IDF blames intelligence for Gaza flotilla 'mistakes', but defends use of commandos
First Israeli probe of deadly May 31 raid, led by Maj. Gen. Eiland, cites intelligence failures but does not single out any officers for rebuke.
By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Gaza flotilla Israel news IDFThe Israel Defense Force committee investigating the navy's deadly raid on a Turkish-flagged aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip found the incident to be the consequence of failed intelligence and a lack of proper preparation for the operation, according to its report released on Monday.
Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed in the May 31 raid after they used clubs and knives to attack Israel Navy commandos boarding the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara. Israel had previously warned that it would take over the ships to enforce its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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Israel Navy forces approach one of six ships of an aid flotilla bound for Gaza on May 31, 2010. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
The committee led by Maj. Gen. (res. ) Giora Eiland, however, characterized the failures made at the planning level as "mistakes," rather than as negligence or fault. The report also found that the navy would have had no means to stop the ship at sea without endangering the vessel, and thus backed the decision to carry out a commando operation.
The committee said in its report that the navy had failed to sufficiently consider the possibility that the commandos would encounter violent resistance when attempting to keep the ships out of Gaza.
It also criticized the navy for not cooperating sufficiently with the Mossad in gathering information ahead of the flotilla's arrival and to discuss the process by which the raid was approved.
The report did not, however, call for disciplinary action against particular officers.
"To my relief, the investigation found no negligence or failures on any significant matters, and that it was due to mistakes made at the relatively top levels that caused the results to be different from what was planned," Eiland said.
He also said that some aspects of the operation could be "praised," particularly the way the Shayetet 13 commandos acted during the operation and the quick and efficient evacuation of casualties.
Eiland's is the first to complete its investigation. The Turkel Committee, appointed by the government to examine whether the raid adhered to international law, has just begun its investigation. A team from the State Comptroller's Office will be beginning its own probe of the flotilla raid shortly.
Meanwhile, the High Court of Justice on Monday opened the door to expanding the authority of the Turkel Commission.
The five-member panel was was appointed by the cabinet in June to investigate the naval raid - which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists aboard the Mavi Marmara - and its adherence to international law.
The panel currently has a limited mandate. It is only supposed to determine whether Israel's efforts to stop the flotilla from reaching Gaza accorded with international law, and whether the soldiers' use of force was proportionate. It has no power to subpoena witnesses and cannot draw personal conclusions against those involved in the raid.
Turkel, however, wants to turn it into a full-fledged governmental inquiry committee with real teeth. That would allow it to subpoena witnesses and documents, warn those who testify before it that the panel's findings could harm them, and hire outside experts in relevant fields.
At the hearing Monday to address a petition against the committee's limited authority, the justices said the court would consider widening the panel's mandate if its members seek to probe persons or events outside of their jurisdiction, including Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
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The fault of the raid lies with the Navy Chief of Staff and the Comando Yamem overall commander. Naval Commandos are trained to disable ships. IT would have been simple for them to don scuba gear and carrying chains & metal cables attach them to the ships propellers to disable them. Not board the ship in front of the whole world and make a story on page 9 into Page One Headlines Worldwide. These officers shoud be reduced to privates and ki9cked out with no pensions or benefits for their stupidity.
How about if we let the Russian mafia investigate itself in Russia and Israel? How about people accused of being in the Italian mafia? Let them investigate themselves. The Germans during WWII should have been allowed to investigate themselves, too. Imagine if the US said the Germans should have been allowed to do that, and they would respect that. What a huge joke the US is when it comes to that. It's not a superpower thanks to Israel in the Middle East. It'a a paper tiger.
What intelligence?? It's no secret the flotilla was heading for Gaza......THE WORLD KNEW!!!! The IDF needs to accept that they screwed up illegally boarding the ship in international waters....swooping inn with commando's in helicopters and gunships was the wrong approach...if you challenge people with aggression....you'll be met with aggression!! A few weeks back the IDF announced it was sending submarines to the Persian Gulf.....by the IDF's logic, the Iranians can forcefully board those subs and say it was in their right!!
Several people bled to death.
What a tragi-comedy! Some of the posters seem confused in comprehending the obvious illegality of attacking a ship from a "friendly country" and killing ten of her citizens in International Waters! Is there ANY HOPE for Israel?
The Israeli Navy needs to develop a mini torpedo with a small warhead or no warhead that would home on the vibrations emitted by the target ship's propeller without penetrating the hull. This would stop a ship without causing it to sink or otherwise seriously damage it.
