Israel claims ships in Freedom Flotilla were carrying weapons

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has claimed that the ships which participated in the Freedom Flotilla were carrying weapons and that the Israeli soldiers who took part in the assault were confronted violently by the passengers. He said that Israel did all that was in its power to prevent the ships from reaching the shores of Gaza peacefully and that his government had offered to transport the cargo to Gaza by land if the ships would land it in Ashdod.

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In a press conference Ayalon said, “We were unable to allow the ships to reach the Gaza Strip because this step would have constituted a dangerous precedent followed by other attempts to deliver weapons to the Gaza Strip.”