This clip depicts protestors hitting out at the armed Israeli commandos who are dropping onto the deck of the Mavi Marmara. The activists' actions are either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid, but we must also consider that they are being boarded in the middle of the night, by heavily armed men, in international waters, and their communications have been totally cut off by Israeli military jamming equipment. So, they are essentially alone, because even with the international media hyping this story long before the flotilla set sail, no government had the political will to send their navy to physically guide the flotilla into Gaza, and the United Nations has shown equal levels of cowardice on this subject. The IDF of course also have a reputation for being incredibly inhumane with opposing voices when they capture them, so this could have also added to the passion of the defence by the activists.
Original text uploaded to YouTube with video, by the IDF:
Video taken by IDF naval boat shows the passengers of the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the 'Free Gaza' Flotilla, violently attacking IDF soldiers who were trying to board the ship after having sent repeated requests for the boat to change course. Large groups of passengers surrounded soldiers and beat them with metal poles and chairs, and threw one soldier over the side of the ship. Some passengers grabbed pistols from the IDF soldiers and opened fire. As a result of the attacks, seven IDF soldiers were injured, and nine of the passengers were killed. The 'Free Gaza' Flotilla had publicly insisted on their non-violent intentions, however their violent attack on the IDF soldiers was clearly premeditated. They had knives, metal rods, firebombs and other items ready to use.
NOTE* No inclusion of dozens of injuries to activists, therefore, does the IDF equate an Israeli injury, to an activist death? IDF held all activists, so had access to the list of injured.