Israeli commandos initially armed with PAINTBALL guns on Flotilla

[Maimonides]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/05/026426.php

Chaim is right at times Israel is not a country, but an INSANE asylum!!!

According to  this report, which  Scott linked to below, the Israeli commandos who were attacked as they boarded the Marmara initially used paintball rifles, the kind used to disperse minor protests, to fight off the attackers. The commandos also had hand-guns, but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. According to the same report, the commandos kept shouting, "don't shoot, don't shoot" even as they were attacked.

When the paintball rifles proved ineffective, the Israelis reportedly used stun-grenades. These too had little effect. According to the same report, the Israelis resorted to using their handguns only after the attackers seized one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. At that point, the commandos began shooting at the legs of their attackers.

Noah Pollak is outraged that the israelis boarded the boat armed with paintball guns, and, to be sure, there is a "bring a toy gun to a knife fight" quality to the story as reported. Noah writes:

    Armed with the proper equipment, the naval commandos could have done precisely what they are trained to do -- take command of a ship decisively and with great speed. This can only be done when the men boarding the ship are able to immediately neutralize their opponents and establish complete control.

On the other hand, if the Israelis had immediately neutralized their opponents by shooting them before the attacks had clearly put the commandos in danger, they would be susceptible to rational claims (as opposed to the claims that have been lodged) that they vioatled the concept of "proportionality." That concept, though invariably misused by anti-Israelis, should not be entirely without force.

It does seem that the IDF miscalculated the intensity of the resistance they were going to face from the fighters on the Marmara. The IDF's assessment was correct as to five of six boats, but not the sixth. In these situations, five for six isn't good enough.

If the report cited above is accurate, this looks like another instance of the IDF erring on the side of trying to avoid bloodshed, perhaps in the hope of avoiding condemnation, and ending up with both the bloodshed and the condemnation.

SCOTT adds: Via Daniel Halper's round-up at the the Weekly Standard blog, I find that Melanie Phillips lucidly explains what happened here: "This was an Ismalmist terror ambush."

JOHN adds: Phillips' account assembles the most detailed information I've seen so far. For a broader assessment of the flotilla's purpose, see William Jacobson:

    The flotilla was organized by the Islamist government in Turkey to aid Hamas with the goal of opening up shipping channels for Turkey's new friend, Iran, to ship more and better weapons as it is doing to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran is busy turning Lebanon and Syria into one large missile launching pad against Israel, and a southern base in Gaza will complete the encirclement of Israel for the coming crisis over Iran's nuclear program.

    The Europeans on the ships were cover, and the placement of an 18-month old child on these ships was the utmost cynical use of a human shield.

    If getting humanitarian supplies to Gaza really was the goal, this flotilla was not necessary. The supplies would have been off-loaded in Eqypt or Israel and then shipped in by land after being checked for hidden weapons.

    And that is the rub, only sea-based shipping would provide Iran with the mechanism for almost unlimited armament of Hamas. There is a limit to the quantity and size of missiles and other armaments which can be smuggled through tunnels from Egypt. That is why the sea blockade must be broken for Iran to get what it wants.

[JTFenthusiast2]

Please tell me this is not true that they would send our Jewish brothers into a situation to get beaten like this.  Please tell me this isn't true.  I can't take it. I can't take watching that video and seeing this.

[IsraeliGovtAreKapos]

Please tell me this is not true that they would send our Jewish brothers into a situation to get beaten like this.  Please tell me this isn't true.  I can't take it. I can't take watching that video and seeing this.

This is the true face of the IDF, I'm sorry that you learnt it only now.

[muman613]

What idiocy is this?

I thought that the media reported that they would be prepared for any circumstance, even a violent confrontation. I guess that was just a PR stunt or something..
.

[MassuhDGoodName]

We live in times in which a military force such as the IDF has the intelligence capability to know in advance every single person on those boats as well as to know in advance the number and types of weaponry on board.
We now routinely use technology with both the ability to see through walls and the ability to hear whispers from several blocks away in a busy city.  We have satellite surveillance capabilities to read the information on someone's driver's license from out in space.  I therefore find it difficult to believe that this kind of information wasn't already available to the military and political leadership of Israel.  This leaves me to consider the very real possibility that the Israeli leadership wanted Jewish boys to be beaten, stabbed, and shot, in hopes of filming it to appeal for sympathy from "The International Community".  Of course, it could be simply a case of gross incompetence from the Israeli Government and Military.  The fact remains that ordering such a mission is unacceptable and whoever is responsible should pay dearly.  I also couldn't help but notice "the timing" of the events.  By that, I mean watching to see what Netanyahu and Obama were doing at the time of the IDF intervention.  It is most curious that Obama avoided Arlington Cemetery, as if he wanted the Israeli debacle to take stage center today.  And Netanyahu was "conveniently" out of the country just in time to see it all on TV.  By the way, anybody see or heard from Rahm Emmanuel during this fiasco?  I read that Ehud Barak was broadcasting to all the Arabs begging them to continue with the Peace Process in spite of the days' events!  Sick!  The whole thing just makes me sick!

[IsraeliGovtAreKapos]

the Arabs and the Muslims are an obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/05/026426.php

Chaim is right at times Israel is not a country, but an INSANE asylum!!!

According to  this report, which  Scott linked to below, the Israeli commandos who were attacked as they boarded the Marmara initially used paintball rifles, the kind used to disperse minor protests, to fight off the attackers. The commandos also had hand-guns, but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. According to the same report, the commandos kept shouting, "don't shoot, don't shoot" even as they were attacked.

 

[HiWarp]

We live in times in which a military force such as the IDF has the intelligence capability to know in advance every single person on those boats as well as to know in advance the number and types of weaponry on board.
We now routinely use technology with both the ability to see through walls and the ability to hear whispers from several blocks away in a busy city.  We have satellite surveillance capabilities to read the information on someone's driver's license from out in space.  I therefore find it difficult to believe that this kind of information wasn't already available to the military and political leadership of Israel.  This leaves me to consider the very real possibility that the Israeli leadership wanted Jewish boys to be beaten, stabbed, and shot, in hopes of filming it to appeal for sympathy from "The International Community".  Of course, it could be simply a case of gross incompetence from the Israeli Government and Military.  The fact remains that ordering such a mission is unacceptable and whoever is responsible should pay dearly.  I also couldn't help but notice "the timing" of the events.  By that, I mean watching to see what Netanyahu and Obama were doing at the time of the IDF intervention.  It is most curious that Obama avoided Arlington Cemetery, as if he wanted the Israeli debacle to take stage center today.  And Netanyahu was "conveniently" out of the country just in time to see it all on TV.  By the way, anybody see or heard from Rahm Emmanuel during this fiasco?  I read that Ehud Barak was broadcasting to all the Arabs begging them to continue with the Peace Process in spite of the days' events!  Sick!  The whole thing just makes me sick!

It's wonderful that we have all this technology at our fingertips but it's useless if we don't have the stomach to use it properly.

[Ari Ben-Canaan]

the Arabs and the Muslims are an obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

Subtract the obstacle and obtain peace.