Thank you for the answer.
I agree with you on the point of deliberate Turkish policy .
Erdogan (and probably Davutoglu) set for collision course with Israel for some time at that point.
The Marmara was a well planned action (an ambush realy), And Israel fell right into it.
The Marmara was controlled by a group who took control onboard, effectively removing the captain.
Some of those men got
onboard without passport checks[wiki], which is only possible if the customs and port authorities in Turkey look away.
Of course the Turkish government knew!
The people onboard happily transmitted their intentions well on the way, so there was time to prepare and simulate the outcomes.
The only person on another boat that was hurt is Dror Feiler who was punched in the face(
no tears for him[wiki]).
So I think violence was only prepared on the Marmara.
Perhaps Erdogan and co were not directly involved (I doubt it).
They sure did encorouge the whole thing and danced on the results for political and foreign policy gains.
For what it's worth, they probably did not expect people to die.
Israels policy makers (Government-Foreign ministry)
failed to see how hostile Erdogan and co realy are.
Failed to see that Erdogan and co are ready to do something with this hostility.
Failed to see that Erdogan and co would use incidents to further their goals.
Israeli planners failed to see that an incident is coming with some serious violence and wide media coverage.
It was a failure of Israel to identify the Turkish
Goal - Make Turkey a big player in the Middle East,
Policy - Confront Israel where easy to look good,
and Means: An opportunity, use the flotilla! Protests and cameras and violence (hence the monkey buisness with passports)
For maximum media effect.
Again: Israel from government level down missed it and fell right into the ambush.
The Turkish foreign policy at the time was stellar and danced circles around Israel's.
That is some serious failure with grave consequences.
Sorry for the off topic.
As an aside, it is not hard to do, here is a reciept:
- A group of young men
- Cameras or cell phone with camera
- Bad attitude
-A number of IDF soldiers.
1. Mix the soldiers with the young men with bad attitude.
2. Film the whole thing
3. Just wait a little, at least one(1) Israli soldier will do a dumb thing
And voila you made Israel look bad.
This is the same scenario from the Danish chap, to David the Nahlawi. Add more violence and you get the Marmara.
Now, what to do about it?