Israeli flotilla probe lacks credibility
By Max J. Castro
“Israel doesn’t seem to really want to probe Gaza flotilla raid.”
The quote doesn’t come from a jihadist source or a vicious anti-Semitic web site. It’s the headline of a June 30 column written by Ze’ev Segal published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
From the beginning, Israel has fiercely resisted an impartial investigation by an international commission as demanded by the overwhelming majority of the world’s nations. Even the United States, Israel’s virtually unconditional backer, has not ruled out support for an international investigation, although it has not demanded one either.
The vehemence of the Israeli government’s opposition to an international investigation suggests it has something to hide and that it fears that a fair inquiry would not reflect well on Israel. The last international inquiry of Israeli actions, a UN investigation of the Israeli attack on Gaza conducted by South African judge Richard Goldstone (a Jew and self-described Zionist) found serious violations of international human rights laws and international humanitarian law by Israel as well as by Hamas. The report is available at: (http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf)
The Israeli government refused to cooperate with the Goldstone investigation. Once the findings were released, Israel and its supporters waged a furious campaign to discredit the report. Goldstone himself was vilified; at one point there was an attempt, ultimately unsuccessful, to prevent him from attending his own grandson’s Bar Mitzvah.
This time, in order to preclude an international investigation, the Israeli government decided to run its own inquiry. The government appointed former Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel to head the commission of inquiry on the raid. The Turkel commission is composed entirely of Israelis; two foreigners, picked by Israel, serve as observers.
Evidently, the idea of Israel investigating itself lacks credibility internationally. But, even in Israel, the credibility of the investigation has come into serious question. The original mandate of the commission deprived it of subpoena powers, prohibited investigating the government’s planning of the incident, and precluded testimony from defense officials and the soldiers that participated in the deadly raid on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marvara.
As Haaretz reports: “Turkel quickly discovered that a panel with a limited mandate and no authority to subpoena witnesses, which is at the mercy of officials’ willingness to appear before it, cannot do its job properly.” The restrictions on the inquiry were so outrageous that Justice Turkel threatened to resign unless its powers were expanded. To prevent further embarrassment, the government partially expanded the commission’s mandate.
According to Haaretz: “Turkel’s demand for wider powers comes amid widespread media criticism that has painted the committee as being designed mainly to retroactively justify the blockade of Gaza, the use of force to maintain it and the bloodshed on board the Mavi Marmara when naval commandos were attacked by passengers wielding knives and iron bars.”
But the new mandate still lacks credibility. As Al Jazeera reports: “Israel has expanded the mandate of a commission investigating a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, enabling the panel to compel witnesses to appear and testify under oath.
“However, the decision by Israel’s cabinet on Sunday does not widen its remit to include examination of political leaders’ decision-making in ordering the May 31 raid in which nine Turkish activists were killed.”
Nor will the Turkel commission be allowed to question the Israeli soldiers directly involved in the raid. The Israeli government claims that the commandos acted in self-defense after activists on the Turkish ship attacked them. But forensic investigations carried out on the bodies by Turkish experts found that each of the deceased had sustained multiple wounds, including headshots on several of the victims.
The Israeli investigation, which under the best of circumstances can never attain international credibility given that Israel is investigating itself, seems designed to be just credible enough to give the United States an excuse for opposing an international investigation. In the words of Haaretz: “The prime minister should know that only a real, skillfully conducted and credible investigation lays the groundwork for the possibility that the Americans will refrain from supporting an international investigation.”
For too long, the United States has been virtually the sole enabler and defender of Israeli outrages, including the Lebanon wars, the attack on Gaza, and the ongoing dispossession and humiliation of the Palestinian people. This policy has been bad both for the United States and for Israel. It is time for the United States to offer Israel some tough love by demanding an international investigation of the flotilla raid, a permanent freeze on new settlements on Palestinian land, and good faith negotiations with the Palestinians leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the internationally recognized 1967 borders.
