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Why Israel Won't Allow Journalists into Gaza
Overnight, the Jerusalem Post carried a story, "Navy Sends Activist Boat Back to Cyprus," which said:
The navy has turned back a boat trying to carry pro-Palestinian protesters to the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the boat ignored an Israeli radio order to turn back early Tuesday. He said the boat tried to outmaneuver the navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels. The navy then escorted the boat to the territorial waters of Cyprus.
In a report from AFP, Israeli authorities said is was all just a mistake:
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP that the naval vessel tried to contact the aid boat by radio for identification and to inform it that it could not enter Gaza.
"After the boat did not answer the radio, it sharply veered, and the two vessels collided, causing only light damage," Palmor said.
The Israeli spokesman accused the pro-Palestinian activists of "seeking provocation more than ever."
But this time, a reporter, Karl Penhaul from CNN, was actually on the boat -- and gave the report you see above as the events were happening:
... the boat, while still in international waters has been rammed by Israeli patrol boats, our vessel has been damaged ... there's been some damage to a roof section and to glass windows around the steering area and the captain says that the vessel is taking on a small amount of water, that at this stage is not life-threatening, but the ship was very severely rammed by one of those Israeli patrol boats, those patrol boats have been following the vessel for the half-hour prior to the ramming incident ... they rammed the vessel without warning but after the ramming there was a radio message saying the Israeli patrol boat was accusing the Dignity of being involved in terrorist activities.
No wonder Israel is continuing its refusal to allow foreign journalists into Gaza.
Tagged as: war, israel, palestine, middle east, cnn, attacks, gaza, navy, karl penhaul
Siun is a regular blogger for FireDogLake.
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