11:16 p.m: The Times of London published a list of passengers. One name that rings a bell is Ewa Jasiewicz.
Jasiewicz, a Lauren Booth wannabe, is a member of both the UK's National Union of Journalists and the International Solidarity Movement.
She was deported from Israel in 2004 after she "abused her NUJ Press Card in order to interfere with IDF [Israeli Defense Force] anti terrorist activities as a political activist . . ."
10:49 p.m: Interrogations of detained activists reveal that some passengers were recruited specifically to attack Israeli soldiers:
Israel's investigation has revealed some 100 people infiltrated the peace and humanitarian aid activists making their way to Gaza, with the explicit design to attack Israeli soldiers using cold arms.
Some among that group are believed to have ties with World Jihad groups, mainly al-Qaeda . . .
Some of the suspects were found to be carrying large sums of money. Others had Kevlar vests and gas masks; and all were found to be carrying weapons such as knives, metal clubs and slingshots.
10:34 p.m: Egypt opens its border with Rafah. Where are the aid convoys?
10:14 p.m: You know things are getting surreal when pro-Palestinian protestors storm BBC offices in Manchester. Why?
Protesters said they were also angry about the BBC's coverage of Israel.
I'm fed up with the Beeb's byzantine complaints system too. Check out this Idiot's Guide to Navigating BBC Complaints.
9:49 p.m: More on IHH, the dubious Turkish charity which spearheaded the flotilla. Andrew Bolt nails their modus operandi:
In 2001, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the prominent French counter-terrorism magistrate, testified in the trial of the "Millennium bomber" that IHH had played "an important role" in the plot to blow up Los Angeles airport.
He said the charity was "a type of cover-up" to infiltrate mujahidin into combat, get forged documents and smuggle weapons.
In 2006, the Danish Institute for International Studies reported that Turkish security forces had raided the IHH's Istanbul bureau and found firearms, explosives and bomb-making instructions.
The Turkish investigators concluded this "charity" was sending jihadists to Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan.
(Hat tip: email from Barry Rubin)
8:58 p.m: Australian journalist Paul McGeough, who was aboard one of the boats, plans to fight deportation. The Sydney Morning Herald elaborates:
Israel has begun legal proceedings to deport the journalists and they have 72 hours to lodge a legal challenge.
Israeli officials have offered them the alternative of signing an agreement to waive their legal right to appeal and be deported immediately. If they are deported, both McGeough and Geraghty would face a 10-year ban on re-entering Israel.
Israeli authorities are seeking to deport the pair on the grounds that they tried to enter the blockaded maritime area surrounding Gaza without permission.
It is believed that McGeough advised consular officials of his intention to fight moves to deport him. If McGeough mounts a legal challenge, he could face several weeks in detention.
I don't have any reason to believe McGeough had an agenda in joining the convoy. (Australian Jewish media watchdogs, correct me if I'm wrong.) If he stays in prison fighting the deportation, I could see this getting messy. McGeough's an Irish national — and the Irish Foreign Ministry's especially shrill about the naval intercept.
8:48 p.m: 124 Arab "activists" to return to their countries of origin via Jordan.
8:40 p.m: Wounded "peace activists" are enjoying Red Cross visits.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Red Cross could get the same access to Gilad Shalit?
8:23 p.m: One of the soldiers describes how "peace activists" aboard the Mavi Marmara tried to lynch him and his comrades:
8:09 p.m: Mona Charen's worth reading: Flotillas and Falsehoods: Don’t members of the press ever resent being so used? (via Daled Amos)
7:33 p.m: I'm back online after taking care of other things. Just in time to find some emails from readers who are rightly angry with Steve Bell, cartoonist at The Guardian.
Cartoons like this are powerful visuals. Thanks to the Free Gaza movement, Hamas P.R. is celebrating Christmas in June.
2:48 p.m: Question: How would things have unfolded differently had the Egyptian navy intercepted the flotilla?
2:21 p.m: My podcast with Yarden Frankl about the flotilla is online now. Give it a listen and share with your friends.
2:13 p.m. My day ain't complete without Stephen Walt's wisdom. Out with it, professor!
This incident will harm our relations with other Middle Eastern countries, lend additional credence to jihadi narratives about the "Zionist-Crusader alliance," and complicate efforts to deal with Iran.
(Hat tip: Elder of Ziyon)
2:06 p.m. I'm looking over Joel Fishman's assessment of "the morning after hangover."