The IDF was expecting the usual spacey fellow travellers shouting their slogans,not martyrs, so they had paintballs in their guns
What should have occured was cameras at the ready and helicopters in the distance ready to fire across the bows of ships as a warning to not proceed into the coastline with a ship loudspeaker to halt first or be fired upon.After 10 minutes with no reply fire first shots across bow or missle explode in front of boat close enough to spray offenders. If no compliance with demands then when reaching Israeli waters then sink the offensive vessel.Helicopter landings is so hollywood and really not very intelligent, this cowboy stuff isn't going well for you is it ? Brighten up commanders.
Once again this mysterious "intelligence failure" becomes the scapegoat for the incompetency and brutality of real people committing real acts.
It was indeed partly due to a lack of intelligence that made way for the mistake of the deadly raid.
The other day, Shalev, wrote to Ban: "Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip." Supposing the blockade is permissible under international law, she makes a valid point. However, international law does not permit encroachment on a foreign vessel in international waters. It is really as simple as that, for those who know no different or are confused. Arguments against that basic fact are simply moot. And one should not believe those who say that the perimeters of a blockade can be legally altered immediately at the discretion of the blockade enforcing country. An important question has arisen subsequent to the flotilla raid: Should there be an international investigation, as opposed to an internal investigation? The Turkish Foreign Minister answered this question perfectly, during his recent meeting with William Hague: There must be an international investigation because "the accused cannot be prosecutor and judge at the same time". If indeed the prosecution in a case can also be its judge, the fact still remains that the whole world has no confidence in the credibility of the state that perpetrated this serious yet deliberate mistake, which continues to bring into question not the greatness of its military, but the soundness of its rationale.
But as i said, it does not involve Israel so no one can bash Israel
trigger happy goons kill 9 innocent aid workers execution style how about a real, international, investigation to find out the truth
for sure!
To end the problem Israel must take Gaza back and have what is rightfully theirs and not allow people who do not exist to occupy a land that never has belonged to them. an example of Gods power and favor..Israel a little piece of land with so few people and no one can or will conquer them. Gods hand lays upon the land and His will not the pagan Arabic nations that surround it. Jesus is coming to destroy you with the Sword of his mouth, His Word and in an instant it will be done. I support Israel and it's people and will stand with God's Word on the promises He made and the fact that everyone must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. God said..there is neither Jew, nor Greek, nor Gentile, we are all one in Him through His only begotten Son. Stand up and find your salvation today before it is too late. As the birth pangs of a woman in labor so is the end approaching.
all fanatics the jews , muslim and christian will start the apocalypse. The human made holly books of this religions will bring the end of the world. Hope humanity takes over and this madness stops. the books written 2-3 thousand years ago still manipulating our lives and make people suffer.
blame the orders, never the officers, and never mention the fact that so many deaths were war crimes on israel's part. same old song and dance.
This means that the “Selected People” have the rights bestowed the “God” to murder to torture or to do anything they want to do to the children of “Lesser God”. They believe that they could justify this by their lobbies, their cooperate media etc. But the time has limits for any empire, kingdom, and dictatorship etc. and the due date is coming for this artificial structure. In the past those superpowers had the gold, power and armies and everything but it was not good enough to survive. The nukes will not make too much difference. The mission is about to be completed and the countdown is very close to “zero”. This stupid decision is just an agony, nothing else.
One would hope and wish the sane faction of the Israeli society prevails over the zionist lunatics and take corrective steps as Israel already is the big loser in the Turkish public opinion. May Israel be saved from her 'suicidal march'!
Same old stuff: "time is coming", "countdown", "artificial structures", "mission". Maybe you'll come and live in a settlement here or move to the US Bible Belt, you'll fit right in.
Israel had a right to act, but it did so clumsily. The operation was badly planned and prepared for, without due regard for human life. There is nothing more to investigate. Israel couold restore it's diplomatic relations and repair part of it's image with an apology.
An apology would be an admission of a crime that did not occur. Not every unfortunate loss of life is a crime. Turk goons drew first blood. Only a fool goes up against an army. Have you ever came at a cop with a knife when he was trying to give you a speeding ticket?
Jasper, let's take your analogy more completely. The cop and his superiors know that I am somewhere and likely to resist arrest. When the cop comes to arrest me, I pull a knife or a club and rush him, and he draws his gun and shoots me in the head. The investigation will say, "unreasonable use of deadly force." That is also the charge here.
if a Bulgarian police officer try to give me speeding ticket in Greece. I would probably come against to him.
I think noboby is discussing the attack on international waters. It is not minor detail. If you say I can attack any civilian ship with security motives. I guess somalian pirates can say they can attack any civilan ship with financial motives.
you are making the same incorrect argument that i have seen here many times and it is frustrating how clueless you are. no one is saying it is a minor detail, we are saying that you have your facts wrong. If a ship (even a civilian ship) attempts to break a naval blockade, it CAN be boarded in international waters.
