Sunday, June 06, 2010

Report by Turkish Newspaper Hurriyet Strengthens IDF Account

An article published today in Hurriyet, one of Turkey's biggest newspapers, strengthens some of the accounts provided by IDF soldiers of what happened after they landed on board the ship. The article has a link to a collection of photos restored from memory cards that belonged to activists on board the ship. It shows three bloodied soldiers being dragged below deck by activists. It also documents the activists holding knives and iron bars. According to the Hurriyet article, which was summarized by Haaretz, the IDF seized cameras and deleted photos from their memory cards, but the files were later restored using standard memory card software. Some activists also concealed their cameras or dimmed them.

6 comments:

Nobody said...

We are lucky that they appreciate pictures of bloodied and humiliated enemies so much that they are willing to publish them. So we at least have some confirmation of our version of the events from their side. We would not get such favors from their Western leftist accomplices

J. said...

The interesting thing is that al-Jazeera's camera people did not report on these events and had no footage of them. I don't know if they were elsewhere or if they decided to stick to the victim narrative.

Amos said...

I saw the Hurriyet story and pictures yesterday night. The article refers gleefully to the Israeli "commandos crying with fear" and acting "amateurish." The comments are even worse, as you can well imagine. An account which emphasizes the "humiliation" of Israeli soldiers will hardly play well in the Guardian and other European papers, so this presents a bit of a problem. You can't really have it both ways: claim that you crushed Israeli soldiers and also present yourself as an innocent victim.

Amos said...

Here is how Le Monde picks up the Hurriyet story. I haven't seen other European papers refer to it yet.

Nobody said...

@Amos

We should better save these pictures before they realize their mistake and remove them. However, I am not sure how much effect it will have on the public opinion. I suspect the problem with the public opinion in the West can be way more complex than we think

Nobody said...

Well, I saved them. They are even watermarked

:D :D