Monday, May 31, 2010

Latest News Headlines from Haaretz

30th May 2010


"The flotilla's commander, identified only as "Colonel O," was quoted by the Times as saying that the submarine force was "an underwater assault force. We’re operating deep and far, very far, from our borders."

The submarines could be used if Iran continues its program to produce a nuclear bomb. "The 1,500km range of the submarines’ cruise missiles can reach any target in Iran," a navy officer told the Times"


Israeli Dolphin Class submarine. Armament - 6 x 21-inch torpedo tubes and 4 x 25.5-inch torpedo tubes capable of launching nuclear-armed Popeye Turbo cruise missiles with a range of up to 1,500 kilometres


31st May 2010


Story Highlights
Turkish Aid Ship. Armament - electric-powered wheelchairs, prefabricated homes, water purifiers, cement and other building materials


A more complete list of prohibited items can be found here - shoes are OK though



My advice to the folks at GIYUS (including that bastion of British patriotism the Biased BBC blog) is to stock up on Jolt Cola, Cheetos and Bullshit. It's going to be a long week...


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edit: sad to say, it would appear that, unlike German U-boat manufacturers, PizzaIDF* does not deliver to the Israeli Navy, which is a real shame as, after a busy night machine-gunning passive resistors, I would imagine that a 12inch cheesycrustmeatfeast with extra chillies would really hit the spot

* "gifts of over $250 are eligible for a US IRS tax deduction."
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20 comments:

Sophia said...

Al-Jazeera is reporting 19 deaths as of May 31st, 3 p.m. Israel is claiming the right to defend itself from peace activists sailing in international waters...Now if I hear any comments from our politicians referring to their 'concern' or 'regret', I am going to scream...

Anon said...

Nothing new here, apart from maybe the "international waters" part. The IDF can slaughter indiscriminately without consequences, that much was obvious years ago.

Sadly the citizens of Israel seem largely unopposed to conscription or this pathetic cat and mouse game with the occupied territories.

Stef said...

nothing new, certainly not

Anonymous said...

In the just broadcast BBC News channel, the BBC news presenter was bullying an activist by stating that because Israel declared water purifiers and the like as "illegal" to import, then the flotilla was acting illegally.

Anon said...

The Liberty incident, while not very palatable, at least took place during a war and the IDF's likely motive was to stop the ship snooping on the Sinai battle.

The current incident has no such context. It also seems if you criticise Israel's state and military for the action you are likened to someone who is anti-Semitic and also hates the US\UK.

Stef said...

Your point about the Liberty is a fair one (though I've never understood how the same air force that proved so effective during that war could spend a couple of hours hammering what was essentially a merchant ship without sinking it)

the reason I had in mind for referring to The Liberty is that the IDF never fesses up and always sticks with the Big Lie technique, however outrageous the lie may be

There's a cracking picture up on the Mail Online currently of an injured Israeli soldier surrounded by seven concerned colleagues, complete with an oxygen mask and cotton wool all over his chest

The fuckers who staged that photo and released it whilst 'managing' the flow of information from the victims of the assault are playing their usual arrogant, wicked and cynical game

At times like this I really wish I believed in Hell

Stef said...

...I've never really gone on too much about Israel in this blog, or elsewhere

Mostly because there's more than enough of that going on already but also partly because I suspect very strongly that Zionism is not the head of the Beast in the way that many fellow conspiranauts believe it to be

The Zionist entity is just a tool and not an objective in itself

But those mad loonytune fuckers really are excelling themsleves at the moment

The open massacre of a dozen or more peace protestors demonstrates that they've totally lost the plot and the fact that they are boasting about sending nuclear armed submarines aggressively prowling around the ocean looking for trouble is genuinely scary

Stef said...

A brutal ambush at sea

Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The lacking crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of ‘peace activists,’ and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter
Ron Ben-Yishai


absolutely fucking shameless

Anon said...

Liberty aside, what do you make of the videos posted on youtube depicting the soldiers being attacked with knives, poles and being thrown onto lower decks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le8y37abCIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2duPV9MQIc

Anon said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buzOWKxN2co

Sorry, forgot this one

Stef said...

hmmmm, where do you start?

Stef said...

it's impossible from those brief, distant videos to know exactly what's going on and, crucially, what preceded them

commenting has been disabled and the viewer is being instructed how to interpret what they see

Stef said...

let's be sraight up here, the convoy *was* a deliberate provocation intended to force a point home

and, if you were to be cold about it, that point has been made in a very terrible way

Stef said...

the Israelis had numerous options open to them with regards to dealing with those ships

what they chose to do was to conduct an armed assault, in force, on ships packed with civilians on the open seas

and, to cap it all, they chose to do it at night

why would they do that?

for a country that claims that virtually all of its armed personnel, right down to its toilets cleaners, to be members of elite units there is no rationalising away what happened

the relative casualty figures give some indication as to who had murderous intent that night

Anon said...

Playing a little devils advocate here, and yes, those have been used to justify killing people aboard the cruise liner.

Anon said...

In other news, Israeli soldiers fire tear gas canister and hit American student in the eye:

http://palsolidarity.org/2010/05/12604/

Stef said...

playing devil's advocate? yes

whilst I totally agree with breaking the blockade around gaza anyone brave enough to try it must have some inclination of what the israelis are capable of

in turn the israelis must have some inclination of what to expect if they launch an operation on the high seas undertaken in such a way that there is a very high chance of a murderous fuck up

the blockade runners I understand, what was going on in the israelis' minds is less clear

- were they being stupid?
- arrogant?
- plain bonkers?
- or are they really set on triggering a wider conflict?

Stef said...

...there is a vaguely millennial feel about global current events at the moment, a sense that change of some kind is on its way

Anon said...

It would be interesting to see what happens if another convoy sails for Gaza with a Turkish naval escort...

Stef said...

My understanding of NATO membership is that an attack on one member of NATO is treated as an attack on all members of NATO

Interesting (in the Chinese sense of the word) indeed