter on it thats dumb.
The truth is anti-Semitic.
So, has JPod accused Karl Penhaul of anti-semitism and supporting terrorist organizations yet?
Why is this surprising?
504 hrs & 52 min
Israel shot up the USS Liberty in 1967 … and indications are that they knew it was a US warship at the time. What’s an aid boat with one American journalist in comparison?
It doesn’t matter, U.S. public opinion is secondary to U.S. government support, which appears to be unconditional.
They’re doing their best to keep us as uninformed “Good Germans,” that’s for damned sure.
Does Israel have any real goals in this war? I don’t see Hamas being destroyed by this invasion. I don’t see Hamas giving into Israeli demands after this invasion.
I know that CW Current Wisdom is that a war will help the ruling party in Israel win the upcoming election by making them look tough, but Israel tried this trick with Lebanon recently it didn’t work.
Has any invasion since Palestine became occupied ever accomplished anything long term? The rocket attacks are still going on is Israel’s plan to declare victory when Hamas runs out of rockets?
If there are no plans, no goals then is there a victory? Just who is teaching the Israeli army strategy Bush and Rumsfeld?
Now if this had been an Iranian patrol boat skirmish, there would have been hell to pay, dontcha know.
Kids who were abused often end up becoming abusers themselves I wonder if the same holds true of societies?
The political and military leaders of Israel are batshit insane, thinking that anything is gained by unleashing weaponry on one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
There will only be additional backlash, with the lowest elements of both societies dragging everyone else down… like crabs in a can.
How thoroughly disgusting and depressing.
Ever hear of a ship called the USS Liberty?
Sure seems so…
When will they ever learn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYii6nxhvUk
503 hrs & 27 min
Last night I was talking on the phone to my mother, who was just horrified. She was one of those “Israel can do no wrong” types for years and years, but now she’s finally getting it.
Chicken Noodle Network now has it as their lead online story
I realize that entire section of the world is crazy, with the need for oil, national interest and biblical dead-enders who feel there will be a special place in heaven for them for bringing about “the end times”
Israel has shown some restraint in this, because they could simply obliterate Gaza. I wonder if the situation has spun so out of control that they would, if not for the backlash of world opinion of the country that could not forgive .
Haartz has done a stellar job of being the conscience of Israel, too.
USS Liberty Incident (1967) (Wikipedia entry).
How long before its pulled, you think?
Hey, they actually mentioned it was in international waters, if you scroll nearly to the end of the story. ;)
Good Point. This story has a MSM shelf life of five minutes. AIPAC will get it pulled pronto.
Yes. The current situtation is a classic example. Russian xenophobia (EVERYBODY invaded them at one time or another), and our American gun fixation are others.
And Israel wants Hamas destroyed. That’s their goal. They’re hunting Hamas leadership, at least what was missed in the first hit. And I think they hurt Hamas VERY badly in that set of strikes, I’ve heard nothing from any Hamas leader even indirectly. You can bet there are commando units in Gaza already…commando units, polite way of saying trained killers with names and photos.
If Hezbollah was going to act, they’d have done so by now. Hamas is on it’s own. Israel has at least three weeks to do as it pleases, as the USA won’t step in while BushCo is in charge.
If you think the airstrikes are bad, wait until the main ground forces get moving. That’ll happen late today or tomorrow.
Boxturtle (Ask Georgia what happens when you pick on a large, irritable neighbor. Hamas are idiots)
Chimpy and Condi should feel right at home in this Cheeeeney-like KoolAide state…
All lies – all the time….
Sure looks like light damage to me. /s
503 hrs & 29 min
I don’t think the CNN story will be pulled. I think the best thing Israel could do at this point is to call off the attacks, back off, and allow international aid in to Gaza. Give them a reason to stop lobbing rockets at Israel. And don’t expect it to stop overnight, even with an immediate Israeli pullout.
You are assuming that there are adults in charge.
503 hrs & 26 min
Cynthia McKinney was on the aid boat. We should be calling her President-elect. That would have been change we could believe in.
When has any incursion into Palestinian occupied territory resulted in the PLO or Hamas being destroyed?
The truth is anti-Israeli. It’s also anti-Hamas.
Can we have a real Middle East policy now?
The Israeli’s can’t even stop Hamas from shooting rockets at them maybe Israel needs Russian military advisers?
Don’t expect any thing for at least
503 hrs and 22 min
I believe the principal goals are to shoot up the place, vent frustration, and gain a few votes. I have said it before but Israel’s political leaders make Bush and Cheney look like geniuses.
CNN had a member of the Lakud(sp) party saying Israel has to dismantle Hamas but did NOT say HOW…… how do you dismantle it……. bomb them into the stone age?
I want someone explain how you dismantle Hamas?
How long do we have to wait, again? Not that anyone’s counting down the minutes or anything…
It’s great that Israel is denying the boat-ramming since it’s obvious what happened. They want to undermine their own credibility, fine with me.
Why would anyone want to do that?
503 hrs & 18 min
Israel does not want to stop Hamas from shooting rockets.
