Israel censors news on deadly flotilla raid

Attempts by media to interview some of the hundreds of Free Gaza (FG) members, who were being deported from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, Wednesday, were thwarted by Israeli authorities. "No you will not be able to talk to them or interview them," Shahar Ariel, a deputy-spokesman from Israel's ministry of foreign affairs told IPS as TV crews and journalists jammed one of the airport's sidewalks and filmed the dramatic departure. Foreign media, and some Israeli journalists, have accused Israeli authorities of censoring news and interfering with journalists trying to interview the FG activists who were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip when they were attacked by Israeli commandos. Israeli journalists from the left-leaning daily 'Haaretz' have complained of extreme difficulty in contacting the top brass in political and military echelons willing to give interviews and comment on the debacle.