Israel probe into Gaza flotilla raid starts
Israel’s Prime Minister and defence chief will be called to testify in an investigation into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, the leader of an Israeli commission of inquiry said in an opening statement on Monday.
An international observer on the commission said everyone involved was determined it would be rigorous. Turkey, angered by the killing by Israeli commandos of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists in a melee on a Gaza blockade-running vessel intercepted on May 31, has said the Israeli probe would be biased. Rejecting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s proposal for an international inquiry, Israel’s Cabinet set up the commission, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, two weeks ago. The panel includes two other Israelis — an international law expert and a former general — and two non-voting foreign observers: David Trimble, a Northern Ireland politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Canadian jurist Ken Watkin.
“The commission has decided to soon summon the Prime Minister, the defence minister and the Chief of Staff, along with other senior officials, as it deems fit,” Justice Turkel said in opening remarks before the session was closed to the media.
Mr Trimble said everyone on the panel was “determined the inquiry be rigorous and hope that it can, thereby, make a positive contribution to peace”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would be prepared to testify, along with defence minister Ehud Barak and Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel’s top general. Justice Turkel said the panel’s mandate calls for an examination of whether Israel’s naval blockade and the flotilla’s interception conformed with international law and also investigate the actions taken by the convoy’s organisers and participants.
Israel has said the naval blockade was necessary to prevent arms shipments from Iran to its Hamas Islamist rulers.
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