The "Humanitarians" brought not only food to Gaza, but violence and hatred against Israel.

------------Opening------------> Hello Con, readers. I will start by thanking the Con for taking his position and debating me, I am sure this is going to be an interesting discussion. This round will be split into the following parts: 1) Making clear why was it necessary, and justified, to block the ships and send them to Ashdod. 2) Proving Israel had no intention to harm the passengers, and that the deaths were forced by the passengers who chose to use violence. 3) Explaining why I think this convoy intended this to happen and by that wanted to increase the hatred against Israel. <-----------Section 1------------> In this part I am basically going to show you examples of weapon smuggling into Gaza, which are the reason for the strict blockade Israel holds around this area. (I assume I don't have to explain why it is important to stop heavy weapons from arriving to Hamas, because you have read round 1 and your logic tells you it doesn't make sense to let terrorists hold weapons.) For instance, the weapon ship "Karine A" (on its way from Iran to Gaza.): The boat's cargo included 50 TONS of advanced weaponry including Katyusha rockets, rifles, mortar shells, mines and a variety of anti-tank missiles. http://tinyurl.com... http://tinyurl.com... In addition, weapons are constantly smuggled through the tunnels digged near Rafiah. The weapons that are being smuggled are not defensive weapons but mainly used for attacking. These are missiles, mortals, suicide suits and so on (http://tinyurl.com...) . All of these are non-accurate weapons, meant not to hit a specific military target but to cause fear, destruction and casualties among civilians. – It shows the urge of Hamas to hold weapons, and therefore justifies the inspection of what goes into Gaza. * If I didn't make it clear – Israel constantly lets food, water, petrol, medical supplies and even electricity into the Gaza strip. (Again, under inspection) Due to the above, readers and Con, Israel has requested the convoy to sail into Ashdod port, so the cargo can be INSPECTED, and then delivered through land passages to Gaza, under the observation of those who came with the ships, of course. Is this too much to ask? Was there a reason not to agree? I will supply my answer to this question later[*]. But one thing must be clear to all: when it comes to people's lives you don't take chances. This ship had to be inspected. http://tinyurl.com... Another thing about the justification. Here is a translation of what Maxime Verhagen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, said in his parliament (non-official translation): "By international law, due to the armed conflict with Hamas, Israel is allowed to place a maritime blockade on Gaza and is justified in searching ships for weapons. The responsibility for the results of the attempt to break the maritime blockade lies with those who attempted to break the blockade, assuming that the blockade was properly announced" (this was said in the Dutch parliament, as a response to a request by some parliament members that the Netherlands will condemn Israel). See http://tinyurl.com... second paragraph (in Dutch) If the Cons wills, please refer to the ministers words. <------------Section 2------------> In this section I would first like to notify you, that out of 6 ships in the convoy, only one chose to fight, which lead to a loss of life. All of the other ships were also seized by the IDF, but there were no deaths or injuries in any of them. Israel soldiers did not attack in an act of terror: the navy formally warned and requested the convoy several times to change their course. http://tinyurl.com... One of the differences between terror and a military action is that terror is done without warning. My debate partner (DP) said: "So you soldiers were armed also? Paintball guns a maybe, but it is still a weapon. And you mention a pistol, why would you need a live weapon and only one, if for the majority of the task 'your' troops felt paintball guns were good enough?" The IDF soldiers were armed with paint-ball guns. Here is an explanation to make this point clear: Paintball guns are considered as an effective non-lethal weapon (http://tinyurl.com...) . They cause momentary pain, discomfort, but no permanent damage. Law enforcement units around the world use them in cases of large scale civil disorder. They select them because they want to stop the riots, discourage most people from confronting them, and to be able to later identify those who led the riot, those who performed violent actions (such as throwing explosives). Israel expected the confrontation to be at the level of police vs rioters in a violent demonstration. Israel did not want any of the passengers to be killed. That is why the commando soldiers arrived with paint guns. They also carried pistols (note - pistols, not combat guns), in their pockets. Only when it became obvious that the level of violence expressed against the soldiers is life threatening (and at some moment, when a soldier was thrown overboard by the mob, it seemed as if he was actually killed), and that the passengers (at least those that were on the upper deck) are well armed (with knives, clubs, sharpened metal rods), an order was given to the soldiers to use their pistols to protect their lives and accomplish the mission of stopping the ship. As some of the passengers/rioters captured pistols from the soldiers they lynched, and started shooting at other soldiers, it became a real two sides shooting event. Israel could act differently, by throwing tear gas over the ship before landing. However, such an act, while not lethal, would have caused pain to all 600 passengers, most of them not involved in any violent act. This would have eliminated the need to actually shoot live ammunition. <------------Section 3-------------> Here I am returning to my question [*] (from section 2) – (given the facts about the blockade and the offer by Israel to deliver the supplies under their observation) - Why did the convoy not agree to disembark in Ashdod port? If they had nothing to hide, which turns out they didn't, what reason can they possibly had not to co-operate, and by this to force Israel to carry out such an operation, which would obviously lead to such a result? I'll tell you why. And be sure they have planned it. Dear readers, Con, the target of the flotilla convoy was not to deliver supplies to Gaza, It was to get sympathy from the world and to use it against Israel in a most sophisticated way, arising countless demonstrations, comments, curses and hate against Israel. What seemed at first like a convoy of good will, succeeded to fool you for two days, but no more. The cargo of this ship included nothing in shortage in Gaza http://tinyurl.com..., and basically had the same things Israel sends into Gaza on a regular basis. This story of pure humanitarism is nothing more than a well written play, but the show is over. The people on the upper deck who fought against the IDF soldiers were not peace activists, but well trained (and well paid) Islamic Jihad activists. http://tinyurl.com... <------------Conclusion-------------> Israel had to stop the convoy for inspection, due to the weapon smuggling history of the area. The repeating refusal of the convoy to go through inspection left no choice to Israel but to get on board the ships. One ship – Marmara, had a team set up for violently resisting the Israeli navy, and it's brutal lynch against the soldiers lead to a fight, which ended up in the death of ten rioters. After taking the ships to Ashdod and inspecting the cargo, it turned out it did not include weapons, but no supplies in shortage either. To sum, this was, as I said, a script of a play the Hamas successfully got the whole world into. Time to clap hands? I dont think so.