Great article. Finally, some common sense. Of course, the discussion will get buried under people who have NO IDEA about the bigger picture but I'm glad to see someone who can articulate the reality.

I even saw one comment that "activists" actually grabbed the Israeli weapons to STOP the shooting.

The killings were unfortunate, tragic, if there were innocent bystanders killed, but there is NO DOUBT people on those ships were there to cause a ... display. No one deny's the calls to get the aid to Gaza via the Israeli's was dismissed by the organisers. Wasn't that their priority. Wasn't that why they were there?. The ONLY reason they ignored those offers was to cause a scene. It blows my mind that educated and intelligent people can't see this, or acknowledge it. Why?.

So, if you 'cause a display' and 'make a scene', it's enough excuse to murder people? The emo kids at the local mall better watch out, then.

I appreciate some folk venting their opinions, but sadly, it is no more than opinion. It is not fact.

Fact: there is an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the nascent the Islamic Emirate of Gaza.

Fact: when Israel exited of Gaza, it did not impose a blockade. On the contrary, it left behind a wealth of agribusinesses hoping that the Arabs there would make their own families and nation building their priorities.

Instead, the Arabs embraced the terror group HAMAS as their government. And HAMAS’s first acts were to rekindle warfare against Israel. Proof if ever it was needed, that HAMAS doesn’t want Jews out of Gaza (where there aren’t any) but it wants Jews out of Israel.

Fact: HAMAS’ nearly 10,000 acts of warfare included anti-personnel rockets, directed at Israeli civilians. These are not only acts of warfare, they are war crimes.

Fact: Following HAMAS’s declaration of war, Israel responded with a blockade, the purpose of which was to assure that no material that could be used for making war against Israeli civilians, was permitted into Gaza. Humanitarian aid was and is allowed by Israel and Egypt into Gaza.

Fact: Blockades are legal responses to acts of war.

Fact: The United States blockaded Cuba during the missile crisis. This was found to be “lawful” by the U.S. State Department, even though Cuba had not engaged in any act of belligerency against the United States.

Fact: It is lawful to enforce a legal blockade in international waters, if there is no doubt that the offending ships are determined to break the blockade.

Fact: The purpose of the flotilla was not to provide humanitarian aid, but rather to break the lawful blockade.

The barrage of unconstructive criticism directed against Israeli self-defence actions will only encourage more jihadist acts against Israel. But then, that may be the intention of some posters.

...and again, no comment on the facts.

Dispute they were armed. Dispute they attacked the boarding commandos. Dispute they turned down offers from the Israeli's getting the aid into Gaza. Dispute the facts. Prove to me over the evidence from even some of the activists that they didn't have a planned and coordinated resistance to being boarded.

I'll debate it here. I'm more than happy too. Just discuss the facts. The author of this article laid out point after point after point that you could contend. Do that, instead of these ridiculous little smart mouth comments without ANY substance.

Intellectual coward.

Helen Thomas said..... <Who actually cares>, the basis being that all the Israeli's should go back to Poland/Germany/Russia/etc.

Helen Thomas has lost numerous book deals, and may yet lose her white house credentials. Real good role model fellas.

If I were tasked with taking on that ship, seeing the armed protestors ready & waiting for me at the bottom? There'd be a whole lot more than 9 bodies and very few of the holes would be 9mm. That deck would be hosed down with door guns or I would not let my troops down the rope.

The majority of the casualties would be from 7.62/12.7mm rounds, with shrapnel wounds coming a close second. I honestly cannot understand why any troop commander would possibly lead his troops into what was a blatant ambush. Personally, the officer who decided on doing so without suppressing fire should be dishonorably discharged, while those at every step up the chain, the people that not only allowed, but ordered, their own troops into that, should be fired.

As for the "Peace Activists", they would have been classified as hostile from the get go. The boat had to be taken, so obviously they needed to be neutralized. The ADF would do so without putting its own soldiers at risk, who cares about the other side (or the ADF I remember). As long as the ROE's are adhered to, no worries mate.

Some clown took 4 in the chest and then one in the head? I'd suggest he was one of the clowns that took the pistol(s) off the marines they'd captured. Armed enemies are not neutralized until they stop moving. It isn't pretty, it turned from a supposed "peace" cruise into a war, those who chose to make it so paid. I have no pity for them, the same way as I have no pity on the clowns that take on the ADF daily and get slotted for their trouble.

We all make choices, if they are extremely dumb, suicidal ones, we are unlikely to survive them... That is what happened.

Let's put some more facts on the table to maybe open up some debate.

International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea:

http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/7694fe2016f347e1c125641f002d49ce

Someone explain to me how what the Israeli's did was illegal...