IDF's own report calls flotilla incident 'preventable'
An IDF report has called the May incident aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara 'preventable.' "Three months before the flotilla there were many courses of action which could have prevented it," said Eiland, head of a military commission charged with conducting an internal investigation of the Gaza-bound flotilla, which was boarded by Israeli commandos and left nine Turkish citizens dead.In other words, he's thrown the blame to the political echelon except for the Navy's failure to have a Plan B available.
Eiland suggested Israel "could have opened the Gaza crossings in advance, before the Turkish flotilla." The crossings were expanded to allow more aid to go through, but this was only done in the wake of international pressure after the flotilla.
The General also said Israel knew in advance about the changing political winds in Turkey and tightening ties with the IHH, the organization behind the flotilla. However, he thought this only strengthened Israel's resolve to continue with the predicted course of events, which led to the boarding of the Mavi Marmara, flagship of the flotilla.
The Eiland Commission's report concluded that a series of operational and intelligence mistakes led to the raid in late May aboard the Mavi Marmara.
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He slammed the navy for not preparing a "Plan B," instead choosing to board the flotilla despite heavy presence of activists on board.
Hindsight's always 20-20, isn't it?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:24 AM
2 Comments:
And the meshuggenehs in the IDF whose bright idea it was to put the marines in harm's way with paintball guns have still not been shown the door.
Yup, hindsight is always 20/20, indeed
I guess Eiland hasn't noticed that expanding the crossings and limiting prohibited items to military and dual use materials hasn't stopped the calls and plans for more flotillas.
I never thought I'd see the day when the IDF would publicly throw the government under the bus for a mission that went wrong for two reasons: a significant segment aboard set out to provoke a violent confrontation, and the IDF had no plan B even though they had to have known they were dropping their guys from helicopters into a violent mob.
It's disgraceful.
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