On the night of Sunday, May 30, showing a terrifying disregard for human life, Israeli naval forces surrounded and boarded ships sailing to bring humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. On the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli commandos opened fire on civilian passengers, killing at least 9 passengers and wounding dozens more. Others are still missing. The final death toll is yet to be determined. Cultures of Resistance director Iara Lee was aboard the besieged ship and has since returned home safely.

Despite the Israeli government’s thorough efforts to confiscate all footage taken during the attack, Iara Lee was able to retain some of her recordings. Above is 15 minutes of footage from the moments leading up to and during the Israeli commandos’ assault on the Mavi Marmara.




  1. anda says:

    how so there is no “leaked” footage of hamas lovers stabing, shooting and hitting with pipes uniformed soldiers, or it was edited out, because was no good pr for hamas?

  2. Anon says:

    Everyone on that boat has a camera what the hell? People carry fewer cameras on a vacation cruise. Was this planned well in advance to draw a response or what?

  3. Rick says:

    Ironically you had to go to a turkish news site to see the actual photos of israeli commandos being beaten and bloody. Somehow the activists magically produced “pipes of peace” and began methodically beating unarmed commandoes. Thats why the armed ones started shooting.

    Many of the activists didn’t agree with the violent response to the raid, as photos were taken of some of them rendering aid to the injured israelis.

  4. Kibitz says:

    Good try but this is like 50% of the story. If you really wanted to help the people in Gaza why not just let them board and review the cargo? Trying to break a blockade that is been in place for may years is not something to mess with IMHO. They obviously had ulterior motive.

  5. Faxon says:

    Very little information here. Looks like a propaganda release to me. If there was a blockade, what did they expect? Ice cream? If there was gunfire, there must have been a provocation. I notice they forgot to edit out the slingshots being used. If I were a soldier boarding a ship, and the passengers were using slingshots, I would shoot back. A slingshot can be lethal, obviously. Don’t tell me they were shooting the slingshot at the helicopter. If this were a humanitarian mission, what were the slingshots for? Sharks?

  6. Faxon says:

    #3 Could you post the Turkish site?

  7. Anon says:

    # 5
    You could put an eye out with one of those.

  8. A blunt provocation says:

    watch vimeo.com/12406972 at 1:37, it shows the Israeli getting beaten with pipes upon landing. I wonder where is this footage went missing. Also, please put NSFW label and possibly “disturbing” label because of wounds and blood. Thats what it looks like in realty vs. “news report-9 dead and dozen injured in raid”

  9. Red says:

    Boring, needs more Israelis shooting these ignorant fools.

  10. Camacho says:

    Israelis acted like pirates in international waters. If the ship members attacked the commandos, it was in self-defence.

  11. LDA says:

    #1 anda

    A little biased? You can try to help the Palestinians without supporting the scum Hamas thugs (or Fatah).

    “stabing, shooting and hitting with pipes”

    Shouldn’t Israel provide that footage, it was their claim (they have shown attacks on their troops with poles but I have not seen evidence of stabbing or shooting)?

    #4 Kibitz (ironic)

    Yes, this is (part of) the other 50% of the story, we already have the Israeli’s side. Maybe they should have gone to Ashod (I had hoped they would), but they expected (and maybe wanted) a confrontation, Israel obliged and the Gaza border (in Egypt) was opened and Israel slightly softened its siege, so it worked.

    #5 & #6 Faxon

    Do people have the right to self defence? If the activists were attacked they have the right to defend themselves, if the activists attacked first (and I have seen no evidence of shooting before the activists attacked) the soldiers have a right to defend themselves.

    The web-site is Hurriyet. Look it up on your chosen search engine and translate (unless you speak Turkish). I found the story on Haaretz and went straight to the site and the pictures were linked from the front page. I do not know if they still are.

  12. sargasso_c says:

    All over a shipment of aluminium window frames, walking sticks and electric wheel chairs. Which were no doubt disguised weapons of mass destruction. Just, grow up.

  13. UncDon says:

    And here’s an alternative view:

    http://aish.com/jw/me/95501584.html

  14. COLINDALE London says:

    LIKUD’s LEGACY of ANTISEMITISM

  15. Jim in Seattle says:

    So John D, your blog is also anti-Israel now?

  16. Luc says:

    #8 has manure for brains. The article especifically informs that the footage depicts military forces boarding a vessel where 9 people got killed and the moron wants a “NSFW” lable.

    It’s for morons like him that companies put those stupid warning labels on products, like “do not use on penis” for chainsaws.

  17. KMFIX says:

    Apparently most people think pirates should be greeted with flowers and goodwill.

    Israel either needs to install the ovens and finish their work in the worlds largest concentration camp or actually move towards peace, bring down the walls, and stop occupying the stolen lands.

  18. mcpepants says:

    palestine lost, few more years and they will be no more. good riddance.

  19. bobbo, int'l pastry chef and world history buff says:

    As stated on the other much longer ((why are threads not bumped at 100 hits–or 200 for their obvious interest?)) and more informative and contentious thread causing two long term DU posters to “leave forever” I commented that starting any argument from the position that the Israeli blockade was illegal, or piracy, or inhumane revealed a bias so deep and erroneous that the source has voluntarily removed himself from serious consideration. Such as this thread here.

    “a terrifying disregard for human life” would have been shown by sinking the ships at sea, not boarding them with paint guns. Silly propagandist.

    If you fight 5-6 wars and lose each one of them and continue to fight as if you think you can still win: you deserve much more “feed back” than what the Israeli’s have provided to date. Some day, in their own self interest they have been ignoring too long, the Israli’s are going to up their self defense response to more lethal==like any other nation on earth would have done decades ago. Then watch the other arab countries try to keep the Palestinian refugees caged like rats.

    Link to longer thread which has not been bumped up: http://dvorak.org/blog/2010/06/07/helen-thomas-you-know-she-right-about-israel/comment-page-5/#comment-1666800

  20. mobile games says:

    I watched it, thanks for sharing this with us.

  21. Todd Peterson says:

    Incredible support for the terrorists here at Dvorak.org. Israel has the same right to defend her self, just like the US. But Israel doesn’t blow up children on the opposite side of the world!!!!

  22. zorkor says:

    But Israel is a peaceful country? No? They always shoot the stone throwing children and pregnant women. They love peace , No? They would never do such a thing like shooting and killing innocent protesters on the ship. You guys are just being anti-Semite.

    Israelis are really peaceful people.

  23. RTaylor says:

    General George Marshall begged Truman not to allow the US to vote for the partitioning of Palestine. He predicted these events in the late 1940’s. He knew to continuation if Israel would require US support indefinitely. The British occupiers well understood it.
    Has it been and will it continue to be worth it, with a nuclear Iran.

  24. Bobby says:

    You really should stick to what you know and stop showing your incredible ignorance by posting what has been shown to be very biased reports about the attempted Hamas incursion through the anti-weapons blockade. As is typical with most media these days, Israel is again convicted for defending itself. Bogus reporting-typical of Uncle Dave. Although THIS particular shipment looked to be harmless supplies, the REAL intent by the IHH terrorist group was to break the blockade so that more weapons could be smuggled in to Gaza. I’ve been to the area next to the Gaza strip and have seen and touched the rockets that Hamas has been shooting into Israeli fields and towns in the south for years and this is just a very, very small part of the story. You need to get your facts straight, perhaps by doing some actual investigative journalism. Or is that above a mere blogger?

  25. Civengine says:

    A blockade is an act of war and the creation of a war zone. A “neutral” ship entering blockaded waters has always been subject to search and seizure if the blockader determines that the ship has contraband bound for the “enemy.”

    Why is there such a hullabaloo? These people knowingly entered a war zone and thought that they would be met with flowers? They have cojones, but I also think they intended to be boarded and cause an incident. And why on earth would Israel, as the blockader, allow the blockade runners to retain their cameras and other recording devices? Incompetence. All material goods onboard should have been confiscated and the ships seized, per the “laws of war.”

  26. jbenson2 says:

    The opening line: “On the night of Sunday, May 30, showing a terrifying disregard for human life”

    Referring of course to the radical Islamists blockade runners.

  27. Don says:

    If Hamas would stop shooting rockets at Israel then there would be no reason for a blockade.

  28. LDA says:

    #23 Lamron

    Thanks, I already saw the ones with the vicious mob with bars but that is the first one I have seen with a knife.

    Do you know if the stun grenade was originally from the ship or if the soldiers threw it and the people on the boat threw it back (like smoke grenades are thrown back at police)? Do stun grenades go off straight away or would you have time to throw it back?

    For the record, I am just trying to be impartial, from what I had/have seen, it seems that the troops were acting in self defence. I have seen no evidence that the soldiers shot before being attacked (as was claimed) but I am willing to change my mind if someone can offer evidence.

  29. Jmrouse says:

    You all do realize that all we have been hearing to this point is Israel’s side of the story? The footage Israel has released to the world of the event is heavily edited and they have refused to release the unedited footage and photos they captured. Why do you think that is? If they were in the right with their actions why won’t they open up?

  30. Benjamin says:

    Civengine said, on June 11th, 2010 at 5:30 am

    “A “neutral” ship entering blockaded waters has always been subject to search and seizure”

    Right. They even stated their purpose was to run the blockade.

    “All material goods onboard should have been confiscated and the ships seized, per the “laws of war.””

    Israel errored on the side of compassion. They are inspecting the cargo and trucking the stuff that cannot be made into weapons to the Palestinians. Also, most of the humanitarian stuff is junk: expired medication and worn out shoes and clothes. Shows how compassionate the other Arabs are to the Palestinians. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/137816

    I cannot believe people on this thread are in support of Hamas and the terrorists who lob rockets at Israelis. It’s like it’s a Bizzro World or something.


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