Israeli raid. O.F.Taranco, UN: “We have no independent information on what transpired.”

[demoleft]

"Given the circumstances, he said, “it is not possible to state definitively the sequence or details of what happened”. The Israeli Government had stated that the demonstrators on-board had used knives and clubs against Israel Defense Forces naval personnel, and possibly live fire, and that a weapon had been grabbed from an Israel Defense Forces soldier. Given that those who had been on-board the ships were now in Israeli custody, including reporters who were travelling with the convoy, and had had their transmission equipment confiscated by the boarding Israeli forces, further information from the organizers of the convoy had been minimal since this morning. “We have no independent information on what transpired.”"

the UN Security Council,6325th & 6326th Meetings (PM & Night)- http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2010/sc9940.doc.htm

[dipsydoodle]

1. Well for a start

were they or were they not in International waters ?

According to this it was :

Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, confirmed that the attack took place in international waters, saying: "This happened in waters outside of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves." http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/05/201053133047995359.html

Presumably they felt the need to defend Israel against the threat of coriander : http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/why-won-t-israel-allow-gazans-to-import-coriander-1.288824

According to our UK TV News the only gun which those on board had was one which was taken from one of the Israeli commandos.

[EFerrari]

2. And what kind of "independent" report are they looking for?

Among 700 people from 40 countries, among whom were FORTY journalists, they can't get an "independent" report?

[demoleft]

4. the UN states that yes, it was international waters.

"In the early morning hours of Tuesday, the Security Council expressed deep regret at the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation early on Monday in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza, and condemned those acts which had killed at least 10 civilians and wounded many more."

"At approximately 0400 hours local time, the Israeli navy had acted to intercept the convoy. That had reportedly taken place some 40 nautical miles off the coast, in international waters, and had reportedly involved Israeli military personnel boarding the vessels, supported by naval ships and helicopters."

[leveymg]

3. Which is another way of saying, all of the witnesses are being held incommunicado until the

spin police can regain control over the storyline.

Isn't that what this is saying?

[EFerrari]

5. How will they shut up hundreds of people and their networks?

Yes, they are trying but, imo, the effort is going to fail. Too many stakeholders in too many different networks.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[demoleft]

7. matter of facts are there to be interpreted, not changed. international waters belong to me too...

...and i wanna know what happened there.

[leveymg]

8. That's your spin on this, not mine.

A lot of rot in those thoughts. Don't even go there . . .

[EFerrari]

9. Of course Israel wants to control the message. Just as we do

when we get into a mess. You're arguing against something that can't be reasonably disputed.

[madchick44]

10. You will hear nothing but how evil Iran is all day. It has already started.

Morning news goingck to 1979...major diversion from discussing what Israel has been doing for the last 20 or more years.