jerusalem | Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed the organizers of the Gaza convoy for the violent outcome that took the lives of nine pro-Palestinian activists.
“The sail was a provocation,” he said in a press conference hours after the May 31 raid. “The organization behind the flotilla is not a humanitarian aid organization.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said at a news conference the same day, “We found weapons that were prepared in advance and used against our forces. The organizers’ intent was violent, their method was violent and, unfortunately, the results were violent.”
Ayalon said that if the ships’ journey was truly for humanitarian purposes, they would have accepted Israel’s offer to deliver the goods to Gaza. He pointed out that organizers said repeatedly that their goal was to break the blockade on Gaza.
Israel’s navy intercepted the six ships early in the morning of May 31 about 70 miles off Gaza’s coast in international waters. The ships were among a fleet of six carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists.
The so-called Gaza “Freedom Flotilla,” organized by the pro-Hamas Free Gaza group, had left last week from ports in Ireland, Greece and Turkey.
The Israel Defense Forces on June 2 released new footage of flotilla activists attacking soldiers with a stun grenade, a box of plates and water hoses. Also in the video, which includes footage taken before the soldiers boarded the Mavi Marmara, activists can be seen waving metal rods and chains, which were later used to attack soldiers.
According to a statement by the IDF, this is how events unfolded: Israel radioed to the ships numerous times late the night before May 31 and early that morning requesting that they head to the port of Ashdod, where they could unload their aid material to be transferred to Gaza after security inspections.
Upon boarding the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, run by IHH, a Turkish humanitarian relief fund with a radical Islamic anti-Western orientation, the naval forces were attacked with metal clubs and knives, as well as live fire.
A transcript of dialogue heard in the IDF video released June 2 includes the following communications: “Real weapons, real weapons.” “They have real weapons?” “Yes, yes, real weapons … They are firing on us.”
“The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose,” the IDF statement said, adding that the navy then used riot dispersal methods, which include live fire.
“The forces operated in adherence with operational commands and took all necessary actions in order to avoid violence, but to no avail,” the IDF statement said.
The decision that Israel’s navy would prevent the convoy from reaching Gaza — by force, if necessary — was made by Netanyahu’s forum of seven Cabinet ministers on May 26. The ships were to be directed to Ashdod, with the hundreds of activists aboard deported to their countries of origin. The food, clothing and construction materials on the ships would be transferred to Gaza after inspection.
In addition to the activists who died in the rioting, many protesters were injured and evacuated to Israeli hospitals. Seven Israeli soldiers were reported injured; two listed in serious condition were upgraded later to moderate.
On June 1, Israel began expelling some of the nearly 700 activists it rounded up in the raid. The government said it would deport almost all of them within the next two days, but about 50 would be held for investigation into their part in the violence at sea.
Israel also claimed some of the arrested activists carried large quantities of cash in addition to weapons, raising questions about whether they were mercenaries.
Days before the convoy’s arrival, the navy held several drills to prepare for turning back the convoy — including preparing for violence.
Audrey Bomse, legal adviser to the Free Gaza Movement, told CNN that the purpose of the flotilla was to break the Gaza siege, adding that “the siege is not legal.” She also pointed out that the U.N.–sponsored Goldstone report called the siege a “probable crime against humanity.”
Because Turkish authorities inspected the Marmara before it left for Gaza, Bomse therefore claimed that she did not believe that it would have had weapons on board. “It was supposed to be a nonviolent protest,” she stressed.
Bomse said that leaders of the protest did not agree to give Israel the humanitarian aid to pass on because Israel would not have allowed some of the cargo, including building materials and pre-fab houses, to be given to Gaza. Israel bans all imports of cement and metal into Gaza, saying those materials could be used by Hamas.
Israel has imposed a maritime blockade of Gaza because the Jewish state is in a state of armed conflict with Hamas, which controls the strip, according to the Foreign Ministry.
“Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea,” including in international waters as long as it does not bar neutral states from reaching ports and coasts of other states, according to the ministry statement.
“The protesters indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade by means of written and oral statements. Moreover, the route of these vessels indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade in violation of international law,” the ministry said. “Given the protesters’ explicit intention to violate the naval blockade, Israel exercised its right under international law to enforce the blockade.”
The ministry added that “explicit warnings were relayed directly to the captains of the vessels, expressing Israel’s intent to exercise its right to enforce the blockade.”
Israel police moved to high alert across the country out of concern that Arab citizens of Israel would riot. As part of the measures, the Temple Mount area in Jerusalem was closed to visitors. Israeli Arabs rioted at the Uhm-al-Fahm junction and in the city of Akko. Hundreds of Arab students also protested at Haifa University, injuring a policeman.
Peace Now activists protested in Tel Aviv and then made their way to the Ashdod port to continue their protests.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.