1:25 p.m: The IDF found smoke torches on board the Mavi Marmara.
A smoke torch is a pyrotechnic device creating a smoke cloud in order to conceal something. What humanitarian purpose does this serve Gaza families? Click on the image to enlarge.
1:12 p.m: If this IBN report (via Israel Matzav) is true, any discussion of salvaging Israel-Turkey relations — or its role as a possible mediator in peace talks — is simply dead.
Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences.
12:58 p.m: Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul McGeough and photographer Kate Geraghty declined deportation and are currently in a Beersheba prison while diplomatic officials sort out their status. McGeough was travelling on an Irish passport.
He and Geraghty were aboard the MV Samoud.
12:40 p.m: What has Israel gained from the blockade of Gaza? Here's Dan Ephron's answer, then I'll share mine:
Mostly a public-relations headache.
The Newsweek reporter is correct, but only partly so. If nothing else, containing Hamas also means fewer rockets fired at Israelis like me.
12:26 p.m: CNN raises an important point about the casualties. Israel hasn't released the names of the dead activists, while Free Gaza hasn't offered an exact number of its own.
Information needs to be carefully confirmed before being released, but I hope the numbers get cleared up soon.
12:12 p.m: Boston Globe editors evidently don't understand fear:
But Israel didn’t wait for the ships to reach Israeli territory; launching a military raid in international waters was a disproportionate response. Israel bears responsbility for the loss of life. It is reasonable to inquire whether Israeli soldiers feared for their lives before firing. But the Israeli army, in ordering the raid, had to know that bloodshed was a possible outcome.
If Globe editors were attacked with knives and crowbars, would an inquiry really be necessary to determine if they feared for their lives? Maybe the Globe should watch this video:
11:42 a.m: The Washington Post gets it!
What's plain is that the group's nominal purpose, delivering "humanitarian" supplies to Gaza, was secondary to the aim of provoking a confrontation. The flotilla turned down an Israeli offer to unload the six boats and deliver the goods to Gaza by truck; it ignored repeated warnings that it would not be allowed to reach Gaza. Its spokesmen said they would insist on "breaking Israel's siege," as one of them put it.
11:29 a.m: Good grief, Chris McGreal throws everything but the kitchen sink at Israel.
11:24 a.m: Twitter users cried censorship when discussions on the flotilla failed to turn up in search results. In case you missed it, TechCrunch concluded:
So the most likely explanation is that Twitter’s recently updated trending topics algorithm mistakes #gaza and #flotilla for older news unrelated to current events.
An update to the post adds:
. . . it became clear Twitter users had switched to different terms, namely “Gaza flotilla” and #freedomflotilla which are working and trending just fine, so there is clearly no “censorship” going on. As we say, it may well have been down to technical problems with the original hashtags people were using.
11:09 a.m: I just joined the Facebook group: Gaza Flotilla – the world should know the truth
11:03 a.m: The Daily Telegraph points a finger at Turkey for yesterday's fiasco:
As the man responsible for Turkish security, Mr Erdogan knows that the government in Jerusalem has to vet goods brought into the Strip. A secular, non-Arab country, Turkey is in a unique position to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians. Its prime minister appears instead to have chosen a more biased role designed to appeal to his domestic Islamic constituency.
10:51 a.m: A staff-ed in The Independent blames disproportionate tactics, but doesn't offer any suggestions on what steps Israel could've taken that would A) be effective and B) meet the editorial staff's self-righteous standards:
Above all, it is Israel's abject failure to devise ways of defending itself other than by overwhelming military force. Faced with mass demonstrations or aid shipments that are cast by their organisers as peaceful, Israel still has no answer beyond a call to arms. It cannot, therefore, be surprised when most of the rest of the world then judges the means to be excessive and disproportionate to the ends.
10:45 a.m: A staff-ed in The Guardian compares the Israeli navy to Somali pirates:
If an armed group of Somali pirates had yesterday boarded six vessels on the high seas, killing at least 10 passengers and injuring many more, a Nato taskforce would today be heading for the Somali coast. What happened yesterday in international waters off the coast of Gaza was the work of Israeli commandos, not pirates, and no Nato warships will in fact be heading for Israel. Perhaps they should be.
I'm sure the Somali pirates are still waiting for Turkey to organize a "Free Darfur" aid convoy.
