Israeli forces seized a Gaza-bound aid vessel without meeting resistance on Saturday, preventing it from breaking an Israeli maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory days after a similar effort turned bloody.
The military said its forces boarded the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie cargo ship from the sea, not helicopters.
The takeover stood in marked contrast to a violent confrontation at sea earlier this week when Israeli commandos blocked a Turkish aid vessel trying to break the blockade. At the time, Israeli commandos rappelled from helicopters and a clash with passengers left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.
Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich says Saturday's takeover took only a few minutes and that the vessel was being taken to Israel's Ashdod port.
At Ashdod, the cargo will be unloaded and inspected and then allowed to cross by land into the Gaza Strip.
Prior to the boarding, the Navy said it had contacted the boat four times and urged its passengers to divert to Ashdod, but that the passengers had refused.
Eleven passengers were aboard the Rachel Corrie, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and Denis Halliday, a former United Nations assistant secretary-general.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement after the boat was brought into port, saying that “we saw today the difference between a boat with peace activists, with whom we do not agree but whose right to express their different opinions we respect, and a boat of hate organized by violent extremists and terrorist supporters.”
He said that Israel would continue to maintain its right to self-defense and “not allow the establishment of an Iranian port in Gaza.”
While I understand the need to be diplomatic, frankly he was far too polite about the motivations of people who would support a genocidal terrorist organization like Hamas.
Speaking of terrorist supporters, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan is planning to personally try to break the Gaza blockade by sailing there in a flotilla accompanied by Turkish naval vessels.
If he's serious, that would be an act of war. Although, as Erdogan made clear, as far as he's concerned Hamas is not a terrorist organization and are just fine as far as he's concerned.
We'll see what develops.
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