San Remo Manual ...a blockade is a legal method of warfare at sea ...inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters ...A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection ...If the ship does not stop, then the ship is subject to capture. ...If people aboard the ship are resisting capture, they can be attacked.
Somalis are true pirates. Israel is conducting a blockade against a sworn enemy who is firing on it. Read San Remo rules of engagement, and you will see that interception of a blockade runner can take place anywhere on the globe.
Except Israel is not a signatory of the San remo Manual. minor detail but hiding behind a document that you have not agreed to is disingenuous
He also said that some aspects of the operation could be "praised," particularly the way the Shayetet 13 commandos acted during the operation " The way they acted killed 9 people, some of them with multiple gunshot wounds to the head from close range.
I'll wait for the internation investigation, Israeli investigations are just self serving exercises, a joke.
Attack ? The jihadists on board chose to fight. Some joke !
Turkey's useful fools were all safely locked in the decks below, and only the goons were on the upper decks. Clearly, they were alert and ready with their weapons. They got their licks in, lots of the IDF were injured. Don't fault IDF if they do their jobs well.
If the IDF had any intelligence they would blame the enemy, not themselves.
IDF's report basically says "we were mistaken not to anticipate just how badly those people on the boat would behave"--i.e., blaming the victims, not the perpetrators.
It is funny for screwed up world to have the IDF investigate it self. you think that they will say ,we are bad , we will punish our selves, GOD bless George bush we thought he was bad, now we have the worse.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. post it please.
Israel was directly involved, they know more than anyone else what happened that night. They have all the video, including the Jihad stuff the goons made. They have all the testimony of the useful fools below deck, the photos of the sawed up railings, everything.
That's like congratulating the Romans for 'efficient evacuation' of Masada.
Where can i find this complete report and can i eventually download and read it?
But I doubt you will find the report. What you'll find is the IDF spokesmodel's statement about what is IN the report, but not a copy of the report itself. That's how they handled the Rachel Corrie investigation i.e. they (with great ceremony) hnded over a report to... themselves... but they never released it to the public. All they "released" were the talking points from that report, so that the hasbarah talking-heads could handwave the whole thing away.
But I doubt you will find the report. What you'll find is the IDF spokesmodel's statement about what is IN the report, but not a copy of the report itself. That's how they handled the Rachel Corrie investigation i.e. they (with great ceremony) hnded over a report to... themselves... but they never released it to the public. All they "released" were the talking points from that report, so that the hasbarah talking-heads could handwave the whole thing away.
Right after the raid on the Marmara the Navy claimed that the ship was not disabled because it would have taken days to bring her to port. Now, the claim is that there was no safe way to disable the ship. This seems a fishy claim, also because a safe way is well known: Disable the motor and propeller by throwing a net or chain over it. The passengers could then have been evacuated by any ship in the sea, not necessarily Israeli, and goodbye. I am afraid this claim of the Navy will be the easiest to falsify and discredit the entire "internal IDF investigation". Needless to say, the facts that the soldiers were not trained to deal with hostile civilians is also remarkable and problematic.
Disabling a ship (like the "motor" or propeller, on a ship with lots of people on it is crazy. Then what? Go away? Evacuate it? By others? When? And in the mean time? Idiot! You want to teach seamen about sea?
If I choose to use the term "fishy" because it fits with the subject of the sentence "navy", can you then come and deduce that the whole thing is fishy? I think this would be a circular argument on your part. On my part, I justified the use of the term "fishy" by the disagreement between the early and later excuse for the navy's chose action.
... was for Erdogan to not have sent his little provocation in the first place. Also, the IDF was clearly trained to deal with the hostile "civilians". It put nine of them in a box.
A night time commando raid with helicopters and machine guns is probably way safer.
why was there no outcry when Russia was caught red handed using forged UK passports in the recent spy scandal? why has not one person or govt who berated israel now not speaking out against Russia using forged passports of other countries? WHY? No diplomats being called in? no emergency UN council? deafening silence....thats all you get... AND YOU ALL KNOW WHY....
in the recent spy scandal wasn't forged. Chapman (forgot her first name) acquired her passport by marrying a british citizen, perfectly legally. You may question the motives of Chapman in getting married but the passport wasn't a forgery although it may have been acquired fraudenently. Wouldn't be the first time a person married for reasons other than love, and won't be the last time. Obviously we all know why you are misrepresenting that situation to throw up a smokescreen.
A similar question would be why prince charles come to Hethro to kiss the feed of the prince of Saudi Arabia, the most opprssive and racists state in the world, but will never visit Israel (I have tears in my eyes). Because criticzing Israel is good politics. But no one will stand up and say to the Saudis what should be said.
