Israel’s Cabinet granted wider powers yesterday to 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 did not constitute a broadening of the inquiry’s mandate to include an examination of Israeli political leaders’ decision-making in ordering the May 31 interception in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed.
A government statement said the Cabinet granted the five-man panel led by former Supreme Court judge Yaakov Tirkel subpoena powers and that witnesses would be sworn in, effectively exposing them to perjury charges for any false testimony.
Tirkel had asked the government for those specific powers and has said he would summon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and military chief, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi to appear.
Netanyahu has said he, Barak and Ashkenazi would testify. Other military personnel are not due to appear before the panel but will be questioned in a separate military investigation.
Amid an international outcry over the raid, Israel had rejected a proposal by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for an international inquiry, but appointed two foreign observers — David Trimble, a Northern Ireland politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Canadian jurist Ken Watkin — to the panel.
Tirkel has said the commission’s mandate calls for an examination of whether Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the flotilla’s interception conformed with international law.
It also will investigate the actions of the convoy’s organizers and participants.
Due to the limited scope of the inquiry, it is seen as unlikely to pose any political threat to Netanyahu’s government.
The flotilla incident has soured Israel’s strategic ties with Turkey, an important Islamic ally, which recalled its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises.
Israel has said its commandos were enforcing a blockade necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that they opened fire when activists with knives and clubs assaulted a boarding party.
In response to Western criticism, including the US, Israel has since eased a land blockade of Gaza where 1.5 million Palestinians live, allowing most civilian goods through, while continuing to enforce the naval embargo of the coastal territory.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS