According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson and those representing the Tsahal, the navy commandos which opened fire on the activists aboard the "freedom flotilla" on 31 May 2010 acted in self-defense, even though the victims did not have any firearms.

Their account of the events does not add up: witnesses have attested that the commandos started firing real bullets into the Greek and Turkish vessels, Sfentoni and Mavi Marmara respectively, before climbing on board. Moreover, Arab Israeli Knesset member, Hahine Zoghbi, spoke to them in Hebrew over a loudspeaker asking them to stop firing, the passengers being unarmed.

More significantly, their argument implies that the State of Israel considers it has the right to extend its sovereignty over the area where the "freedom flotilla" was ambushed by three missile patrol boats, meaning that their show of force is equivalent to a claim of annexation of Mediterranean waters off the Palestinian coast.