Israel Matzav

Ken O'Keefe claims IDF fired on Mavi Marmara from helicopter, 2 years ago admitted initiating violence

Irish-'Palestinian' terrorist Ken O'Keefe has told a Turkish court that the IDF fired upon the Mavi Marmara before commandos were lowered onto the ship's deck from a helicopter.

Kenneth O'Keefe, an Irish-Palestinian former US marine turned anti-war activist who was on board the aid ship, told the court that Israeli soldiers had started shooting from the helicopter, killing several people.

"Within 5 to 10 minutes after the Israeli helicopter approached the ship, I ran into Cevdet Kiliclar's dead body on the deck, before any Israeli commando had boarded the vessel," O'Keefe said, referring to one of the Turkish activists.

"He must have been shot from the air. After seeing Kiliclar's dead body, I went upstairs to the top of the deck and saw several people lying on the ground, wounded or dead."

O'Keefe's testimony is contradicted by the findings of a UN Commission of Inquiry in 2011.

A September 2011 UN report into the incident cited an Israeli commission of inquiry as saying that three stun grenades were thrown from the helicopter but no shots were fired as the Israeli soldiers descended onto the vessel.

"The soldiers from the first helicopter were met with an extreme level of violence from a group of passengers on the vessel. They were shot at and attacked with clubs, iron rods, slingshots and knives," the report said, summarizing Israel's own investigation.

It said the Israeli soldiers resorted to lethal weapons "in response to the violent resistance faced".

O'Keefe's testimony also contradicted what he told the BBC's Hardtalk show a few weeks after the incident, when he admitted to initiating violence.

Let's go to the videotape. This is the first of three.



Here's Part 2 of the three-part interview. Let's go to the videotape.



And here's the third part. Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Gaza, Gaza plenty, IHH, Mavi Marmara, Palestinian terrorism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:09 PM