Israeli military sources say the commandos had control of the top deck of the Mavi Marmara within 3 minutes of the first landing, once they got the okay to use live fire. A second team had been dropped by helicopter and more soldiers were coming aboard on the deck below from the Zodiacs. They began handcuffing passengers. But when they assessed the situation, they could see they were still far from their objective---to stop the ship and search it. The first problem was that three commandos were missing and presumed captured by the mob. If that wasn't bad enough, their pistols were missing with them. Ken O'Keefe, former Marine who renounced his U.S. citizenship :" ... on the morning of the attack I was directly involved in the disarming of two Israeli Commandos. This was a forcible, non-negotiable, separation of weapons from commandos who had already murdered two brothers that I had seen that day. One brother with a bullet entering dead center in his forehead, ...
The origin of the Usher of the Black Rod goes back to early fourteenth century England . Today, with no royal duties to perform, the Usher knocks on the doors of the House of Commons with the Black Rod at the start of Parliament to summon the members. The rod is a symbol for the authority of debate in the upper house. We of The Black Rod adopted the symbol to knock some sense and the right questions into the heads of Legislators, pundits, and other opinion makers.