May 31, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Tiring of seeing alleged humanitarian aid being delivered to the Hamas government in Gaza by a rag-tag consortium of radical supporters, Israel this morning signaled its policy of silently bowing to skewed world public opinion had ended.

Sometime this morning IDF soldiers stormed aboard the six vessel flotilla seizing control of it from what was estimated to be hundreds of pro-Hamas terror supporters. At least 10 deaths have been confirmed with the toll potentially going higher.

Previous to the vessel sailing from Cypress, the Israeli government had repeatedly warned the activists that they would not be permitted to complete their intended journey.

As quoted by the Los Angeles Times [see, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-protesters-slain-20100531,0,2138270.story] Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Avalon referred to the aid effort an, "armada of hate and violence," that was engaging in a "premeditated and outrageous provocation."

During the operation IDF soldiers came under attack, taking incoming fire from the ships and being attacked by knife and club wielding protesters once aboard.

Two IDF soldiers were seriously injured as a result of the incident.

Indicating the severity of the brief confrontation, the official IDF press release tersely stated, "Navy fighters took control of six ships that tried to violate the naval blockade...During the takeover, the soldiers encountered serious physical violence by the protesters, who attacked them with live fire." [source, Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-commandos-gaza-flotilla-crew-tried-to-lynch-us-1.293089]

Against the expected firestorm of protest from Europe [the pro-Hamas UN has called an "urgent" security session] the Israeli government held firm, indicating its full support of the operation.

Upon being notified of the action, prime minister Netanyahu, who had been meeting with government officials in Canada, cancelled a hastily scheduled press event by president Obama which had been designed to address the president's rapidly eroding support by American Jews and flew back to Israel.

In recent months team Obama has made no effort to disguise its displeasure with Netanyahu's strong anti-terror stance, forcing the prime minister after his last WH meeting to depart via the back door.

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