Hard day? The worst.

This is not good.  Simply put, it is very bad.  The worst.  A "flotilla" of six ships bringing supplies and activists opposed to Israel's closure of Gaza was enroute to Gaza with expressed intentions of breaking the Israeli naval blockade.  Israel made it clear they would not allow the ships through and directed the ships to the port of Ashdod (see the video below).

As it became clear that the ships were not going to turn from their objective, Israeli naval commandos stormed the ships.  Anywhere from 9 to 15 (I've seen varying reports) people on the ships were killed by the Israeli forces.  At least seven Israeli commandos were injured, two severely.  The circumstances are in dispute.  The facts are not clear beyond the numbers killed and injured and that this happened about 70 miles out to sea. Already there are widely different accounts from the Israeli government and soliders and the flotilla organizers and participants.  You can see the video below and many others like it that have been posted to YouTube.  Whatever the videos show, it is obvious that something went very wrong.  It also seems obvious that Israel will bear the brunt of the criticism and responsibility for this violent incident.  It also seems clear, however, that these humanitarian protesters were not the non-violent followers of Gandhi nor was this the Middle Eastern equivalent of th Freedom Riders buses in the American civil rights movements.  The UN Security Council is in emergency session about this incident - probably the tip of the iceberg of diplomatic and media (if not, God forbid, outright physical) assault that Israel and Israelis will face in coming day and weeks.



All I can say is that this is a shande - it is shameful, terrible and could have (SHOULD HAVE) been avoided.  It is a shame on so-called "humanitarian" critics of Israel to be defending club wielding thugs affiliated with terrorist groups (watch the video above) and there is nothing for Zionists to be proud of in these killings.

Here's a few links to Jewish sources I follow and their initial reactions and reports of the event:

Scholar and Rabbi Daniel Gordis offers his defense of Israel and its actions on his blog.

Ynet news account from an Israeli reporter, Ron Ben-Yishai.

Haaretz blogger, Bradley Burston, critiques the Israeli action and the Gaza blockade in general.