Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., insisted on CNN this morning that Israeli forces did not fire first during a deadly raid of a flotilla of aid ships — and said Israeli soldiers only used force when they were “beaten and fired upon and stabbed.”
Oren said the “so-called protesters” on the aid ships used iron bars, knives and guns to attack Israeli soldiers — and that Israel had to stop the ships and “maintain this blockade in order to prevent Hamas from acquiring weaponry, not food and medicine.”
But did the Israeli military fire first in the deadly raid?
“No, it did not,” Oren said. “If it fired first, it was paintballs.”
Oren said five of the six ships were towed to port without any incident or use of force. It was only on the sixth ship that violence erupted, he said.
“The force was used only when our soldiers were beaten and fired upon and stabbed,” Oren said.
“They did not fire first.”
It was “purely self defense,” Oren said. “And I say that without the least bit of reservation.”
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