The IDF was in suspense on Sunday ahead of the planned publication of the
internal military probe into the operation that stopped the Turkish flotilla to
the Gaza Strip in late May and ended with nine dead passengers.
The
report was supposed to be submitted to IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi
Ashkenazi on Sunday evening by head of the investigative panel Maj.-Gen. (res.)
Giora Eiland.
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On Monday morning, Eiland was scheduled to present the
findings to the members of the General Staff to whom the report pertains,
including commander of the Navy V.-Adm. Eliezer Marom, head of IDF
Operations Maj.-Gen. Tal Russo and OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos
Yadlin.
On Monday afternoon the IDF is expected to release the findings
to the public.
The report is not expected to contain personal
recommendations against any of the officers involved in Operation Sea Breeze 7 –
the boarding of the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship on May 31 by Navy
commandos from Flotilla 13.
During ensuing clashes, nine passengers, all
Turkish nationals were killed and around 10 commandos were injured.
The
report is, however, expected to be extremely critical of the
decision-making
process which led up to the operation and the way it was carried
out.
Eiland and the other members of the probe have focused the
investigation on the relationship between the military and political
echelons as
well as the apparent intelligence failure, under which the navy
commandos
boarded the ship without knowing that a group of passengers, apparently
mercenaries, had laid an ambush, according to the IDF.
In a lecture he
gave in Tel Aviv last month, Eiland was critical of the operation,
saying it
could be that, due to a lack of appropriate planning for the flotilla,
Israel
was left with no choice but to board the ships.
“Had they prepared months
in advance, the room to maneuver would have been greater,” he said at
the time.
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