In an interview with Amy Goodman, Adam Shapiro stated that, "we now know that at least 14 people have been confirmed killed, and perhaps as many as 20 killed."
Amy Goodman then asked, "we are reading Israeli military reports that say when they boarded the Turkish ship, that they were attacked by sticks and knives. What do you understand has happened?"
Mr. Shapiro's response was that, "our people on the ship reported live as the soldiers came onto the ship, and reported that soldiers were opening fire as they were coming onto the ship, and they were descending from helicopters. So, our understanding is that the Israeli soldiers opened fire first. I have not seen or heard any thing else about - and there are many journalists on board that ship - anything else about our people, the passengers on that ship, posing any kind of threat. There was a live feed coming from the ship using satellite, video satellite, on satellite, that has been rebroadcast on CNN, on CNN Turk, on Al Jazeera, on Press TV, on numerous media outlets, not one image from this entire footage shows any of the passengers holding any kind of object that could be construed as a weapon. So, I mean, I am sure that the Israelis would like the world to believe that they were the ones being attacked as they assaulted these ships, but this is just Israeli spin."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-goodman/interview-at-least-15-dea_b_595438.html
In a Huffington Post article, rabbi Daniel Gordis writes, "what we know is that on five of the ships, the commandos (among them friends of our kids, by the way) boarded the boats, and there was no resistance and no fighting.
On one boat, however, the first soldiers to land on the boat were attacked with metal rods and knives. There's video of it. It's playing all over Israel and all over the internet. In some cases, soldiers' weapons were stolen and used against them. One was stabbed, apparently in the abdomen. Another was tossed from a desk and trampled when he landed."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-daniel-gordis/facebook-meets-the-flotil_b_595478.html
An INN article reported that Israel’s U.N. envoy Daniel Cameron said,“this flotilla was anything but a humanitarian mission. What kind of humanitarian activists demand to bypass the United Nations, the Red Cross, and other internationally recognized agencies? What kind of peace activists use knives, clubs and other weapons to attack soldiers who board a ship in accordance with international law?"
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137804
So, are we to believe the first account or the second and third?
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