On Friday, the Turkish Council of Forensic Medicine released preliminary autopsy results for the nine Turkish men killed in the Israeli raid of the Mavi Marmara. The findings have generated almost as much controversy as has Israel's actions. The results show five of the dead were shot in the back of the head or in the back, reported the Guardian. They were all shot at close range, and most were shot multiple times, with 30 bullets found in the bodies of the nine men. A British citizen who witnessed the raid first hand told the Guardian Israel appeared to have a 'shoot-to-kill' policy.
The British government's response to this has been muted, perhaps because of the behaviour of British police in the case of Jean Charles de Menezes.
2 comments:
Yeah, I can vouch for this report. The Israeli attackers DID want engage with polite conversation with the passengers and perhaps to sit down over a can of Budweiser and sing Hatikvah, and so on. Unfortunately, what transpired what a complete accident. Their grenades dropped by mistake out of their pockets and in an attempt to make them explode harmlessly, they shot nine passengers in the face, on deck, - some reportedly in the face and some in the back.
As the dead and dying lay on the deck, the soldiers refused them medical attention on the grounds of Heath and Safety that specified that only registered medical practitioners should give first aid to the injured and dying. The soldiers were inconsolable in their grief.
All in all, it was a tragic mistake that was the result of many factors. One of which was that the Israeli helicopters mistook the civilian aid ship for an Iranian battle cruiser on its way to close the Strait of Hormuz. The secondary error was to drop unannounced in the dead of night onto a ship in international waters when, in point fact, the soldiers were only having a dip in the ocean before attacking the Iranians.
The final error or judgement was to believe that although they were outside the law, any killing of civilians would, in any event, be investigated by their own officers. So, no sweat!
Anonymous: you were there? No doubt incognito.
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