Israeli Naval Inquiry Finds Fault in Takeover of Turkish-Flagged Ship

JERUSALEM (June 20) -- The Israeli navy's internal investigation into last month's Israeli takeover of a Turkish-flagged ship bound for Gaza has found serious defects in the way the operation was planned and the intelligence made available to the navy commandos. But it found that the officers acted properly based on the information they were given.

Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed in the Israeli raid, which sparked widespread condemnation of Israel and calls on Israel to lift the three-year-old boycott of Gaza. The Israeli cabinet today announced a series of measures designed to ease that boycott, including allowing raw materials such as cement into Gaza under international supervision.

This image made from video provided by the Israeli Defence Force on Monday, May 31, 2010 shows what the IDF says is one of several commandos being dropped onto the Mavi Marmara ship by helicopter in the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel Defence Force/AP

An internal investigation by the Israeli Navy into its raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla found serious defects with the operation, but concluded its officers acted appropriately based on the intelligence they received. Here, a navy commando drops onto one of the ships during the May 31 incident.

The international community has been pressuring Israel to agree to an international inquiry into the May 31 events, a demand that Israel continues to reject. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon joined the call on Friday, saying most world leaders he consulted believe Israel's internal probe "is not sufficient enough to have international credibility."

In addition to the internal naval inquiry, Israel appointed a panel of three Israeli jurists and two international observers to investigate the events on the ship.

The internal military inquiry, reported today on state-run Israel Radio, found that the commandos were not prepared for a mass offensive against them.

"The soldiers wanted to wear their ceremonial uniform, they expected to engage with the passengers in conversation, and that was a defect," a military official who could not be named according to navy rules told Israel Radio. "In light of the situation that developed they acted accordingly."

The investigation found that the raid on the ship should only have been conducted after the attackers were hosed with water cannons and smoke grenades.

Israel maintains that the commandos were attacked with knives as they landed on the ship and the soldiers' lives were in danger. Some of the Turkish activists on the ship say the soldiers opened fire first.

The Ha'aretz newspaper quoted the top military commander involved in the attack as saying there was a major intelligence blunder.

"The major defect in the preparations and gathering of intelligence was that we did not know we would be coping with tens of rioters," he told Ha'aretz. "This was not disorderly conduct that deteriorated. This was a planned terrorist attack."