JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – An Israeli inquiry cleared the government and military yesterday of wrongdoing in the bloody seizure of a Turkish aid ship that tried to breach the Gaza blockade, saying passengers were to blame for the violence.
The Turkel Commission, whose report will form the core of Israel’s submission to a U.N. investigation into the May 31 incident, endorsed the sea closure but called for reviews by Israel of how to direct its sanctions at Gaza’s Hamas rulers and spare its civilians.
“By clearly resisting capture, the Mavi Marmara had become a military objective,” the commission said in a 245-page report, referring to the converted cruise ship which Israeli marines boarded on the high seas after it ignored orders to turn away.
Nine Turks were shot dead in the clash. The commission accused the IHH, a Turkish Islamist charity that owned the Mavi Marmara, “of planned and extremely violent” resistance which was “directly connected to the ongoing international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas”.
Turkey said on Sunday it was “appalled and dismayed” at the commission’s findings.
It said its own panel’s report on the incident, which it submitted to the U.N. inquiry in September, had found Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and its raid on the aid convoy had violated international laws.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim former ally of the Jewish state, has scaled back ties demanding Israel apologise and pay damages for the raid, which caused an international outcry.