Israel's Gaza boat takeover violent

2010/09/29

Passengers onboard a Jewish aid boat, which was intercepted by Israeli warships en route to the Gaza Strip, refute Israel's claims of non-violent takeover. On Tuesday, around 10 Israeli warships surrounded the aid vessel Irene nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the Gaza coast, forcefully diverting it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Following the incident, Israeli army officials insisted that the takeover was carried out without any use of force, but the civilian activists onboard the vessel begged to differ. "There are no words to describe what we went through," Israel's Ynet news website quoted passenger Yonatan Shapira as saying. Shapira was one of the five Israelis aboard the Gaza-bound boat, who was interrogated by the Ashdod police before being released a day later. A former Israel Air Force pilot, Shapira, said Israeli soldiers had resorted to violence while taking over the boat. The Israeli army spokesperson "is trying to paint a picture as though the takeover was not violent, but the soldiers' actions were violent and disgusting," protested Shapira, charging he had been tasered by a soldier. The 82-year-old Reuven Moskowitz, an Israeli man, who was also aboard the vessel, backed Shapira's claim. "We are people who came with a message of peace and we did not anticipate a burst of violence against us, but the officers acted violently," he said.