Security Cabinet Adopts Turkel Report

Israel’s security cabinet adopted on Sunday Dr. Joseph Ciechanover’s recommendation to implement the findings of the second Turkel Committee report on the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara.

The report examined the allegations that Israel had not been in compliance with international law during its interception of the vessel on its way to Gaza May 31, 2010.

The Prime Minister’s Office emphasized that the decision to accept the report shows once again Israel’s commitment to the principles of democracy and the rule of law, including international law.

The Turkel Committee concluded that Israel’s “mechanism for investigating and evaluating charge of war crimes is generally consonant with the rules of international law.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Lord David Trimble, who served as an international observer at the Turkel proceedings, noted that “taken as a whole, Israeli law and practice will stand comparison with the best in the world.”

Reports produced by senior military experts in the United States, Europe, South America and NATO after Operation Cast Lead similarly determined that Israel’s investigatory system in some cases surpassed the highest standards of international law.

The Turkel Committee backed the investigative work of the IDF in the matter of the Mavi Marmara, and concluded that there was no need for any further investigation on the part of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).