‘This is a cover-up commission, toothless and powerless. Even had it wanted to, it can’t probe the real issues. International friends of Dore Gold won’t bite’
This was the first statement of a press release published by the Israeli peace movement, Gush Shalom on Monday.The press release comes in response to the Israeli declaration of an investigation committee into the deadly attack on the Gaza-bound aid boats, known as the Freedom Flotilla, on May 31, in which 9 Turkish passengers were killed and dozens others wounded.
Gush Shalom appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court about the appointment of the Tirkel Commission, challenging the validity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government’s decision to establish the Commission.
“The commission’s terms of reference exclude in advance all the main points which should be investigated,” the press release says.
The movement accuses the government of deliberately ignoring Israeli law, by not “appointing a truly independent Commission of Inquiry whose members are appointed by the President of the Supreme Court and which is free of governmental interference.”
The press release went on to say that “[s]uch a commission may have uncovered facts, or come to conclusions, which would have proven uncomfortable to the government. Such a danger does not exist with the tame commission with which Netanyahu and his ministers came up.”
On the other hand, Palestinians slammed Israel’s decision and demanded an international, independent and impartial committee to investigate the attack on the flotilla.
