WARNING: Graphic Violence on this Page

If you are squeamish, do not scroll down!

There is something terribly horribly wicked when the leader of the free world cannot distinguish between good and evil, barbarity and humanity, bloodlust and self defense. [The Post-American Presidency] Below is a first-hand account from Amir, an Israeli soldier who was there, as forwarded by Dina Moskowitz to an Israeli forum.

 This is really horrific! Most of your politicians and media are condemning Israel for the raid on the so called “peaceful aid flotilla” and at the same time are failing to consider the facts that show it was a pre-planned attempt by Islamic terrorists to lynch the IDF soldiers and to lynch Israel in the media, knowing that this would bring down massive pressure on Israel to lift the blockage of Gaza, which will allow the unmonitored entry of weaponry into the hands of Hamas-controlled Gaza.

“Peaceful” Terrorists Disemboweled Israeli Soldier

Amir’s Testimony | Source: http://www.talkgaza.com/flotillafacts/?p=679

The following continues to circulate via e-mail and on the internet. As more evidence emerges the over all credibility of this account is increasing. Israeli authorities are not commenting. This is not surprising as they seldom comment about soldiers being captured or injured. There was, for example, very little comment about soldiers being taken hostage, despite the photographs that appeared in Turkish newspapers.

As with all eye witness testimony, even if the person believe it is a true account, not every detail is always 100% accurate. Given evidence in support of this story is emerging (including pictures of the combat knives used, video of a soldier being thrown off the deck, etc) we have decided to share it. Please be warned however that it is unverified.

Hello Uncle Erwin,

This is Amir writing you after reading what you sent to my father, Eitan. As you know, it was my unit and my friends who were on the ship. My commander was injured badly as a result of the “pacifists” violence. I want to tell you how he was injured so you could tell the story. It shows just how horrible and inhuman were these activists. My commander was the first soldier that rappelled down from the helicopter to the ship. When he touched ground, he got hit in the head with a pole and stabbed in the stomach with a knife. When he drew out his secondary weapon—a handgun (his primary weapon was a regular paintball gun: a Tippman 98 custom)—he was shot in the leg. He managed to fire a single shot before he was tossed from the balcony by 4 Arab activists to the lower deck (a 12-feet fall). He was then dragged by other activists to a room in the lower deck were he was stripped down by two activists. They took off his vest, helmet and shirt, leaving him with only his pants and shoes on. When they finished they took a knife and expanded the wound he already had in his stomach. They cut his ab[dominal] muscles horizontally and by hand spilled his guts out. When they finished they raised him up and walked him on the deck outside. He was conscious the whole time.

If you are asking yourself why they did all that, here comes the reason. They wanted to show the soldiers their commander’s body so they will be demoralized and scared. Luckily, when they walked him on the deck a soldier saw him and managed to shoot the activist that was walking him down the outside corridor. He shot him with a special non-lethal bullet that didn’t kill him. My commander managed to jump from the deck to the water and swim to an army rescue boat (his guts still out of his body, and now in salty sea water). That was how he was saved. The activists that did this to him are alive, now in Turkey, and treated as heroes.

Reuters crops photos to hide evidence of lethal force against IDF Soldiers

Posted by Israel Insider, June 7, 2010 at 8:00pm | View Israel Insider's blog | Source

Charles Johnson of the once-popular Little Green Footballs blog has uncovered two distinct cases (here and here) of blatantly tendentious photo cropping clearly intended to conceal knives held above the bodies of unconscious, critically wounded Israeli soldiers -- and their blood.

Reuters has published the picture at right from the "activists". As Johnson notes, "One picture cropped to remove a knife might be explained as incompetence or a simple mistake. But now we have two pictures from the “peace activists” that were cropped by someone at Reuters to remove knives in the hands of the activists, as they attempted to take soldiers hostage.

The Reuters picture (above) is a cropped version of the photo from the IHH website, below. (IHH is the Islamist group whose members rioted aboard the Mavi Marmara).

What did the Reuters photo editor crop out? A big knife and a big pool of blood.

Further, Johnson discovers another concealment. "I took the photo into Photoshop and increased the exposure to lighten the dark areas, and discovered that they didn’t just crop out the knife and blood — they also cropped out another badly injured Israeli soldier lying on the floor.

Earlier, Johhnson had exposed a similar case of "fauxtography".

