Second part of Turkel Commission report to be released on Wednesday
Some of you might recall the
Turkel Commission, whose
investigation of the Mavi Marmara incident brought
high marks from the 'international community.' I didn't realize - and maybe you didn't either. - that there's a second half to the Turkel report.
That half is to be released on Wednesday.
The second part of the report reflects an addition made to the
mandate on July 4, 2010, at a time when Israel was still facing intense
criticism over alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, which took place
in the Gaza Strip from December 2008 to January 2009.
The commission
heard testimony from a plethora of top officials in Israel’s legal system, as
well as from top human rights figures and academics.
Attorney-General
Yehuda Weinstein and Deputy State Attorney Shai Nitzan testified on behalf of
the Justice Ministry, stating that Israel vigorously investigates itself when
there are accusations of wrongdoing, including war crimes.
They added
that the unusually easy access to the High Court of Justice by any Israeli
citizen or Palestinian resident of the West Bank shows the “determination of the
Israeli legal system to maintain basic values and human rights even under
complex and sensitive circumstances from public and security
aspects.”
Yuval Diskin testified when he headed the Shin Bet (Israel
Security Agency), as did Maj.- Gen. (res.) Avichai Mandelblit when he was
military advocate- general, and Col. Haim Sasson, at the time commander of the
Military Police Investigations Unit.
Mandelblit spoke about the
difficulties – for Israel and any country – inherent in investigating alleged
crimes committed in the framework of combat where, without help from outside groups, the IDF often cannot locate
alleged victims.
He contrasted these difficulties with a standard
criminal investigation where the victim comes forward and provides authorities
with information to perform an investigation.
Diskin and Sasson testified
in closed-door hearings.
Top figures in the human rights community,
including Michael Sfard from Yesh Din, Dan Yakir from the Association for Civil
Rights in Israel, and Jessica Montell from B’Tselem, also testified, mostly
claiming fundamental shortcomings in Israel’s ability to investigate
itself.
If there is another country on this planet that investigates itself as vigorously as Israel, I have not seen it. And really, we have no choice but to investigate ourselves. Forget for a minute that there is no other western country that entrusts third countries to investigate allegations like these. To whom could Israel possibly entrust such an investigation? To the United Nations? To our 'European allies'? To the Obama administration? We'd be convicted before the investigation even starts!
Labels: Mavi Marmara, Turkel Commission, war crimes
The best defense is a good offense
Dani Magner argues that it's time that Israel acknowledge that its 'special relations' with Turkey are a thing of the past, and instead start
aggressively campaigning against Erdogan's blood libels.
Some argue that an Israeli apology to Turkey would bring an end to the conflict, yet this speculation is rendered baseless by examining Turkey’s recent conduct and its open rapprochement with Iran. Israel can only conclude that the Turkish conduct is a result of a strategic decision taken by Erdogan, meant to reinforce his status as a modern Muslim ruler at Israel’s expense.
In fact, an Israeli apology to Turkey would portray Erdogan as one who “humiliated” Israel and brought it down to its knees, when in practice the real victim would be apologizing to the aggressor. It is easy to understand that by doing so Israel will merely invite further attacks, as Erdogan will have plenty of excuses for provoking new crises and promoting anti-Israel incitement.
In the face of Turkey’s aggression, the Israeli reaction of habitual restraint and laconic responses is surprising. The impression formed is that Israel is scared to ruin the “special ties” with Turkey, when in practice these relations have only existed in our memory rather than in reality for quite a few years now.
...
Just like the well-known dictum suggests, the best way to defend against Turkey’s abuse is through offense, and the circumstances that enable such offensive have now emerged. Israel indeed lost the immediate PR battle over the flotilla incident and devoted many months to curbing the damage, yet the time has now come to take advantage of the “Turkel momentum” and initiate a counter attack on the PR and diplomatic front.
If only the Israeli government would listen....
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkel Commission, Turkey, Turkish obsession with Israel
On the deck of the 'peaceful' Mavi Marmara
This is what it was like on the deck of the 'peaceful' Mavi Marmara according to
Soldier Number 1's testimony to the Turkel Commission.
The report released by the Turkel Commission includes testimonies from the naval commandos who took part in the incident, some of whom were taken captive. “Upon landing on the middle deck, I fractured my arm, and a mob of dozens of people attacked me and basically lynched me.” So reads the testimony of the first soldier who fast-roped down from the helicopter onto the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara last May.
...
“(The assailants were) pulling off my helmet, strangling me, sticking fingers into my eyes to gouge them out of their sockets, pulling my limbs in every direction, striking me in an extremely harsh manner with clubs and metal rods, mostly on my head,” recalled soldier no. 1. “I truly felt that I was about to die, way beyond what we define as life-threatening.” “I felt that at any moment I would take a blow to the head which would kill me.”
Three soldiers testified to being abducted and taken into the ship’s interior. They were held for 40 minutes, during which they were beaten and denied medical attention.
Non-violent peace activists, anyone?
Labels: IHH, Mavi Marmara, Turkel Commission, Turkey
Priorities
But of course....
The Foreign Ministry's workers union said that Israeli diplomats will not help distribute the Turkel Committee findings among foreign nations, due to an ongoing labor dispute in the ministry.
