Turkey ignored repeated warnings and appeals “at the highest level” to halt a Gaza aid flotilla, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu told an Israeli inquiry yesterday into the fatal raid by his troops.
Mr Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31st, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter.
The clash took place before dawn in international waters off Israel, after the flotilla ignored repeated Israeli warnings not to continue to Gaza. The enclave is ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement and is sealed off by an Israeli naval blockade.
The United Nations formed its own committee to investigate the Israeli raid, which will meet for the first time on Tuesday.
“Beginning on May 14th, my office held contacts with the highest levels of the Turkish government,” Mr Netanyahu said. “These contacts . . . were intended to prevent a confrontation with the Marmara flotilla, and they continued until the eve of the flotilla’s arrival off Gaza’s shores,” he said.
“Despite our continuous diplomatic efforts, ultimately the Turkish government did not prevent the attempt by the Marmara to violate the naval blockade . . . It appears that did not see in the prospect of a clash between Turkish activists and Israel something that clashed with its interests.”
It was Mr Netanyahu’s most explicit public account of behind-the-scenes diplomacy that failed to avert confrontation. After ending his testimony, he voiced his confidence the commission would find Israel had acted properly.
Nine Turks were shot dead when Israeli commandos stormed the lead vessel, Mavi Marmara. Israel says its commandos used live fire only after being attacked with clubs, knives and gunfire by activists who it says were clearly prepared for violence.
The raid sparked a world outcry and almost ruptured Israel’s relations with once-close Muslim ally Turkey. It also pushed Israel to ease its Gaza blockade, which aims to prevent Hamas from bolstering its weapons stockpile but also aggravates the privations of 1.5 million Palestinians.