Israel’s plan for flotilla inquiry gets nod from U.S.
by yitzhak benhorin, ynetnews.com
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The committee is headed by former Israeli Supreme Court Judge Jacob Turkel.
In applauding the action, the White House said, “Israel has a military justice system that meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation, and the structure and terms of reference of Israel’s proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation. But we will not prejudge the process or its outcome, and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions.”
Turkey, however, was quick to rule that the Turkel committee would be “completely unable to hold an impartial investigation.”
Ankara reiterated its demand for a U.N.-led probe, to which State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, “Turkey, as any sovereign country, has a right to conduct its own investigation. I’m not aware that Turkey has reached its own judgment on how to proceed.”
The U.N. expressed unhappiness that Israel is handling its own probe.
“The Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon] takes note of the Israeli announcement on their inquiry,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq was quoted as saying by Reuters. Haq added, though, that Ban’s “proposal for an international inquiry remains on the table and he hopes for a positive Israeli response.”
In addition to Turkel, the panel includes two Israelis and two foreign observers. The Israelis are Israel Prize laureate and international law expert Shabtai Rosen and Brigadier General (Res.) Amos Horev. The observers are Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lord William David Trimble and former Canadian judge advocate general Ken Watkin.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was convinced the committee would find that Israel’s actions were “beyond reproach.”
He said the independent public commission “will make it clear to the entire world that the State of Israel acts according to the law, transparently, and with full responsibility.”
“I am convinced that the commission’s uncovering of the facts will prove that the goals and actions of the State of Israel and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] were appropriate defensive actions in accordance with the highest international standards,” Netanyahu added.
However, an editorial in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz was critical. “A committee whose makeup and authority are perceived as predetermined will be unable to satisfy international leaders,” Ha’aretz wrote, adding, “Unfortunately, neither the committee’s membership nor its authority is suited to meet the challenges posed by the affair.”
The commission will set its own schedule and protocol, and will determine whether its meetings will be open or closed, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is working with its partners in the region to ensure that humanitarian aid be allowed into the Hamas-ruled territory.
“We are continuing to work with Israel, Egypt and others to try to figure out how to expand the amount of assistance to the people of Gaza ... There are better ways to do so than through Iran. It remains a very legitimate concern that Israel has,” Crowley said. “They have, in fact, in the past, intercepted ships that were carrying weapons and armaments that have been used to threaten the Israeli people.”
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06/19/2010 at 07:21 PM
First, “an editorial in ... Haaretz was critical” is a redundancy.
Also what exactly does “predetermined” mean in the sentence above? The membership on the committee was predetermined? That is true of all committees is it not?
Or that the outcome of its investigation is predetermined? The reason for having a committee selected by Israel rather than by the anti-Israel lynch mob at the UN is precisely to avoid the outcome of the investigation being predetermined.
As to whether “international leaders” will be satisfied, everyone in Israel except the editors of Haaretz knows pretty well how fair-minded and honest “international leaders” are in questions involving Israel.
“International leaders” would include the General Assembly of the UN which votes all but unanimous condemnations of Israel almost daily, the Arab League, EU countries like Britain and Belgium where Israeli leaders are subject to arrest for “war crimes” for defending their country, Russia, a country not notably friendly to Jews or Jewish causes in its history, and other with equally impressive credentials for fairness and impartiality to Jews and to Israel.
And there is also the notion, which Haaretz seems to have forgotten about, that Israel is an independent sovereign nation. Its government is answerable not to “world leaders”, whatever that means to Haaretz, but to the Israeli people.
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