Dream on. Diplomatically, they’re fine. America is not going to stop them, israel is used to the EU blather and stopped taking it seriously a couple years ago.
Israel is going to start hitting even harder. If that boat had made it Gazan waters, it would have been sunk. If you think they wouldn’t dare, you haven’t read any of the links to the USS Liberty incident. You’ll see people shot in front of their families…hell, you’ll see people shot WITH their families.
Hamas could have prevented this. Israel could have prevented this. We have to accept the fact those two WANT to fight. And until both realize that they can’t win by force, they’ll continue to fight by choice.
The photos of the Israelies cheering the IAF strikes will go well right beside the photos of the Palistinans cheering the scud missle strikes.
Boxturtle (if Darwin is right, this is simply natural selection removing both sides from the gene pool))
The US insisted on elections. Hamas was elected. So we are going after a duly elected gov’t. So much for democracy.
Great just when you think stupid has been defined for a generation:)
Within the past couple years, I heard a statement by Muammar al-Gaddafi to the effect that there will never be peace between Israel and the Palestinians because there simply isn’t enough physical space to accommodate so many people of divergent interests. Gaddafi hasn’t always been a fount of wisdom but in this instance I think he might have given an accurate assessment.
Global warming should make it even smaller.
The elections that Cheney Administration insisted on resulted in a Hamas victory. This is what Condi Rice calls a huge ME success.
We have to accept the fact those two WANT to fight.
That’s rather a false equivalence. In the case of Hamas we’re talking about a few extremists. WRT Israel, we’re talking about the entire machinery of a nation-state. Hardly the same.
While eventually rendering the remainder uninhabitable. Climate change as the roadmap to peace.
The PLO IS destroyed! It’s in several chunks, with the two largest chunks (Fatah and Hamas) fighting each other. Fatah is nearly dead, if it wasn’t for Israeli support they wouldn’t even control their own families!
Hamas was strong, but Israel’s systematic weakening since the Gaza takeover has worked well. There’s nothing like a functioning government there, they get only lip service from the few diplomatic contacts they have and even their Arab “brothers” greatly prefer Fatah.
Israel can crush Hamas this time and I think they’re willing to expend the resources to do it.
Boxturtle (They only thing the two sides agree upon is the world ain’t big enough for both of ‘em)
What was it that Burke said about evil when good men did nothing? We are reaping what LBJ sowed when he ordered Admiral McCain to ignore the plight of the U.S.S. Liberty at a time when Israeli jets were strafing our sailors who had abandoned ship.
These sick bastards are truly shameless in their lack of humanity.
Yep. The neocons in their govt knew their time was running out–and it is. Hence this. They’ve got cover for about another 500 hours.
New lead story on Chicken Noodle Network: missing blonde woman’s body found by railroad tracks.
At least the boat ramming story is still linked from CNN’s front page.
The warmer it gets the hotter the heads.
503 hrs & 3 min
I think if you took a poll of the Gazans, you’d find strong support for attacks against Israel. I may be wrong, but that’s sure my impression. Peace, coexistance are only spoken of by a few Wise Men on each side and those folks are generally ignored by the rest.
In any case, the extremists are in charge. Voted in by the population. We either deal with that reality or we try to change that reality. We should have tried to deal with it before we stepped aside and let Israel try to change it.
The stupid, it burns.
Boxturtle (There must be a Burning Bush pun somewhere, but I can’t think of it)
Does anyone really think that the number of “extremists” is going down?
503 hours & 00 min
Siun,
Thanks for all your updates. As soon as this happened, I figured we were a month away from Israeli violence in Gaza…
We should herd them into boxcars and then.. d’oh!
from Al Jazeera’s story on the incident:
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said that the incident was nothing more than a “propaganda stunt”.
“Israel would never have done anything against international law, that is inconceivable,” he told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera let that that statement go without comment. I, however, laughed my ass off!
In time the truth will come to be known…sadly the time spans involved are nowhere near enough to help those innocent Gazans( of course once dead how can they confess to being part of Hamas or being innocent children,women,teachers and medical or police employees?)killed in past three days of will die today,tomorrow or in coming days.
The truth here already is seeping through Israel’s cynical and duplicity ridden propaganda and lies.
More will follow.
Israel is in the position to be honest and worthy of respect or Israel can go with telling lies and being worthy of contempt.
That WashingtonDC is so stupidly conducting larger American foreign affairs just to please AIPAC and Israeli agents only is surely a full indictment of the current state of rotted WashingtonDC money politics and lack of any moral balance of/in viewpoint.
Barack Obama has a choice to make very soon once the Oval Office is his.
He can become a true greater sighted American leader or he can become a war crimes supporter and in fact a war criminal himself.
Truth will rise to the surface. The lies will be exposed. All in good time.
