This is the latest and "greatest" Israeli version of events. It has been on the Hebrew site at YNet for hours. Funny, the English version makes it more clear that the captain is referring to all of the hundreds on board when he says "each one with a knife in his hand."
How does he know this?"
‘I cocked my weapon when I saw that one was coming towards me with a knife drawn and I fired once. Then another 20 people came at me from all directions and threw me down to the deck below’
In the first interview since he was wounded in Monday’s raid on the flotilla, Captain R, who commanded the troops who boarded the Marmara via helicopter, spoke of the battle that took place on vessel.
According to R, hundreds of people who were on the boat took part in attacking him and his soldiers and they were forced to use weapons because of danger to their lives.
It has to be complete BS, but Israel is good at selling BS. By the way, it’s playing well with the Hebrew Ynet readers (from the comments.)
The commander R praises the mission and even gives the old "purity of arms" gloss: "R said that some 75% of the people in [sic] the vessel resisted violently, ‘each one with a knife in his hand.’"
Update: Washington Post is saying the same stuff!!! Its editorial:
THE ISRAELI commandos who landed on the deck of the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara off the coast of the Gaza Strip early Monday were totally unprepared for what they encountered: dozens of militants who swarmed around them with knives and iron bars.
