IDF admits doctoring audio of raid on Gaza flotilla

[Agorism]

IDF admits doctoring audio of raid on Gaza flotilla (http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0606/idf-admits-doctoring-audio-gaza-flotilla)



The Israeli Defense Force has issued a "clarification" admitting it manipulated audio of its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

On Friday, the IDF released audio of what it said was an exchange between Israel Navy officers and the crew of the Mavi Marmara, the main vessel in the flotilla. In it, voices could be heard telling the Israeli soldiers to "go back to Auschwitz" and "we're helping Arabs go against the US -- don't forget 9/11, guys."

But flotilla passengers quickly began disputing the veracity of the audio clip.

Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal reports that the head of the Free Gaza movement, Huwaida Arraf, could be heard on the videotape asserting the flotilla's right to enter Gaza territory. But Arraf says she wasn't on board the Mavi Marmara, and was actually on board another ship, the Challenger One. Another flotilla member whose voice can be heard on the audio, Ali Abunimah, also said he wasn't aboard the Mavi Marmara.

According to a news report from the Palestinian news agency Ma'an, Arraf suggests the audio of her that appeared in the clip came from an earlier exchange between her and Israeli forces, but she admits she "could not be sure" she didn't repeat her assertion during exchanges with the IDF during the raid.

[Vessol]

The protesters doctored the audio first.

[John Taylor]

IDF admits doctoring audio of raid on Gaza flotilla (http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0606/idf-admits-doctoring-audio-gaza-flotilla)

They compacted the video into a short clip:

Here's the entire un-shortened clip.


YouTube - Unedited Radio Transmission Between Gaza Flotilla and Israeli Navy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dE2StbDL_Q&feature=player_embedded)

[Agorism]

Bluementhal followed up on the IDF release that shows, supposedly, the entire exchange.


It’s nice that the IDF has “clarified” its doctoring of footage. But the new clip it has released that supposedly shows “the entire segment…in which the exchange took place and the comments were made” is highly suspect as well. Why? Because it contains an exchange with Huwaida Arraf that Arraf claims took place on an entirely different attempt to break the siege — Arraf has led previous aid boats to Gaza that were intercepted and hijacked by the IDF. Arraf told Ma’an News:

“I was by the radio the whole time there was any communication. Mine was the only boat in which I answered and not the captain and they all answered in a very professional manner.” Arraf told Ma’an that while she might have spoken of having permission from the Gaza Port Authority on a previous attempt to break the blockade, she is certain that she did not say it on Monday morning. ”When they radioed us, we were still 100 miles away,” she explained.
Mya Guarnieri of Ma’an goes into more detail about the suspicious nature of the new clip the IDF has released, demonstrating how absurd their latest attempt to save face is. The lesson of the debacle is that nothing the IDF says can be trusted by anyone. Not ever. (Of course, that should apply to any nation’s military, and not just “the most moral army in the world”).

Hours after the IDF’s admission, major news outlets which reported on the doctored audio clip as though it was a shocking revelation and not a scandalous forgery have still not corrected themselves. The most blatant stenographer of IDF propaganda is the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler. Here is what Kessler reported after being participating a briefing session with an IDF flack:
Israeli forces spent four hours trying to persuade the 300-foot-long Turkish ship to shift course away from Gaza, senior Israeli officials said in a briefing Friday for a small group of reporters.

The activists responded repeatedly with shouts — “Go back to Auschwitz!” — and kept the ship at its maximum speed of 10 knots.
esides the fact that Kessler reported on the “Go back to Auschwitz” claim without investigating it, he claimed that the passengers “repeatedly” shouted the slur. But even the IDF did not claim that anyone “repeatedly” shouted anything; the “Auschwitz” statement is heard in the doctored audio clip only once.

Kessler’s report was so slanted in favor of the Israeli military he was compelled to include this as his opening line: “This is the Israeli version of the deadly raid on an aid ship bound for Gaza.” But Kessler also cited the opinions of “Turkish officials,” and worded his article as though it were an authoritative report on what really happened on board the Mavi Marmara.

Finally, Kessler reports the IDF’s discredited claim that numerous Mavi Marmara passengers were terrorist “mercenaries:”
The activists also had substantial funds, perhaps 1 million euros. Many of the activists who battled the soldiers were each carrying 10,000 euros, which officials speculated meant that they were mercenaries who had been paid to fight.

Right. The IDF had retracted its claim about terrorist mercenaries on board the Mavi Marmara a full day before Kessler filed. Kessler and the Washington Post have let the Israeli military play them for fools. They should issue corrections immediately.

If the Post does not correct, readers should let WaPo Ombudsman Andrew Alexander know that his paper’s coverage of the flotilla massacre remains riddled with major factual errors. Alexander can be reached at ombudsman@washpost.com or 202-334-7582.
-Max Bluementhal

[LibertyWorker]

That's not surprising in the least bit.

What I would like to know is why they only show the video of the soldiers being attacked..... but never show the part of the video where the soldiers pull out their guns and start shooting people.

I would especially like to see the video with the US citizen getting shot in the head four times and once in the chest..... a fellow citizen gets executed on the high seas and the United States barely shrugs.

The corporate/government propaganda media machine is going to be the biggest challenge we face in regaining the ability to spread truth in this nation.

Right now people can't tell where the propaganda ends and the truth begins in this country.

[Dr.3D]

That's not surprising in the least bit.

What I would like to know is why they only show the video of the soldiers being attacked..... but never show the part of the video where the soldiers pull out their guns and start shooting people.

I would especially like to see the video with the US citizen getting shot in the head four times and once in the chest..... a fellow citizen gets executed on the high seas and the United States barely shrugs.

The corporate/government propaganda media machine is going to be the biggest challenge we face in regaining the ability to spread truth in this nation.

Right now people can tell where the propaganda ends and the truth begins in this country.

Emm.. I think you mean.... "Right now people can't tell where the propaganda ends and the truth begins in this country."