Israel’s document was prepared by a commission headed by a retired supreme court justice and overseen by two respected and independent observers. Released for full evaluation, it was based on public and private testimony, as well as on videotape and audiotape evidence.
The commission gives the reader both a rundown on the events as the panel believes they took place and the sources for the information. It also provides a complete explanation for the conclusion that Israel was entitled to enforce a naval blockade of Gaza and did so well within the bounds of international law.
Turkey, on the other hand, filed its report privately with the UN and then countered Israel’s authoritative presentation by releasing conclusory excerpts whose thrust was that Israel should have stopped the blockade-busting flotilla by, say, lassoing propellers with ropes.
That and an accusation that Israeli forces opened fire on flotilla participants from a helicopter. While the assertion runs counter to all known evidence, had such strafing taken place, it would likely have been fully justified.
The world generally ho-hummed the Israeli report as if the findings had been a foregone conclusion. Actually, it is an authoritative retelling with eye-opening revelations whose cumulative power is overwhelming.
To recap: Bombarded by more than 5,000 rockets and mortars from Gaza between 2007 and 2009, Israel maintained a naval blockade to prevent Hamas from importing weaponry by sea.
In 2010, pro-Palestinian advocates announced that they would try to break the blockade in order to deliver supplies, falsely contending that Gaza was in the grip of a humanitarian crisis. Israel offered to let ships berth at an Israeli port, where supplies could be inspected and then delivered by land. The advocates refused.
Instead, seven ships set sail for Gaza with the blessing of the Turkish government. One, the Mavi Marmara, persisted in trying to break the blockade despite repeated Israeli warnings.
Voices came back from flotilla ships, saying: "Shut up, go back to Auschwitz," and "We’re helping Arabs to go and get the U.S., don’t forget 9/11, guys."
The Mavi Marmara was owned by IHH, a Turkish humanitarian group with ties to Hamas and other radical Islamist organizations. On board were 561 passengers and, it turned out, not a single crate of humanitarian goods.
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