Livni: UN flotilla probe will judge IDF

Kadima leader criticizes gov't decision to take part in panel.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, HERB KEINON, JORDANA HORN
Gaza boats 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Gaza boats 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni Tuesday criticized the government's decision to take part in a flotilla investigative panel set up by the UN, claiming that she opposes a UN probe committee that will judge the IDF, its soldiers and its commanders.
Livni also highlighted that five inquiry committees have already been set up.
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According to Livni, Israel should have stipulated to foreign observers that the Turkel Committee be the only committee to investigate the incidents of the flotilla raid.
The opposition leader criticized the government's conduct during the Gaza flotilla raid claiming that it harmed the IDF's capabilities to function in the future.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said on Tuesday Israel hopes that its decision to take part in a flotilla investigative panel set up by the UN would significantly improve relations with Turkey.
The decision to agree to cooperate with the UN investigation, which was announced on Monday, is "primarily meant, to my knowledge, for Turkey and Israel to find a way to bring relations back to a better place," Meridor told Army Radio.
Turkey was in favor of the Israeli decision calling it "a step in the right direction."
The decision by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s inner cabinet, a forum known as the septet, to agree to participate in the panel established by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, was largely viewed as an attempt to meet demands made by Turkey asking for an international investigative committee, and thereby significantly reducing the tension between the two countries.
“Part of our agreeing to this process is that Israel, as the prime minister has said, is interested in reducing tensions with Turkey and bringing the ties with Turkey back to normal,” a senior government official said.
Ban called the establishment of the panel an “unprecedented development.”
“I thank the leaders of the two countries, with whom I have engaged in last-minute consultations over the weekend, for their spirit of compromise and forward-looking cooperation,” Ban said in a statement on Monday.