"A Turkish newpaper has released photos taken by the “peace activists” aboard the Mavi Marmara, showing them attempting to take injured Israeli soldiers hostage. Here’s one of the pictures: notice the knife held by a “peace activist” in the lower right corner:"

"And here’s the same photo (below) as released by Reuters earlier today:"

"That’s a very interesting way to crop the photo," Johnson writes. "Most people would consider that knife an important part of the context. There was a huge controversy over whether the activists were armed. Cropping out a knife, in a picture showing a soldier who’s apparently been stabbed, seems like a very odd editorial decision. Unless someone was trying to hide it."

Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs MK Yuli Edelstein dispatch a protest letter to Reuters chief Tom Glocer on Monday expressing the "grave concern of the government of Israel" over the cropping of photographs taken from the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship last week.

Describing the cropping of the images of an "abuse of photo-imagery by Reuters," Edelstein wrote, "I am sure you are aware that pictures – originally produced by the violent activists aboard the Mavi Marmara and published in the Turkish media - clearly show the use of knives against Israeli servicemen. However, when these pictures were initially distributed on the wires by Reuters picture service they were cropped to exclude the knives and blood that bore evidence of the violent intentions of those who participated in the attacks, and provided vital evidence in support of Israel’s claims." The letter was cc'd to David Thomson, Chairman Thomson Reuters, and Alistair MacDonald, Reuters Jerusalem Bureau Chief.

While noting that Reuters has since "distributed the original images," Edelstein added, "There is of course great concern that the altering of the images distributed could have been done with intent rather than due to mistakes in the editorial process." Ya think?

Reuters Admits Cropping Photos of Ship Clash,
Denies Political Motive

By Ed Barnes | Published June 08, 2010 | FOXNews.com | Source

On the left, the uncropped photo. On the right, Reuters' released photo. (Reuters)

The British-based Reuters news agency has been stung for the second time by charges that it edited politically sensitive photos in a way that casts Israel in a bad light. But this time Reuters claims it wasn’t at fault.

The news agency reacted to questions raised by an American blogger who showed that Reuters' photo service edited out knives and blood traces from pictures taken aboard the activist ship Mavi Marmara during a clash with Israeli commandos last week. Nine people were killed and scores were injured in the clash. 

The pictures of the fight were released by IHH, the Turkish-based group that sponsored the six-ship fleet that tried to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.

In one photo, an Israeli commando is shown lying on the deck of the ship, surrounded by activists. The uncut photo released by IHH shows the hand of an unidentified activist holding a knife. But in the Reuters photo, the hand is visible but the knife has been edited out.

The blog “Little Green Footballs” challenged Reuters' editing of the photo.

“That’s a very interesting way to crop the photo. Most people would consider that knife an important part of the context. There was a huge controversy over whether the activists were armed. Cropping out a knife, in a picture showing a soldier who’s apparently been stabbed, seems like a very odd editorial decision. Unless someone was trying to hide it,” the blog stated.

In a second photo the unedited print issued by IHH showed blood along the ship's railing and a hand holding a knife as an Israeli soldier lies on the deck. Both the blood and the knife were missing in the photo that Reuters released.

Reuters on Tuesday denied it intended to alter the political meanings of the photographs.

“The images in question were made available in Istanbul, and following normal editorial practice were prepared for dissemination which included cropping at the edges," the news agency said in a statement. "When we realized that a dagger was inadvertently cropped from the images, Reuters immediately moved the original set as well." 

Reuters has yet to respond to charges about the second photo.

This is the second time Reuters has been accused of manipulating photos. In 2006 a Reuters photographer, Adnan Hajj, doctored several photos of the destruction caused by Israel's bombing of Beirut. In one he added smoke to a panoramic picture of South Beirut to make the damage look more severe than it was. In a second photo, he showed a woman whose home had supposedly been destroyed in the same raid, but an investigation revealed that the woman's house had been destroyed prior to the Israeli strike. 

Reuters later removed all of Hajj's more than 900 photos from distribution and severed its relationship with him. A photo editor also was fired.

What happened on the Mavi Marmara and who was responsible for the killing and bloodshed on the ship is still a matter of debate. Activists charge that Israeli commandos fired first and provoked the skirmish. Israeli commandos say they were compelled to use deadly force after they were attacked by people on board the ship.

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