Israeli commandos like 'hyenas hunting an animal in the night'

Tim Blair notes the very iffy reporting on the Israeli "attack" on the Gaza "fauxtilla". The sensationalist anti-Israel slant is there for all to see, at least for those who can be bothered thinking about what they're reading. The Sydney Morning Herald ran the follwoing banner, for example: I was 'Tasered' by Israelis, says Herald photographer, offering the following as proof:

Geraghty spoke to the Herald last night. She said the Israeli attack was ''pretty full on''. ''Three of the soldiers on the deck were Australian-Israelis, I couldn't believe it.''

She said she had been ''Tasered'' by the Israelis. ''It hurt and it made me feel sick.''

Geraghty told consular officials she was on the Challenger One when it was intercepted. She suffered bruises, minor burns and nausea.

Challenger One's first mate, Shane Dillon, saw Geraghty being attacked and Israeli forces ripping equipment from McGeough. ''She was just doing her journalistic duties … She advised them she was a bona fide photographer … She was just attacked,'' Mr Dillon told the Herald from Dublin.

The Age reports the scene a bit differently:

Earlier, Geraghty told Australian consular officials that she was on the Challenger One when it was intercepted and was hit in the upper arm with an unidentified weapon, which she believed was a stun gun.

She sustained bruises, minor burns and nausea, but reported that she had been seen by a doctor after being taken to Israel and was otherwise in good health.

Her account was backed by the first mate on the vessel, Irishman Shane Dillon, who told The Age from Dublin that ''she got a blast across the arm'' when the Israelis approached her.

''She was just doing her journalistic duties … She advised them she was a bona fide photographer … She was just attacked,'' he said.

So Geraghty doesn't know for certain what happened. Fairfax colleague Paul McGeough likens Israeli commandos to grotesque seagoing predatory mammals:

The Sydney Morning Herald's chief correspondent Paul McGeough told of being aboard one of the Gaza aid flotilla vessels and seeing shadows of the Israeli navy's Zodiac boats circling.

He said it felt like "hyenas hunting an animal in the night".

Why hyenas and not lions? Because hyenas are repugnant predators, of course.