Turkey renews call for Israel apology

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157136.html


Turkey asserts that Israel cannot run away from the murder of nine Turkish Gaza-bound activists and repeats its demand for apology and compensation.

On Saturday, the country's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “Nothing can cover up” the deadly act of aggression, the Associated Press reported.

The victims died and 50 others were injured on May 31 during an Israeli commando attack on the Freedom Flotilla, an international Turkish-backed aid convoy, which had set sail to break Tel Aviv's siege of the Gaza Strip.

The fleet was carrying approximately 750 human rights activists and around 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies.

The activists were subsequently expelled and the cargos were transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod to the south of Tel Aviv. Reports, meanwhile, pointed to Israeli forces' appropriating and misusing the activists' personal belongings.

Davutoglu accused Israel of not responding to Turkey's overtures, apparently referring to Ankara's several instances of offering Tel Aviv the opportunity to make amends for the assault.

The remarks came on the eve of the return of Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the attacked convoy.

The vessel, which is expected to carry the survivors of the attack, is expected to be received in a deserving ceremony, attended by thousands, Israeli website Ynetnews reported.

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.

Israeli MP urges UN probe of Tel Aviv

Arab Israel lawmaker Hanin Zuabi


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140702.html


An Israeli lawmaker says she plans to demand a probe of Israeli leaders by the UN Human Rights Council over the deadly takeover of a Gaza-bound aid convoy.

Arab Israeli deputy Hanin Zuabi announced Monday her intent to ask the UN body to investigate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's Ynet news website reported.

On May 31, Israeli navy commandos attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine Turkish nationals onboard the aid convoy and leaving dozens injured.

Zuabi, who was accompanying Gaza Freedom Flotilla when it was attacked, charges the three Israeli leaders with bearing personal responsibility for the "criminal and pirate takeover" which claimed the lives of activists onboard the civilian fleet.

The MP is due to testify on Tuesday before the UN Human Rights Council's commission of inquiry into Israel's deadly onslaught on the Turkish-flagged aid vessel Mavi Marmara.

She has also demanded that Tel Aviv allows UN investigators to probe into actions by Israeli soldiers that took part in the Flotilla attack. She also called on the Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch to allow Palestinian senior cleric Sheikh Raed Salah, who was also onboard the Flotilla, to testify before the UN body.

Zuabi also plans to ask the Human Rights Council to extend the jurisdiction of its fact-finding commission to investigate "Israel's violations of international law in imposing a blockade on Gaza, war crimes, and crimes against humanity being committed in the Gaza Strip for four years."

Israel to block future Gaza flotillas

Israel's Army Chief Gabi Ashkenazi


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138373§ionid=351020202


Defending Tel Aviv's deadly attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla, Israel's army chief has vowed to block future aid shipments heading toward the besieged strip.

"If they come, they will be stopped by our defensive shield," Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi said in his address to the audience at the naval graduation ceremony in Haifa on Wednesday, Haaretz reported.

"There is no doubt that you will manage to stop the nearing threats," he added a few hours after he defended Israeli commandos' deadly attack on the Gaza aid flotilla in the internal panel to substantiate the legality of the onslaught.

The late May attack left nine Turkish activists dead and dozens more injured.

While the activists, onboard the aid ships, say Israeli commandos opened fire upon boarding the Mavi Marmara, Ashkenazi said Israeli forces did not use excessive force and acted proportionally.

Israel's army chief also rejected Turkish charges that some of the victims had been shot "execution-style" at point-blank, saying that shots had been fired at close range as part of a life and death struggle.

Turkish post-mortem examinations have revealed that a total of 30 bullets were found in the bodies of the nine dead activists. One of the activists had been shot four times in the head.

Ashkenazi, who has taken responsibility for the military's actions, is the only military officer scheduled to appear before the inquiry. He was the third senior figure to address Israel's self-ordered Tirkel commission after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The attack was widely condemned by the international community.

'Israel responsible for flotilla killings'

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138210§ionid=351020204


Turkey says Israel must take full responsibility for the killing of nine peace activists during an attack in May on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza.

"Nobody can lay on the responsibility of killing civilians in international waters onto somebody else," AFP quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying on Tuesday.

"We have a very clear situation. Israel has killed nine civilians in international waters. Before anything else, they should take responsibility for this... Turkey has absolutely no responsibility in the incident," Davutoglu added.

On May 31, the Israeli military attacked the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla of international aid in the Mediterranean Sea, in international waters, killing nine activists onboard the Turkish-flagged M.V. Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

The Turkish foreign minister's remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the attack on Tuesday alleging that organizations sponsoring the Gaza Freedom Flotilla "were preparing for armed conflict to embarrass Israel."

Netanyahu said Turkey had ignored repeated warnings and appeals "at the highest level" to stop the flotilla.

The United Nations named a panel in August to look into the deadly incident.

Israel threatened on Tuesday to pull out of a UN investigation as the international probe seeks to question Israeli soldiers.

The Turkish foreign minister expressed his confidence in the UN panel which will investigate the ship, and said that the panel will surely find those who are responsible for the deaths.

"We trust the work of the international commission and believe it will find those responsible in line with international law," he said.

Israel threatens pullout from UN probe

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu



Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138084§ionid=351020202


Israel has threatened to pull out of a UN investigation into its May 31 attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy as the international probe seeks to question Israeli soldiers.

Despite Israeli efforts to appease the global enrage over the death of nine Turkish activists onboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the United Nations named its own panel in August to look into the deadly incident.

Israel agreed to participate in the UN probe but has opposed to have its military forces involved in the fatal onslaught grilled over the attack which was carried out in international waters.

Tel Aviv insisted that Israel's agreement was conditional on the panel relying on reports from Israel's own military inquiry, not testimony from soldiers.

But the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday stated that there was no agreement that the panel would refrain from calling Israeli soldiers to testify. "No, there was no such agreement behind the scenes," Ban stressed.

This seriously irked Israeli prime minister, and prompted his office to issue a harsh statement which vehemently ruled out Israel's cooperation with or participation in "any panel that seeks to interrogate Israeli soldiers," Jerusalem Post quoted the statement as saying.

The response came a day after Netanyahu's testimony before an internal inquiry panel where he insisted the Israeli army "acted in accordance with international law."

Israel's self-ordered Tirkel commission is not authorized to probe the decision-making process which led up to the operation, nor does it have the authority to question troops involved in the fatal attack.