The Israel Navy on Friday afternoon intercepted two boats that approached the coast of the Gazoo Strip with the intent to violate Israel's naval blockade of the territory.After the boats failed to heed calls to turn around or dock in Egypt or Israel, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz ordered naval forces to board the ships. Nobody was injured during the boarding of the ships, a military source said.
On Thursday, the B.O. regime warned U.S. citizens on the boats that they may face legal action for violating Israeli and American law. The activists include Americans and citizens of eight other countries.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was renewing its warning to Americans "not to involve themselves in this activity."
The U.S., like Israel and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, considers Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, a terrorist organization.
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US state department spokeswomen Victoria Nuland said the US had sought clarification of reports Turkish warships might be accompanying the flotilla and were told "quite emphatically" by Istanbul this was not the case.
"We've been clear to them that we think that would be an extremely bad idea and they've now reassured us that that is not what they are doing in this case," she said.
Turkey, whose prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to send a naval escort for Turkish vessels headed to Gazoo, has stressed that the vessels are not flying the Turkish flag, and have no Turkish captains or passengers.
Erdogan's threat came after the release of the UN Palmer Report on the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, during which 9 Turkish 'activists' who tried to lynch Israeli commandoes who boarded the vessel in accordance with international maritime law, were killed.
Turkey was incensed by the report, which concluded Israel's blockade of Gazoo was "legal and appropriate."