Israel used Palestine fishing boat as target pratice

[myrrh]

Check out...

Listen carefully to the audio. "Khalaas" in Arabic means 'finished' or 'enough' or 'stop'.

[Sean]

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but what's the context of this video? Nothing about the footage itself tells us what brought this boat to the attention of the gunship, so I simply can't assume the Israelis are just randomly using it for target practice. I mean, was this in Israeli waters perhaps? Is there a history of Palestinians using fishing boats to launch surprise terrorist attacks? It seems clear that the Israeli gunship isn't trying to destroy the fishing boat - so wouldn't it also be fair to conclude that perhaps this is footage of legitimate warning shots being fired at a vessel that was someplace it wasn't supposed to be?

[myrrh]

Originally Posted by Sean

I simply can't assume the Israelis are just randomly using it for target practice.

I can.

If you read the info on the video it says:

Since the end of August, fishermen from Gaza - frequent targets of the Israeli navy - have been accompanied out to sea by members of the NGO International Solidarity Movement. On 5 October, the pro-Palestinian activists filmed the boats getting fired at with machine guns and water cannons.

Just one round and the bullets ricochet across the water to this huddle of fishermen. Next, a high-powered water cannon scours the deck for several minutes, damaging the vessel. This footage was filmed on 5 October by an NGO that supports Palestine's "demand for freedom". For almost two months, six international volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement have entered the daily lives of Gazan fishermen. They report that the same event regularly repeats itself: Israeli navy ships aim at Palestinian fishing vessels with machine guns and water cannons.

Now whether or not this was in Israeli waters (are there Palestinian waters?) or if there has been boat terrorists is another issue. This clearly points, at least to me, that Israel is once again over the top with it's way of dealing with the Palestinians. Surely after shooting live rounds, then water cannoning the boat, then repeated shooting is uncalled for? I don't see how they could not tell this was civilians.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by myrrh

I can.

If you read the info on the video it says:

Since the end of August, fishermen from Gaza - frequent targets of the Israeli navy - have been accompanied out to sea by members of the NGO International Solidarity Movement. On 5 October, the pro-Palestinian activists filmed the boats getting fired at with machine guns and water cannons.

Just one round and the bullets ricochet across the water to this huddle of fishermen. Next, a high-powered water cannon scours the deck for several minutes, damaging the vessel. This footage was filmed on 5 October by an NGO that supports Palestine's "demand for freedom". For almost two months, six international volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement have entered the daily lives of Gazan fishermen. They report that the same event regularly repeats itself: Israeli navy ships aim at Palestinian fishing vessels with machine guns and water cannons.

I read that, but frankly, I know nothing about who posted the video, and all the provided reports mentioned are from "pro-Palestinian" sources. I typically look for more objective sources before reaching any confident conclusions myself.

Originally Posted by myrrh

Now whether or not this was in Israeli waters (are there Palestinian waters?) or if there has been boat terrorists is another issue. This clearly points, at least to me, that Israel is once again over the top with it's way of dealing with the Palestinians. Surely after shooting live rounds, then water cannoning the boat, then repeated shooting is uncalled for?

"Whether or not this was in Israeli waters or if there has been boat terrorists" is not "another issue" at all. It's absolutely tied to the issue at hand. If the fishing boat is in restricted waters, and if there have been incidents of fishing boats being used to launch surprise terrorist attacks, then that would explain why the boat in the video is being harassed by the Israeli gunship. But we have absolutely no idea what happened to cause this incident. If you're right and it's just unmotivated aggression, then I'm totally on board with condemning it, but we simply don't know from what you've provided.

Originally Posted by myrrh

I don't see how they could not tell this was civilians.

That's exactly the catch. I mean regardless of where your sympathies lie in the Israeli Palestinian conflict, you must realize that it's virtually impossible to be certain who's a civilian and who's got hostile intent when terrorists have employed such vile tactics as strapping mentally retarded people with explosives and sending them off as suicide bombers. When you keep that in mind, it's quite simple to see how a fishing vessel in restricted waters could be viewed as suspect. But again, we simply have no context for this video with which to reach any clear conclusions. You may be comfortable make sweeping assumptions about it, but I'm not.

[dubman]

hahahaha myrrh

[BeautifulBurnout]

Well, it appears to have been happening for a while and has upset one Member of the Scottish Parliament sufficiently for him to write to the Israeli Ambassador about it in September.

This page from the Window Into Palestine blog gives an idea of what is going on.

To add balance, it goes back to 2002 when a suicide dinghy was detonated next to an Israeli boat.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

Well, it appears to have been happening for a while and has upset one Member of the Scottish Parliament sufficiently for him to write to the Israeli Ambassador about it in September.

This page from the Window Into Palestine blog gives an idea of what is going on.

To add balance, it goes back to 2002 when a suicide dinghy was detonated next to an Israeli boat.

Well, I can understand the paranoia after the dinghy attacks, but if the accounts of firing on fishing vessels in Palestinian waters are correct, they sound unjustified.