It's no secret that I greet all information coming from the IDF skeptically. I expect bullshit, but I expect cleverly crafted, quasi-credible bullshit. So when I heard this 26-second audio clip from the flotilla encounter two days ago, I felt sure it was a scam -- a hoax by some nasty leftist agitators seeking to embarrass the Israeli military.

But no, there it was, reported straight-faced, on Drudge, on ynet, in the Jerusalem Post, in Yediot Ahronoth, even in much-respected Haaretz. Today, after the rest of the world stopped laughing, the IDF tried to restore its credibility:

http://idfspokesperson.com/2010/06/05/clarificationcorrection-regarding-audio-transmission-between-israeli-navy-and-flotilla-on-31-may-2010-posted-on-5-june-2010/

Listen to version 1, then to the "unedited" version, and see if it sounds more authentic the second time around. It's a Rorschach test; if you hear people having sex, get help. Like I said, make up your own mind. I'll just point out a couple of things:

1. The still photo that accompanies the edited version is actually from an entirely different audio contact with a ship in the flotilla, released days earlier by the IDF.

2. Supposedly, the initial version released by the IDF merely removed long silences or unintelligible transmissions. But listen closely to the section before the reply, "Shut up, go back to Auschwitz." The IDF guy says, "This is the Israeli Navy." Now listen to how the "unedited" version begins: "This is Israeli Navy ..." He says it twice, before getting the "Shut up" reply. There's a word in the edited version that isn't in the unedited version. Puzzling.

3. This recording was supposedly made on May 30 or 31, but only made public on July 4. So the IDF had absolute proof of what anti-Semites and anti-Americans the activists were -- and sat on it for four days? Really? No compunction about shooting them in the head, but reluctant to smear their reputations? Or did the fact that international revulsion was not ebbing stir someone's creative juices?

4. I'm no audio expert, but I'm struck by the clarity of the offensive remarks, compared with the fuzzy near-unintelligibility of most of the recorded transmissions.

5. When initially posted online, ynet referred to the 26-second clip as an audio "reconstruction" of the flotilla's final minutes. Is that like the crime re-enactments you see on America's Most Wanted? The clip is being used to depict all 600 or so activists as jihadis bent on repeating a) the Holocaust, b) 9-11. That's its intent, and to an amazing extent, it's working.

FYI, the second voice replying to the Navy broadcast, who says, "We have permission to land ..." is an actual Free Gaza official. The other replies? The Navy now says it can't tell where they came from. Except, of course, that they must have come from the flotilla.

I apologize to dagbloggers for continuing to beat this horse. I wasn't quite sure he was dead, and I'd run out of bullets. I'll stop now. Peace.