This describes what took place on the flotilla when the boarding party came aboard. The eye witness report is rather complete and disgusting. You can be sure with that going down, that the once the IDF unit gained permission to switch to live fire, they cut down the available perpetrators without mercy.
Why the IDF went in with paint guns escapes me. That surely is some politician’s dream of an attempt to avoid embarrassing casualties. A more appropriate approach might have been to board with fixed bayonets provided modern weapons are still rigged for them. It would have at least given the perps some pause.
After all there were hundreds of non combatants on board clearly acting to shield the militants. Bayonets usually encourage such to hold back.
This folly almost cost a lot of lives anyway. The fire restraint of the commandos likely prevented it from been a bloodbath.
From an IDF Soldier Who Was on the Flotilla
2010 JUNE 9
I received this forwarded to me in my email:
first hand account from Amir, an Israeli soldier who was there.
“Hello Uncle Erwin,
This is Amir writing you after reading what you sent to my father, Eitan. As you know, it was my unit and my friends who were on the ship. My commander was injured badly as a result of the “pacifists” violence. I want to tell you how he was injured so you could tell the story. it shows just how horrible and inhuman were the activists. My commander was the first soldier that rappelled down from the helicopter to the ship. When he touched ground, he got hit in the head with a pole and stabbed in the stomach with a knife.
When he drew out his secondary weapon-a handgun (his primary weapon was a regular paintball gun: “Tippman 98 custom”) he was shot in the leg. He managed to fire a single shot before he was tossed from the balcony by 4 Arab activists, to the lower deck (a 12 feet fall). He was then dragged by other activists to a room in the lower deck were he was stripped down by 2 activists. They took off his vest, helmet and shirt, leaving him with only his pants and shoes on. When they finished they took a knife and expanded the wound he already had in his stomach. They cut his ab muscles horizontally and by hand spilled his guts out. When they finished they raised him up and walked him on the deck outside. He was conscious the whole time. If you are asking yourself why they did all that, here comes the reason. They wanted to show the soldiers their commander’s body so they will be demoralized and scared. Luckily, when they walked him on the deck a soldier saw him and managed to shoot the activist that was walking him down the outside corridor. He shot him with a special non-lethal bullet that didn’t kill him. My commander managed to jump from the deck to the water and swim to an army rescue boat (his guts still out of his body, and now in salty sea water). That was how he was saved. The activists that did this to him are alive, now in Turkey
I’m sorry if I described this with too many details, but I thought it was necessary for the credibility. Please tell this story to anyone who will listen. I think that these days you are one of Israel
Thanks uncle Erwin, Shabbat shalom!
Amir
