ISTANBUL
The victims of Israel’s 2010 deadly attack on the Turkish Mavi Marmara flotilla, which was heading to the Gaza Strip, gave a gripping description on Wednesday of the ordeal in an Istanbul court on Wednesday.
In May 2014, the Istanbul’s 7th High Criminal Court ordered the arrest of four Israeli officials - Israel's former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former head of military intelligence Amos Yadlin and former air force intelligence chief Avishai Levy- who are being tried in absentia.
Malaysian activist Halim Redzuan, one of 19 witnesses called to testify, on Wednesday and Thursday, told the court that Israeli soldiers had tied him up after they boarded the ship: “I saw the shots were fired. Soldiers attacked from air and the sea.”
In May 2010, Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin in a raid on the Mavi Marmara, a ship that was part of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.” Another died in a Turkish hospital in 2014 after being in coma for almost four years.
The convoy was led and established by the Turkish aid agency IHH and was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was under an Israeli blockade at the time.
British national Osama Qashoo, another activist, said that he was on the second floor of the ship when the Israelis ships approached the Mavi Marmara. He said he used the light of his camera in order to grasp what was happening.
He added that he noticed the helicopter at that moment: “Gunshots noises were coming. Something dropped on my head; I didn’t understand what it was at the first place. Then I understood it was an Israeli soldier. He was crying aloud on the floor. I threw my camera when I saw he pointed his gun at me,” he said.
“My two Turkish friends stopped him from shooting me,” he added.
Qashoo also said that he tried to speak with the Israeli soldiers but was beaten. “The soldiers told me that they would attack with gas bombs and dogs in five minutes. I told them there were wounded and it was impossible for us to go out in five minutes. They decided to leave the wounded with doctors and nurses. Israeli soldiers were laughing while the wounded were suffering,” he added.
He claimed that he was later taken to a prison where he was beaten and not given any food. His belongings were never returned to him, he said.
Similar testimonies echoed through the day. Moroccan activist Abdassamed Fathi, who saw one of his friends shot in the eye, said: “I want those people to be punished.”
Algerian victim Hamid Zaatchi said that he believed such a raid had been planned: “If it was not planned, (they) would have tried to stop instead of attacking.”
- Head of Turkish NGO slams Israel’s sense of impunity
As the trial carried on, a sentiment of injustice was prevalent outside the courthouse.
“The most important shield of Israel (is) ‘we are never defeated, can never be tried, never criticized, no one can touch us,’” said Bulent Yildirim, the head of Istanbul-based-Humanitarian Relief Foundation or the IHH, which organized the humanitarian convoy for Gaza.
“They (Israel) bless their soldiers ‘You can do whatever you want, you can kill an innocent Palestinian child but no one can judge you,” Yildirim said outside of courthouse.
Istanbul’s public prosecutor’s office demanded that the suspected four Israeli officials be sentenced to prison term amounting to a total of 18,032 years.
The Turkish relief agency IHH had appealed on January against an International Criminal Court’s decision not to investigate the deadly Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara ship.
In November, the court announced it would not investigate the maritime incident between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces due to a lack of "sufficient gravity."
