ABC Foreign Correspondent - Collision Course (Gaza) (2010)

Collision Course

Broadcast: 08/09/2010

Reporter: Jane Corbin (BBC Panorama)


“Mavi Marmara you are approaching an area of hostility! If you ignore this order and attempt to enter the blockaded area the Israeli Navy will be forced to take all necessary measures to enforce this blockade!”

So begins the a tense stand-off 150 kilometres off the coast of Gaza and in the dark hours that followed nine of the ship’s passengers died and many more – including seven Israeli commandos – were injured.

The appalling, bloody and ultimately deadly events in late-May this year this year onboard the Mavi Marmara remain clouded in claim and counter-claim.

The ship’s mission – according to the organisers – was to lead a flotilla sailing a course to and through Israel’s blockade of Gaza, delivering much needed aid but as the erstwhile Turkish cruise-liner bore down on the coast it predictably encountered a naval patrol unwilling to yield passage to the activists.

So what happened next and why did so much seemingly go so wrong?

Collision Course is the most detailed and revealing investigation of the ill fated voyage so far assembled. It sheds a great deal more light on this murky incident. From the BBC’s highly regarded Panorama team, the program features never-before-seen video from on-board the Mavi Marmara, goes inside Israel’s hitherto covert navy teams and hears accounts - never before heard - from those on-board the Mavi Marmara as well as from key Israeli commandos who stormed the vessel.

We learn a great deal more about IHH - the Turkish humanitarian group that organised the voyage - and a lot more about Israel’s preparedness and intelligence.

Were the leaders aboard the Mavi Marmara itching for a showdown as the Israeli’s claim or were they simply defending themselves and their vessel from what Turkey described as an act of piracy?

Collision Course is an important investigative contribution to our understanding of a black moment in recent history.

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