Read Linthwaite's post, he admits himself that Russian passport may have been acquired fraudulently so the problem is not why or how,the problem is who.And you, as a Jew, cannot.
british passports were forged by the fsb. tell me linwaithe, how do you sleep at night knowing your lying everyday. Israel is here to stay buddy...democratically vibrant, a real judiciary, citizenship for all, unlike arab states, even mk's of arab origin in the knesset. Israel was fully legit in 1948 in the eyes of the UN. The pals were offered far more land in 47, which they rejected, than they will end up with now. Using murder in this modern era(post 60's) to make your political point is abhorrent. All the arabs have done is ; kill olympic atheltes, hijack airplanes, throw old men off cruise ships, bomb community centers, blow up buses, kidnap innocent people...etc..etc..are you a proponent of such tactics in this modern era? do you really think this is a way for the pals to present their case to the world? you and your ilk are transparent jew haters and its your life to waste...Israel is beautiful, free, open, peace loving... the truest statement ever: " if the arabs had no weapons there would be peace, if the israelis had no weapons there would be no israel". I see you for what you are linwaithe....a sad human being filled with hate and wasting his life....truly sad...
She married an UK citizen and also she hasnt killed anyone, unlike your spies.
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/fbi-details-ireland-passport-link-in-russian-spy-scandal-50314.html On June 28, the U.S. Department of Justice reported the arrest of 10 people on suspicion of spying for Russia. The FBI picked them up in four US cities on Sunday, just after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev left North America. One additional suspect was apprehended on Monday in Cyprus. According to the FBI, the suspects used forged passports to enter the United States and were on long-term, deep undercover assignment in America for the Foreign Intelligence Service. The reported objective of the sleeper agents was eventual access to presidential documents and contacts with political operatives and decision makers. http://article.wn.com/view/2010/06/29/US_claims_Russian_spies_used_British_passports/
These spies didn't kill someone in a third-country hotel room. He was a bad man, but what was done was also wrong.
it was her (anna chapman's) passport. she obtained citizenship by marrying a british dude, i believe.
I think I know why. Firstly, I don't think anyone died in the recent spy scandal and secondly, they were real passports of fraudulent identities, not fake passports of stolen identities that would put the real passport holder at risk. Also, if you think it is imbalanced, when was the last time Mossad agents were publicly seized and questioned in the US before being sent home in disgrace?
"illegally building homes in non-israeli land, arresting women for reading from the torah, preventing palestinian women from studying, alienating the non-orthodox diaspora jews, israel is really covering all the bases today ain't it? A day in the life of the ME only democracy Yep yeh judah ben heston. A truly enormous reason to be proud.
Commandos were no more necessary to interdict a ship in INTERNATIONAL waters than the National Guard was required at Kent State. An Entebbe-style show might have been intended to play to a domestic audience, but the performance was a flop. Disabling propellers or communications, once inside the exclusion zone, would have been a more reasonable response.
They were expecting some light violince and screaming as you would from "peace ativitist". There was no Entebbe-style raid if you know anything a bout military. But do you?
San Remo Manual ...a blockade is a legal method of warfare at sea ...inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters ...A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection ...If the ship does not stop, then the ship is subject to capture. ...If people aboard the ship are resisting capture, they can be attacked.
"San Remo Manual " refers to a blockade DURING AN ARMED CONFLICT. So a blockade is legal during (e.g.) Cast Lead, but not at any other time. "inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters " The CAPTURE of a ship can only take place inside the blockade zone. "A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection"... when it is in the blockade zone, yes. But outside that zone it has freedom of the seas, and does not need to submit to any inspection.
"San Remo Manual " refers to a blockade DURING AN ARMED CONFLICT. So a blockade is legal during (e.g.) Cast Lead, but not at any other time. "inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters " The CAPTURE of a ship can only take place inside the blockade zone. "A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection"... when it is in the blockade zone, yes. But outside that zone it has freedom of the seas, and does not need to submit to any inspection. The Sanremo Manual is very clear on both those two points.
to investigate the lack of initial readiness to counter the terrorists on the flotilla. It's true they'd suffer less casualties if the IDF was more prepared but they deserved it non the less. The probe was more to find out how they came to the situation where a solder was being thrown to his near death from the ship and others being lynched with metal bars. I suppose there would have been less casualties if they used tear gas and the like.
It is not about bodycounts it is about winning. Those that refuse to recognize Israels sovereignty lost and Israels sovereignty is stronger than before.
No one has proven they were terrorists--unlike Irgun Stern/Lehi/hagannah. Huh Avi???.
That the IHH is not on the US State Department list of "terrorist organizations", nor is it listed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as a "terrorist organization".
Anytime a bunch conspires to attack a bunch of soldiers, and prepares, and then uses weapons, they in fact lose the status of civilians and become soldiers themselves, and you have a military battle. Don't get your knickers in a knot simply because the good buys won.