Palmer Report accuses IHH of pre-meditated violence and Turkish government of working with IHH
First, sorry for the very spotty posting yesterday.
Anyway, the JPost is reporting that the Palmer Report on the Mavi Marmara incident is finally going to be released.
The Foreign Ministry is drawing up talking points and writing press releases in the run-up to Friday’s expected release of the Palmer Commission report on the Mavi Marmara incident.Something very strange is happening here. Why is Netanyahu trying to spare Erdogan and Turkey? Why are we requesting a postponement when it seems clear that the report is in our favor (and when you see what's in the report, you'll see that I have been right about that all along)? Look what's in the report....
The preparations follow Turkey’s rejection of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s proposal that publication of the report be postponed for another six months. Release of the report has been delayed repeatedly since May 15, when it was first scheduled to be published.
According to Israeli officials, the Turks – in addition to demanding an apology for the incident and compensation for the families of the nine Turks killed on the ship – are also interested in seeing the report buried because it upholds Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and places Ankara in a negative light.
What Netanyahu hoped to do by postponing publication of the report, the officials said, was to give the Turks what they wanted regarding burying the report, as well as to postpone the apology issue.
According to Israeli officials, the 102-page report comes to the following conclusions:Now, it's been alleged that the reason Israel is worried about this report is the last finding - that the IDF soldiers used excessive force. But if that's the case, why is this happening?
• Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza was legal, as was the interception of vessels trying to break the blockade.
• The IHH activists behind the flotilla were looking for a violent provocation.
• Turkey had a role with the IHH in the flotilla setting sail.
• The IDF soldiers defended themselves after coming up against premeditated violence by those on the ship.
• The IDF soldiers used excessive force.
Meanwhile, a Kuwait-based English website, Arab Times, cited on Tuesday the country’s Al-Dar daily as reporting that the Kuwaiti Justice Ministry will “shelve the case which has been filed by MP Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and others against the Israeli government for humiliating and assaulting them while they were aboard the Turkish flotilla.”So why has our government been putting off this report's release? It seems overwhelmingly in our favor. It's shocking that a UN commission reached these conclusions!
According to the report, “The ministry was preparing to file a lawsuit in international courts, but was advised by lawyers not to go ahead with the suit because Israel could win the case and Kuwait would end up paying billions of dollars in compensation because the ship had violated international law by entering the Israeli territorial waters without permission.”
The only explanation I can think of for the Netanyahu government's behavior regarding this report is pressure from the Obama administration.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Gaza blockade, Mavi Marmara, Palmer Commission
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:56 AM
4 Comments:
The report will be released on Friday. Apparently, reports that Netanyahu asked for a six postponement turned out to be incorrect. He must have been under enormous pressure from the Obama Administration and the Turks to make sure the Palmer Report would never see the light of day.
Now it looks like it will finally happen! In the end, justice does get served in this world. And Israel didn't need to apologize to Erdogan or offer compensation to get the truth heard.
One thing you haven't brought up is NATO. While Turkey has never been made a full member of the EU, they are a full member of NATO. So if the report shows that Turkey participated in an illegal attack on Israel, then I would bet the lawyers are looking at NATO as also being implicated, if not actively, then by negligence. (Not to mention the liability of the EU - didn't some EU bureaucrats go on that flotilla? I think I saw them interviewed on youtube.)
Your Israeli govt's practice seems to be to bottom line protect the country (although the rockets have proven problematic), while maintaining a commercial space for achievement. Lots of Israelis like working with the Euros, and so I give lots of leeway to your govt people in how they do all this. I have zero concern that Netanyahu is wobbly as an advocate for Israel. I think he's been amazing (for decades).
Let's hope it will contain the nail in the coffin for the Obama regime and make sure they never seize the reins of power again.
JitD - Don't forget that Obama's associates Bill Ayers, Bernadine Doehrn, Code Pink, etc. etc. were involved in this and the attempted second attack (bless those Greeks enforcing their maritime seaworthiness directives!). Hopefully, some of the lawyers who worked on the Greek laws will work on the U.S. laws to try to shut down Obama's deatheating friends. The Logan Act? Or is that just for govt people? If it's for all Americans, then these Bill Ayers, etc. people could be brought up on charges of attempting to start a war. And if not, then that means Obama approved the attacks? We need to get this info out ASAP, before Nov '12.
Really, this Palmer Report is huge. It puts in legalese everything Carl and the rest of us have been saying here on Israel Matzav since BEFORE the first flotilla even set sail!
BTW, has anyone done any profiles on how the IDF guys who got their skulls cracked are doing? TBI recovery (a big field, if your Israeli scientists are developing new approaches)? Another law suit for Obama's friends, etc.
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