Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel acted in line with international law in a raid on Gaza-bound aid ships that killed nine Turks, in testimony yesterday before an Israeli panel.
Netanyahu also accused Ankara of looking to gain from a high-profile confrontation between Turkish activists aboard the lead ship and the soldiers who seized the vessels in international waters.
“I am convinced that at the end of your investigation, it will become clear that the state of Israel and the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] acted in accordance with international law,” Netanyahu told members of the Tirkel Commission.
Netanyahu looked at ease as he entered the room, smiling at the hordes of journalists and a few members of the public waiting to hear his sworn testimony.
Sitting in a chair facing the five-member panel and the two international observers, Netanyahu opened his testimony with an explanation of Israel’s policy towards Hamas, and of the rationale behind the naval blockade.
He said the naval blockade was crucial to Israel’s security as it stops vessels from delivering weapons for Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza and is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state.
Netanyahu said Israel exerted every diplomatic effort to have the ships turn back or dock elsewhere.
“Beginning on May 14, my office held contacts with the highest levels of the Turkish government,” Netanyahu said.
“These contacts ... were intended to prevent a confrontation with the Marmara flotilla, and they continued until the eve of the flotilla’s arrival off Gaza’s shores,” he said.
“Despite our continuous diplomatic efforts, ultimately the Turkish government did not prevent the attempt by the Marmara to violate the naval blockade ... It appears that [Turkey] did not see in the prospect of a clash between Turkish activists and Israel something that clashed with its interests,” he said.
Even so, Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to make “a supreme effort ... to avoid harming anyone.”
He also reiterated Israel’s long-held assertion that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, just the perception of one.
“There is no starvation in Gaza,” he said, complaining about groups that “undermined the blockade through false claims of a humanitarian crisis.”
Netanyahu evaded several questions, including whether Israel had considered alternatives to military action, saying he would respond during the closed-door session that followed the 90 minutes of public testimony.
Netanyahu was the first of three top officials to give sworn testimony about the May 31 assault on the fleet of boats trying to run the blockade on Gaza.
The bloody raid caused a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey and sparked global calls for an inquiry — prompting Netanyahu’s government to set up the Tirkel Commission to look into the legality of the operation.
Israel says its commandos resorted to force only after they were attacked when they rappeled onto the deck of the Marmara.
However, activists have claimed troops opened fire as soon as they landed.
The committee is only mandated to examine the international legality of the naval blockade and of the actions taken to enforce it.
Panel members are not authorized to probe the decision-making process which led up to the operation, nor do they have the authority to question troops involved.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will take the stand today, followed by armed forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi tomorrow.
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