A government-appointed commission investigating the 2010 Mavi Mamara flotilla clash suggested on Wednesday that “the buck stops here” law should apply to IDF officers who are found responsible for any illegal orders that soldiers carry out.
Military courts previously have found some soldiers for illegal actions during the Operation Cast Lead counter-terrorist campaign four years ago. No one in Israel has even suggested any wrongdoing by the Navy commandos involved in the clash.
The Turkel Commission, named after retired High Court Justice Yaakov Turkel, cited in its second part report on the flotilla clash that the IDF investigation of the incident was on par with international standards.
Nine IHH terrorists were killed in the clash after the commandos rappelled down a rope from a hovering helicopter They were virtually unarmed except for paint guns and personal revolvers, and the IHH was waiting for them with knives and clubs. The IHH terrorists brutally attacked the commandos, and temporarily kidnapped three of them, after they had boarded their ship to keep it from breaking the maritime embargo on Hamas.
The Turkel commission issued the first part of its report a year ago and found that the blockade was legal and that the soldiers adhered to international law. A United Nations commission subsequently upheld the blockade as legal but said the commandos used “excessive force.”