The dark days of the Middle Ages "are raging” against Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Likud party Knesset Members Monday. Speaking at a party caucus meeting, the Prime Minister words were a warning of further anti-Zionist slands in wake of the flotilla attack.
The flood of hate is being led by Israel's enemies all over the world," Netanyahu added. "They are trying to…revoke Israel's right to defend itself as well as the rights of IDF soldiers to protect their own lives. The government decision will make it clear to the world that Israel is acting legally, responsibly, and with complete transparency.”
Israel’s announcement of a probe of the May 31 clash with Turkish terror activists already has been met with catcalls by anti-Israeli elements and total rejection by Turkey, whose role in the clash will be part of the investigation.
“We have no trust at all that Israel, a country that has carried out such an attack on a civilian convoy in international waters, will conduct an impartial investigation,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “To have a defendant acting simultaneously as both prosecutor and judge is not compatible with any principle of law.”
The inquiry panel will be headed by retired High Court Judge Yaakov Turkel, who also chairs the Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial Center’s committee that decides which non-Jews receive the award for Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Nazi regime.
The inquiry panel is unprecedented by its inclusion of two foreigners as observors, but the government made it clear they will not have authority to question IDF officers or demand any information that would endanger national security.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he welcomed an investigation but complained that the Israeli probe does not meet the demands of a United Nations Security Council resolution. The Council condemned Israel for the deaths of nine Turks even after Israel produced evidence that they assaulted the Navy soldiers trying to stop the ship from reaching Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Israeli Cabinet ministers admitted Monday afternoon that the government had no choice but to set up an inquiry committee, but the Prime Minister warned Israel to “prepare for difficult days” in which even Israel’s allies may express non-supportive statements that could ”surprise” Israel.
“There is a certain price we are paying, but under the present circumstances it is our best move," Prime Minister Netanyahu said at the Likud meeting.