Again you have to understand that any successor to the current Hamas leadership is likely to be more extreme. This has been the pattern. Israel kills or imprisons each new generation of Palestinian leaders who won’t do what Israel wants, i.e. give up land and resources, provide Israel with cheap labor, and keep their population quiet by whatever means necessary. Unsurprisingly, no Palestinian leadership can accomplish these goals and retain an iota of credibility with ordinary Palestinians. If they don’t, the Israelis blame them and eventually take them out. Look how Yassir Arafat or Marwan Barghouti or Hamas’ Sheik Ahmed Yassin ended up. What Palestinian leaders learn from this is that those who went before them and were killed or imprisoned by Israel were insufficiently radical in their approach, that they were insufficiently rejectionist of Israel.
Actually should have started a secondary countdown when this happened.
Wonder if we need to go back and reexamine similar incidents earlier in the year.
That’s not funny. At all. Not even with a snark tag, if you’d even given thought to adding one.
Israel did more than shoot up the USS Liberty. 33 People were killed and 170 injured just because they witnessed Israel actually starting the 6 day war with Egypt. Israel jet fighters tried very hard to sink the boat and kill all aboard. All this in international waters. Google for more information.
It wasn’t meant to be funny. It was meant to illustrate where a certain line of thought leads.
I was surprised the mods let that through…
Hey,
you might enjoy the Wiki page on the Franklin spy case…Go look at the updates made on December 18th and Dec 30th, 2008.
Here’s the “not pretty” link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L…..ge_scandal
Please do not advocate violence, even in jest.
OT Blago nominates Roland Burris for Obamas senate seat
502 hrs & 20 min
My Uncle, whenever ME discussion happens in the family, he it shuts it down just by stating, “USS Liberty.”
Let’s obsess over a 40 year old friendly fire incident that occurred while Israel was at war with the combined forces of Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
/s
Who is Burris? Do we know anything about him?
Thanks Siun, your reports are a breath of fresh air in the miasma of deceit, half-truth, distortion and outright lies that have been currency since forever. Hopefully a few will awaken from their delusions by your efforts.
Siun, excellent work. Thank you so much.
Friendly fire? Either do some real research, or be good enough to share what you’re smoking.
“Friendly fire” in the since that they are allegedly our “friends” and they definitely fired on the Liberty. They just did it on purpose.
Stupid typo ….sense not since.
WEll, this sure gets Bernie Madoff-off the front pages,doesn’t it. Seems like a lot of s- – - is hitting the Semitic fan just before Bush is oficially whisked out of the White House. Wonder how many billions went to fund the Israeli war on Gaza,and anybody else they decided to take out?
NYT: ‘No End in Sight in Gaza Battle’
Battle?
Yahoo!News home page currently running Israeli framed version of Gazan medical aid boat being turned back by Israeli Navy and “confused” reports of deliberate collision when Israeli Navy was trying to “radio” aid boat it could not enter Gazan waters.
So…Gaza is not under Israeli control since Israeli Gaza pullout but Israel controls Gazan airspace,Gazan waters and Gazan borders.
Israel decides who cannot get into Gaza or get out of Gaza or what goes into Gaza or comes out of Gaza but then wants to claim it does not “control” Gaza.
The Israelis are simply not being honest in any of this.
Note to Yahoo!News–less propaganda shoveling–more true facts,reporting.
Wonder who the Israeli government has hired to do the PR spin on this “meshugganah”?
One-Minute World News————BBC
Gaza aid boat ‘rammed by Israel’
The damaged boat arrives at a Lebanese port
A boat delivering 3.5 tonnes of Cypriot medical aid to the Gaza Strip has been rammed by Israeli naval vessels in international waters, activists say.
The Free Gaza campaign group, which operates the Dignity, also claimed shots were fired towards the crew.
The boat later docked in Lebanon after sustaining serious damage to one side.
Israeli officials confirmed there had been “physical contact” but denied reports of shooting and said the crew had not responded to radio calls.
The 20m (66ft) Dignity was carrying 15 civilian passengers, including several doctors, journalists, a former US congresswoman and a member of the Cypriot parliament, says Free Gaza.
‘Heavy gunfire’
Crowds turned out to greet the Dignity as it arrived in Tyre port.
The organisation sent out an urgent statement on Tuesday saying the vessel had been surrounded by at least six Israeli military ships.
“They are firing live ammunition around the Dignity, and one of the warships has rammed the civilian craft causing an unknown amount of damage,” said the statement~~~~~~~~~~~~~Excerpt fromm BBC online
Israeli patrol boat collides with aid ship off Gaza
AFP – 24 minutes ago
TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) – An Israeli naval vessel collided on Tuesday with a boat carrying activists and medical supplies that was trying to break the blockade of Gaza, forcing it to divert to a port in Lebanon.
Video: Damaged Gaza aid boat docks in southern Lebanon – 30 Dec 08 AlJazeeraEnglish
Gaza aid boat ’rammed by Israel’ BBC News
If Hamas is ‘a few extremists’, then it should be as easy as getting rid of Al Qaeda and it’s sympathizers in Iraq.
I don’t know that it’s fair or honest to equate the Israeli government with Hamas militants. Sure, there are some extremists within Israel, but they aren’t dominant.