Israel lacks enough intelligence before flotilla raid
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Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that the army lacked enough intelligence, especially about the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), one of the main organizers of the flotilla, before its raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in late May.
"We didn't know enough about the (IHH) organization, and we didn't investigate it. It was not on our list of priorities like other groups," Ashkenazi told members of the Turkel Commission on the third day of the testimony into the raid, during which nine activists were killed.
Responding to questioning by the retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, who heads the investigation, Ashkenazi said that the assumption was that Turkey was not an enemy state, and the IHH was not considered as a terrorist group but "outlawed."
The Israeli government charges that the IHH is affiliated with groups that a number of governments have designated as terrorist organizations, which the IHH denied.
Turkey on Tuesday rebutted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's criticism over Turkey's support for the Gaza-bound ships, saying Israel should first take responsibility for the raid.
"Israel should first take responsibility for killing innocent people on international waters instead of accusing us," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a press conference.
At several points in his testimony relating to intelligence- gathering and relations with Turkey, Ashkenazi demurred and asked to respond to the queries at an in-camera session, which was held later in the day.
The IDF's biggest operational mistake in the raid lay in not being able to get enough helicopter-borne troops onto the top deck soon enough to create a "sterile zone," Ashkenazi said.
Ashkenazi, noting that the IDF was aware of at least two more flotilla attempts in the making, including from Lebanon and Europe, said the military would consider using more lethal methods than the side arms, paintball and bean-bag guns the troops carried.
"There was need to fire with accurate weapons and neutralize those who prevented the rappelling down of soldiers, something that would have decreased the risk of harm to them. That is the chief lesson for the next operation," he said.
Some passengers on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship of the flotilla, accused Israeli soldiers of firing on sleeping passengers.
Ashkenazi, however, said he "totally denied" Turkish pathology reports on the nine victims alleging that troops shot them "gangland style" and at point-blank range.
Defending the soldiers' actions onboard, he said the nine activists were killed "as a result of the passengers' decision to violently engage the troops," and that the commando forces behaved "proportionally" to the threat. He praised what he called the soldiers' "restraint."
Ashkenazi screened a film showing what the army said was a point-by-point, animated reconstruction and time-line of the events surrounding the takeover. The movie was prepared for the IDF's earlier internal Eiland report.
Lord David Trimble, one of two international observers sitting in on the sessions, told Ashkenazi that the army needed to ensure a full and complete investigation, and that "each individual fatality has been addressed."
Israeli cabinet on June 14 approved the establishment of the Turkel Committee as a result of international pressure over the flotilla raid.
