June 1, 2010 Pre Planned Attack on Israeli Commandos- The Turkish Connection and More Fallout From the Botched Interception.

A number of new facts have become clear in the last few hours. It seems the Israelis commandos were ambushed by a group of 40 individuals, all of them had no identification and who refused to identify themselves. They were armed and had night vision, and it seems they all had a significant amount cash on them. Some Israeli intellegince officials believe they were either paid mercenaries or Turkish members of Al Qaeda, or maybe something else I will get to a little later. Those within the 40 who were captured are all refusing to be identified, and to their best of their abilities refusing medical attention.

It is also becoming clear that all those killed in the incident were killed on deck when they attacked the first Israelis who were landing on the roof. When those landing were being assaulted one by one and it became clear it was not possible for Israel to land enough men to gain control of the situation and extract the men who had landed armed with paint guns, without resorting to deadly force. It was then the command was given to resort to deadly force. Under the circumstances there was no other choice.

Turkish Prime Minister Erodwan returned to Turkey today and made it clear that Israeli-Turkish relations will never be the same. Of course they have never been the same, since he became the Prime Minister of Turkey, but that had been his idea. It's clear this had been the goal of the first Islamist leader of Turkey since the Turkish revolution. He has been moving slowly, but surely away from the West. As soon as he consolidated his position in Turkey vis-a-via the army, he has moved the country into the Islamist anti-Israel, and eventually anti-western position that he always believed in. While I have no proof, I am going to posit a theory: The attack on the Israeli soldiers may have been a planned Turkish actions by Islamists close to the Turkish government. This was no accident. This was planned, and it seems the Islamist movement of the government of Turkey is tied closely to the Islamist Hamas movement, and they are all, of course, tied with Iran. Not a very pretty picture.

The US government has decided to keep a very low profile on this matter. President Obama has refused to comment on what has taken place. Behind the scenes he has made it clear, in his two calls with Netanyahu, that he expects Israel to fully investigate what happened. That is also what the UN has called for. Both the United States and the UN will not accept an investigation by the army or the government, but rather is insist on an official State inquiry. It looks like the Netanyahu government will go along and not risk another confrontation with Obama. This is good, since a state inquiry is certainly called for in this case. Israel is not guilty of any crimes, other than being unprepared and acting against its own self- interest. For Israel's sake the reason for this needs to be evaluated and blame placed wherever is deserved.

Despite all that I have written above about the facts of this incident, the damage to Israel's image in the has been significant. It looks like (without guarantees) that none of those killed were regular peace acitivists, but rather the specially armed men on deck. Unfortunately, by the time all the facts get out, the damage will already been done.

The Israeli government must rethink the type of war it is fighting. It is as much a war of image and words, as it is a war against Qassams. There are two more ships on the way.

One final word, all of the goods that were brought by the ships have been delivered to Gaza today by the Israeli army. All the material from these ships fit into 10 trucks. It should be publicized that Israel transfers 100 trucks of goods into Gaza each day.