NYT reporter Brian Stelter hits the nail on the head:
The flotilla videos have proved a popular draw online, with one from the Israel Defense Forces attracting more than 600,000 views on YouTube. Scenes from both perspectives have been shown in a continuous loop on television news programs all over the world, stirring public outrage.
But what is missing so far from the flotilla clips on both sides is context: it is difficult to establish the sequence of events or, more simply, to determine who attacked first. The videos have made it all the more murky.
[...]
Supplementing the war of images by the two sides, journalists filed reports from the Mavi Marmara. In one live television report that circulated widely on YouTube, a reporter for Al Jazeera English, the English-language arm of the Arabic-language news network, was shown stating that the vessel was “raising a white flag to the Israeli Army” amid the attack, but despite that, “the Israeli Army is still shooting, still firing live munitions.”
Shooting could be heard in the background, but again context was lacking. Al Jazeera’s account was cited by bloggers as evidence that the Israelis had attacked without provocation, but that assertion was not borne out by the video.
The flotilla videos have proved a popular draw online, with one from the Israel Defense Forces attracting more than 600,000 views on YouTube. Scenes from both perspectives have been shown in a continuous loop on television news programs all over the world, stirring public outrage.
But what is missing so far from the flotilla clips on both sides is context: it is difficult to establish the sequence of events or, more simply, to determine who attacked first. The videos have made it all the more murky.
[...]
Supplementing the war of images by the two sides, journalists filed reports from the Mavi Marmara. In one live television report that circulated widely on YouTube, a reporter for Al Jazeera English, the English-language arm of the Arabic-language news network, was shown stating that the vessel was “raising a white flag to the Israeli Army” amid the attack, but despite that, “the Israeli Army is still shooting, still firing live munitions.”
Shooting could be heard in the background, but again context was lacking. Al Jazeera’s account was cited by bloggers as evidence that the Israelis had attacked without provocation, but that assertion was not borne out by the video.
