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DEALING WITH THE FLOTILLA INCIDENT

The news of the deaths of 10 participants in the Gaza Flotilla will naturally bring up many questions.

The death of any noncombatant should be considered regrettable and the Israel Defense Forces, which have taken many steps in the past to avoid the loss of innocent human life will naturally have to answer many questions about what happened.

However, as we also know, things are rarely as they seem when dealing with Hamas and Gaza.

Here are some facts that will have to be addressed:

* Israel offered to bring the supplies to Ashdod, inspect them for military contraband and pay to transport them to Gaza. The flotilla organizers refused.
* Out of 6 ships and 1200 participants, only one ship, the Mavi Mamara, offered up violent resistance and suffered casualties. The others were boarded peacefully and redirected to Ashdod without resistance.
* The flotilla organizers have claimed "self defense" as the reason for resistance, yet even their own video shows the initial violence coming from the participants not the soldiers, and it does not explain why no other boat had the same violence or why weapons were found on the ship.
* More than 70 persons on the resisting boat have refused to identify themselves or provide passports.
* Hamas continues to arm with rockets and refuses to renounce violence or recognize peace agreements with Israel.

There have been stories that the entry on the boat was violent, but videos show that the violence seems to come from the flotilla participants as well, who were armed with knives, slingshots and metal rods, attacking the IDF the moment they boarded.

There will likely be investigations, but in the meanwhile, we wanted to provide you with some video to give some perspective.

PBS INTERVIEW WITH ISRAELI AMBASSADOR MICHAEL OREN