Mavi Marmara was hijacked by Islamist pirates, attacks on Israeli soldiers premeditated, new evidence suggests

 

by Robin Shepherd

 

Will the real pirates please stand up?

 

Every piece of new evidence that has come to light since the Mavi Marmara incident last week has pointed in the same direction: Israeli soldiers were attacked by a lynch mob and fired their weapons in defence of their lives. Yet one question has remained unanswered: was this a spontaneous outpouring of anger by hot headed activists or was it planned in advance?

The "spontaneous outpouring" theory has recently emerged as a last line of defence for those, like most of Europe's leaders, who leaped in the air to denounce Israel the moment the incident hit the headlines. If this was just a bunch of over-excited hotheads that still means that Israel should have shown more restraint.

But it now emerges that the whole thing was in fact premeditated.

As the Jerusalem Post reports today, the Captain of the Mavi Marmara has given testimony that hours before the incident took place he and his crew attempted to ward off the planned attack by the activists even going so far as to throw some of their weapons overboard.

The Post goes on to say:

"Another senior member of the ship's staff said that 40 IHH activists took control of the Mavi Marmara and dictated the rest of the passengers' movements."

This is beginning to look more and more like a hijacking — an act of piracy if you like, by an Islamist lynch mob intent on killing as many Israelis as they could.

It was their operation that was botched, in other words. They raised a lynch mob and got more than they bargained for. It will be interesting to see what else emerges as the true picture becomes clearer and clearer.

 

Robin Shepherd

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