However, the union noted that the strike will not impede the efforts of other Israeli elements to publish the findings in foreign countries.
If the bloggers can do the job of our 'diplomatic corps,' as well as the 'diplomatic corps,' what does that tell you?
Labels: blogosphere, foreign ministry strike, Mavi Marmara, Turkel Commission
Turkel Commission: Gaza blockade legal, Mavi Marmara raid justified
As had been anticipated, the Turkel Commission rendered its report on Sunday, and concluded that the Gaza blockade was legal and that the raid on the Mavi Marmara was
justified (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
According to the concluding remarks of the committee members and international observers, "The naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip – in view of the security circumstances and Israel's efforts to comply with its humanitarian obligations – was legal pursuant to the rules of international law. The actions carried out by Israel on May 31, 2010, to enforce the naval blockade had the regrettable consequences of the loss of human life and physical injuries. Nonetheless, and despite the limited number of uses of force for which we could not reach a conclusion, the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law."
...
The first report addressed the the question of whether or not the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel conformed with the rules of international law. This included an assessment of the actions taken by the IDF to enforce the naval blockade and of the actions taken by the organizers of the flotilla and its participants and their identity.
Regarding the legality of the operation itself, the commission reached the conclusion that the Israeli armed forces' interception and capture of the Gaza Flotilla vessels – including having the Shayetet 13 naval commandos board from the Morena speedboats and fast-rope from helicopter onto the roof of the vessels – was consistent with established international naval practice.
...
The commission concluded that on board the Mavi Marmara and the other flotilla vessels was a group of IHH and affiliated activists (the IHH activists) that violently opposed the Israelis boarding. The IHH activists who participated in that violence were civilians taking a direct part in hostilities.
"The force used against civilians on board the flotilla was governed by the principles of "necessity" and use of "proportionate force" associated with human rights based law enforcement norms. However, the IHH activists lost the protection of their civilian status for such time as they directly participated in the hostilities. The use of force against these direct participants in hostilities is governed by the applicable rules of international humanitarian law," the report said.
The commission explained that the IHH activists carried out the violence on board the Mavi Marmara by arming themselves with a wide array of weapons, including iron bars, axes, clubs, slingshots, knives, and metal objects.
"Overall, the IDF personnel acted professionally in the faces of extensive and unanticipated violence. This included continuing to switch back and forth between less-letha and lethal weapons in order to address the nature of the violence directed at them," the commission said.
And let me stop there because as I understand it, that's a misstatement of the law. When they forfeit their status as non-combatants, they can't shoot at the soldiers and then melt into a crowd of civilians and be protected once again as civilians. But that's precisely what these terrorists attempted to do.
Here's another key finding:
It also found that Israel's "effective control" of the Gaza Strip ended when the disengagement was completed.
That's something we've been arguing about for five and a half years.
As you might imagine,
the Turks were not pleased about this.
Turkey said on Sunday it was "appalled and dismayed" at the findings by an Israeli inquiry that cleared the Israeli government and military of wrongdoing in the raid on a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip.
Turkey also said its own panel's report into the May 31 incident, which it submitted to a UN inquiry in September, had found that Israel's blockade on the territory and "attack against the humanitarian aid convoy" had violated international laws.
And of course, Prime Minister
Erdogan got into the act.
Turkey’s prime minister is dismissing an Israeli inquiry’s findings defending the actions of Israeli troops in the deadly interception of a Turkish-led protest flotilla to Gaza last year.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Ankara on Sunday that the Israeli report had “no value or credibility.”
The Israeli inquiry found that the actions of troops who met violent resistance aboard one ship were legal under international law. Israeli troops killed nine of those on board.
But the IDF did come in for some criticism.
The commission faulted the military planners of the mission for not taking into account the possibility of serious violence, saying “the soldiers were placed in a situation they were not completely prepared for and had not anticipated.”
However, looking at 133 individual cases in which soldiers used force — 16 of them involving shooting to kill — the commission found soldiers had acted properly and that their lives had been in danger. The soldiers, the report said, “acted professionally in the face of extensive and unanticipated violence.”
Fifth columnist MK Haneen Zoabi, who was on the Mavi Marmara, also had
something to say.
MK Haneen Zuabi (Balad), who was onboard the Mavi Marmara aid ship to Gaza, offered a different conclusion, saying that the report only contains the official Israeli version of events.
"The report can not repair the image that Israel has as a country that continues to break international law," Zuabi said.
"The commission did not call upon the only citizen and witness that saw what happened because of suspicions that her testimony would harm the harmony of the report," she continued.
Last August, a video was released showing that Zuabi knew that IHH activsts aboard the Mavi Marmara were armed. The clip shows Zuabi standing side by side with IHH members armed with metal pipes while IDF soldiers attempt to take command of the ship's lower deck. She can later be heard arguing with IDF commanders in an attempt to prevent them from evacuating a seriously injured man.
She had previously stated that she had helped IDF forces evacuate the injured from the ship.
They didn't call on her because they knew she was a liar.
Bottom line: The report is unlikely to change anyone's opinion. The BBC, for example, immediately dismissed the report as a
whitewash. But maybe Israel can use it to rebut the forthcoming UN report on the incident.
Labels: Ehud Barak, Hanin Zoabi, IHH, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkel Commission
