Felony Murder

The Flotilla Massacre - Israeli Commandos Fired Unprovoked Into Sleeping Civilians: Eyewitnesses By Nafeez Ahmed

Then, the following shocking account at 6:30 yesterday morning, from Greta Berlin - an account which not only explains why whatever the crew of peace activists did, they were doing it in self-defence, amidst an unfolding massacre:

Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep... Streaming video shows the Israeli soldiers shooting at civilians, and our last SPOT beacon said, "HELP, we are being contacted by the Israelis."

Of course, I have no idea what happened out in the Med. I wasn't there. But, since major corporations will be blasting the Israeli version of events at you a thousand times today, I thought I'd post what the other side is saying.

If they were shooting the moment they hit the deck, which the Israelis deny, then that's premeditated murder.

I'd love to get a CSI team on that ship. What do the gunshot patterns look like? Do they look like they were fired by someone descending on a rope from a helicopter? Do the locations of the gunshot impacts agree with the stories of struggles with the passengers? Or do they look like someone who'd just hit the deck opened fire?

Israel is denying all access to the ship, and to any videos or pictures that they don't release? It seems as if the last thing they want is to have any of these questions answered.

If someone dies when you commit a crime, that's felony murder. The boarding was definitely a crime. It was a ship of unarmed people and building supplies who'd been videoed ever since they'd assembled. It was 40 miles off the coast. There is no claim of Israeli self defense because Israel was under no immediate threat from a floating pile of lumber forty miles off its coast.

If someone commits armed robbery, and if the victim struggles for the gun and it goes off, the robber is still held responsible. It doesn't matter who struggled or who resisted. These are not justifications of murder.

No US court would accept from a defendant the claim that he had to kill a jewelry store clerk in self defense because he resisted his attempt at armed robbery. There is no reason to accept this from Israel.