Israeli news media are carrying this “revelation” by the IDF about links by flotilla activists to Hamas and al Qaida. Israel’s Channel 10 news made it sound particularly scary. Yaacov Elon said it was too bad that this intelligence wasn’t available to the army in advance. But the gap between the headline and the sparse and unconvincing facts presented in the story is so wide, that the net effect is to weaken the Israeli version that the ship was being manned by dangerous terrorists or mercenaries. The Viva Palestina movement mentioned in the story announced their intention to send representatives well in advance, on their website and it was known that the Chicago law school grad Fatema Mohammadi would be aboard. Ken O Keefe, a “fellow of the London School of Social Entrepreneurs” is a veteran activist who has been involved in an earlier humanitarian aid run to Gaza. His amazing description of the Mavi Marmara events can be found here.
