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Baraka_Guru · 06-09-2010, 12:42 PM

More on the investigation here.

Some are taking the position that the proposed investigation is flawed. It looks like they won't be permitted to interrogate the soldiers involved in the incident, for example, and that the primary focus will be on the lead-up top-down decisions and tactics—factors/conditions that occurred before things turned bad.

Quote:

Experts mock Israeli inquiry into attack on flotilla
JASON KOUTSOUKIS HERALD CORRESPONDENT
June 9, 2010

JERUSALEM: Israeli legal experts have poured scorn on a proposed inquiry to examine the military raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week that resulted in the deaths of nine people.

After a marathon meeting of his inner cabinet on Monday that approved the inquiry's parameters, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was awaiting the agreement of the US President, Barack Obama, before making an official announcement.

Media reports said the panel would include several leading Israeli maritime law experts and two foreign observers, but would have no power to compel witnesses to appear, and its findings would have no legal effect. Nor would it be allowed to interrogate any of the soldiers or officers who took part in the commando raid.
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A leading Israeli jurist, Amnon Rubinstein, who is among those approached to be a part of the inquiry, denounced the decision not to appoint a formal commission of inquiry.

''There is coffee without caffeine and there is an investigative committee without an investigation,'' Professor Rubinstein said yesterday.

''When you don't investigate, it's not an investigative committee. I think that only a legal investigative committee, according to the law with full powers, the exact opposite of what the Defence Minister wants, can help Israel.''

Professor Yehezkel Dror, who was a member of the Winograd commission that investigated Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, said the proposed committee would not go far enough.

Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest-selling daily newspaper, the political analyst Boaz Okon branded the proposed inquiry a whitewash.

''An investigative committee without investigators - that is the recipe by means of which the government is trying to ensure the failure of the investigation into the flotilla events,'' he said.

''If the government wished to make a real investigation, it would form a state commission of inquiry or a government investigative committee that is headed by a judge.''

The details of the proposed inquiry came as the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, Gabi Ashkenazi, announced the appointment of the general who oversaw Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 to head an internal investigation of the legality of the assault on the aid flotilla. Major-General Giora Eiland has also been instructed to analyse what lessons can be learnt from the mission's failures. His investigations will be in addition to any government inquiry.

Israeli media reports yesterday suggested that if Mr Obama rejected the proposed government inquiry as not meeting international standards, the matter would go back to Mr Netanyahu's inner cabinet for further deliberation.

In Istanbul on Monday, the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told worshippers at a mosque that the ''Zionist regime's'' raid on the Gaza flotilla was ''a major step towards its total annihilation''.

In Turkey for a summit with regional leaders including the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, Mr Ahmadinejad said Israel was guilty of ''unmatched crimes'' over its raid on the flotilla.

Iran is also threatening to send its own aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip, although it appeared yesterday that Egypt would not allow the convoy to pass through the Suez Canal because it would be seen as a military provocation.

Speaking on Monday, the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continued to attack Israel over the raid.

''We believe that an independent inquiry to investigate this unlawful incident in a very transparent and fair manner has to be initiated as soon as possible,'' Mr Erdogan said.

Standing alongside Mr Erdogan at a news conference in Istanbul, the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, called for an end to the blockade of Gaza.

''If blood was shed for a certain objective we should make everything possible to achieve their objective [to break the blockade] and we should continue in our efforts on this path,'' Mr Assad said.

Experts mock Israeli inquiry into attack on flotilla

Quote:

Ya'alon: Probe needed of navy tactics
By YAAKOV KATZ AND HERB KEINON
06/09/2010 02:55

IDF panel of experts begins investigating 'Mavi Marmara' raid.

The naval operation to prevent a flotilla of international aid ships from breaking the Israel-imposed sea blockade on Gaza last week needs to be investigated on a tactical level, Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Tuesday, in the first sign of criticism of the operation by a top cabinet minister.

“The decision not to allow the flotilla to reach Gaza was the right decision,” Ya’alon said during a meeting with local council heads in the Knesset. “The soldiers’ decision to open fire was made in self-defense. The soldiers and commanders are deserving of praise and appreciation for their bravery – but in the same place that medals are given out, it is also necessary to investigate the military planning of the operation.”

The critical comments by Ya’alon were the first made by a senior cabinet minister regarding last week’s operation, which ended with nine dead passengers – all of them, according to the IDF, part of a group of well-trained mercenaries who violently attacked the navy commandos as they boarded the ship.

Ya’alon was acting prime minister at the time of the operation, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was in Canada for high-level diplomatic talks.

Kadima MK Yoel Hasson slammed Ya’alon and claimed that in his remarks, the deputy prime minister had implied that the operation had been flawed from the outset and had not gone through the correct decision-making process.

“There is no limit to Ya’alon and Netanyahu’s attempts to evade responsibility,” Hasson said.

Also Tuesday, a panel of military experts – set up by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi – began investigating the flotilla operation.

Headed by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, the former head of the National Security Council, the panel is expected to collect testimony from Ashkenazi, navy head V.-Adm. Eli Marom and other senior officers involved in planning the operation.

Meanwhile, the government still appeared to be waiting Tuesday to ensure that it would have the backing of the US and key players in Europe before making a formal announcement regarding the type of probe it would establish.

One diplomatic official said that Israel’s friends abroad, such as Germany and France, were entreating the government to “help us help you” – meaning they wanted Israel to set up an independent and credible body to investigate the events.

If Israel is able to get the US, as well as countries like France and Germany, to back the type of probe being set up, diplomatic officials said, it would be able to deflect calls – including those coming from Turkey – for an international investigation.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his inner cabinet, a forum known as the “septet,” have reportedly agreed on the establishment of an Israeli committee made up of jurists and diplomats who would probe the legality of the blockade on Gaza, as well as the manner in which Israel prevented the flotilla from reaching the territory.

The probe is expected to question the political echelon and senior military officials, but not the soldiers who took part in the raid. The committee is also expected to include two foreign observers – one from the US, and the other from another, as-yet-unnamed country.

Diplomatic officials said the US was keen on the involvement of another country, not wanting to be the only international representative on the committee.

Ya'alon: Probe needed of navy tactics