Mossad information, material delivered to Turkel C'tee

Earlier, PMO releases statement saying documents related to Mossad's efforts to stop the Mavi Marmara would be delivered as they requested.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Turkel Committee 311 (photo credit: GPO)
Turkel Committee 311
(photo credit: GPO)
The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement Monday evening asserting that all documents and information requested by the Turkel Commission regarding the Mossad’s efforts to stop the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara will be delivered Monday evening or, at the latest, by Tuesday morning.
The PMO’s statement came in response to a letter sent by the commission on the same day to Mossad chief Meir Dagan threatening to take legal action against him after its requests to receive documentation related to the intelligence agency’s efforts to stop the Turkish flotilla were ignored.
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Dagan is scheduled to testify before the commission officially known as “The Independent Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May 2010” on Tuesday. The commission is charged with investigating the flotilla incident in which nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed by navy commandos while trying to break the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip.
In a letter sent to Dagan’s office at 5 p.m. on Monday, commission coordinator Hoshea Gottlieb informed the Mossad chief that the commission will need to “consider its options” after its request to receive the documents was ignored.
In a previous letter addressed to Dagan in late August, Gottlieb asked the Mossad chief to transfer material relevant to the Mossad’s efforts to stop the flotilla.
A government-appointed commission of inquiry like the Turkel Commission has the authority, for example, to fine someone who, like Dagan, refuses to cooperate and provide the investigative panel with the material it requested.
Meanwhile Monday, the Turkel Commission sent a letter to the Turkish Embassy, inviting the captain of the Mavi Marmara to provide testimony regarding the raid of the ship by IDF commandos on May 31.
It was not clear if the captain, Halid Terzi, would comply with the request. IDF sources have claimed that Terzi told the navy commandos after they boarded the ship that some of the passengers had weapons which they threw into the sea after firing at the soldiers.
Terzi would be the first non- Israeli to testify before the commission.
Until now the commission has heard testimony from a number of senior Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.