Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

“The Ship Turned into a Lake of Blood”: Israeli Commandos Used Beatings, Stun Guns, Live Ammo

Juan Cole 06/01/2010

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

The humanitarian aid workers taken hostage by Israel on the high seas are beginning to be released, and they describe to the Associated Press a horrific scene when Israeli troops boarded the Mavi Marmara.

Norman Paech of the German Left Party said, “”Moments later, we heard detonations and then soldiers from helicopters above us dropped down on board . . . The soldiers were all masked, carrying big guns and were extremely brutal.”

Witnesses speak of seeing dead bodies scattered on the deck. Several of the dead are said to have been Turkish.

Passengers spoke of being beaten with batons and shocked with stun guns, as well as being shot at with both rubber bullets and life ammunition. AP writes:

‘ Turkish activist Nilufer Cetin told reporters in Istanbul that she and her baby son were hiding in her cabin’s bathroom on the Marmara when Israeli soldiers rappelled onto the ship. “There was a massacre on board,” Cetin said. “The ship turned into a lake of blood.” ‘

Israel accuses some of the passengers of fighting back.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Trump isn't even Trying to Hide the Racism Anymore
  • Protesting NYU's Withholding of Degree over Gaza Protest
  • Islam: A New History
  • From Gaza to America and Vietnam, the Prospect of a Peacemaker Pope
  • 'Killing all Humanity': 2 Israeli Embassy Workers Killed in 'Horrific' Washington, DC Shooting

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved