Radio messages sent from the Turkish Gaza flotilla to the Navy contained chilling anti-Semitic abuse, the IDF revealed on Friday when it released audio recordings of communications with the vessels.
"You are approaching an area which is under a naval blockade," a Navy
radio operator said in a message broadcast to six ships taking part in
the flotilla as they sailed on the Mediterranean Sea towards Gaza.
RELATED
Vicious conflict aboard 'Mavi Marmara'
What is the IHH?
"Shut up. Go back to Auschwitz," a male voice said in reply. The message
was broadcast to the Navy from one of the flotilla ships, the IDF
confirmed on Saturday.
"We're helping the Arabs go against the US, don't forget 9/11 guys", a
man said later on during the radio exchange.
The IDF Spokesman's Unit, which made the recording available on its
official website, said the transmisisons were originally thought to have
originated from the large
Mavi
Marmara ship, but could have also come from one of the
accompanying vessels in the flotilla.
"The Israeli Navy ship attempts to make contact with the ‘Defne Y’[one
of the vessels in the flotilla] on channel 1-6. Other ships from the
flotilla respond on the channel, without identifying themselves," the
IDF said on Saturday.
IHH
head praised martyrdom in Gaza
Meanwhile, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has released
footage of statements made by Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish
radical Islamist IHH organization, which organized last week's
flotilla.
Yildirim, who delivered a fiery speech in Gaza in February 2009 filled
with references to “martyrdom,” addressed his listeners as the “people
of paradise.”
"Raise your fists to the skies and repeat after me: What can the
enemy
do to me? I carry paradise in my heart... If they kill me – that is
martyrdom for the sake of Allah. Allah Akbar,” he said.
"Last night, everything in the world has changed, and everything is
progressing towards Islam,” Yildirim added
“Anyone who does not stand alongside Palestine – his throne will be
toppled," he continued.
"All the peoples of the Islamic world would want a leader like [Turkish
prime minister] Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Yildirim declared during the
speech.
Last week, another video taken from the Marmara ship was released by the
IDF Spokesman's Unit, in which a passenger was heard passionately
discussing his desire to “be martyred.”
"When I went on the first convoy, I wanted to be a shahid (martyr), the
man says in the video. “I wasn't that lucky. “Second time, I wanted to
be a shahid. Didn't work. Third time lucky, with the help of God, I will
be a shahid.”