MK: Israeli troops came to kill activists

Israeli-Arab Knesset member Hanin Zuabi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140756.html

A member of the Knesset has testified before a UN panel probing the Tel Aviv attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy, saying Israeli troops boarded the ship intending to kill.

"It was evident from the beginning that the commandos viewed all of us activists as terrorists," member of Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Hanin Zuabi told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

She testified before the three-member UN team headed by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

In late May, Israeli commandos attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine Turkish activists and leaving dozens of others injured.

Zuabi, who was accompanying the aid convoy when it was attacked, said Israel's use of large numbers of troops with sophisticated weaponry showed that the regime's intentions were to kill the passengers.

"We were very peaceful activists, but the commandos came to kill," said Zuabi.

The Israeli lawmaker earlier charged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi with bearing personal responsibility for the "criminal and pirate takeover."

Israel has refused to cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council probe, which is expected to prepare a report at its next session, due to take place from September 13 to October 11.

Tel Aviv, however, accepted to work with a separate UN group led by New Zealand's ex-Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's ex-President Alvaro Uribe.