Facts Overwhelming Israel’s Spin

By Greta Berlin in the Albuquerque Journal

Once again, Israel commits war crimes against a civilian population on board six ships in international waters then whines that it is the victim of a PR smear. 

Journal Staff Writer Lloyd Jojola’s interview with Asher Yarden, consul general of Israel to the Southwest, proves they think they can spin the story of piracy at sea to sympathetic journalists who will ask no probing questions, but merely spout back what the apologists say. 

So let’s look at the facts instead of Israel’s spin.
   
    1. We were in international waters, 65 miles off the coast of Israel on our way to deliver supplies to the people of Gaza that Israel refuses to allow into Gaza.
   
    2. The people on board all six boats were attacked by Israeli terrorists, not just the Mavi Marmara.
   
    3. International law says Israel’s siege on 1.5 million Palestinians is illegal, and that is the main reason we were sailing, to break Israel’s illegal blockade.
   
    4. As members of civil society, we have the right to hold Israel accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity since governments refuse to stand up to Israeli illegal actions, and
   
    5. We have the right to self defense if attacked, defending our friends, families and boats. 

We faced a highly armed militia that deliberately attacked us in the early morning hours. Their commandos murdered us, beat us, dragged us into a port where we had no intention of going, deprived us of lawyers for hours, stole all of our equipment and tapes, lied about the audiotapes they issued, and are now lying about some so-called video tapes made in Turkey.

The men who were killed ranged between 33-61 with one American Turkish young man of 19 who wanted to be a doctor who was shot five times in the head and back. There are autopsy reports available … and there are descriptions of who they were, why they were going and how many times they were shot on our website at www.freegaza.org. 

Your reporter never asked the tough questions of this Israeli mouthpiece. 

Why didn’t the Navy wait until morning? Why did they attack a civilian caravan in international waters? Why did they murder nine men with 31 bullets, many to the head? Why did they maim and wound people on board the other boats, several of them beaten so badly they had broken bones? 

Why not ask for the truth instead of Israel’s spin? Why believe this man, Asher Yarden, when people can hear the testimony of those passengers who were on board, many of them threatened with bodily harm? … 

Who are you going to believe? A decorated U.S. war veteran, Ann Wright, who participated in the flotilla and recently spoke in Albuquerque, as reported in the Journal, or a mouthpiece for Israel?