[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeUhwELoKWo]Passengers grabbed Israeli weapons to stop the killing

91177info — June 06, 2010 — After seeing passengers shot at close range they tried to grab the weapons to stop the killing. Kenneth Nichols O’Keefe was later beaten by the Israelis.

A US war veteran said yesterday he confronted Israeli commandos when they raided a Gaza-bound aid ship which he had boarded as a peace activist, Anatolia news agency reported.

Kenneth Nichols O’Keefe, his face bruised and still stained with blood, flew to Istanbul from Tel Aviv, on his way to Ireland, the report said.

“We overpowered three Israeli commandos. They looked at us… They thought we would kill them, but we let them go,” O’Keefe said, adding he took the weapon of one of the soldiers and emptied it, according to Anatolia.

The ex-marine said he saw five people being killed on board the Mavi Marmara.