New Review Ordered Into Israel’s Gaza Flotilla Raid

Judges of the International Criminal Court presented a new challenge to Israel on Thursday, ordering the court’s chief prosecutor to review her decision not to investigate a deadly Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of aid ships five years ago. Israel denounced the order.

In a statement posted on the court’s website, the judges said the prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, had committed “material errors” in her assessment of whether a criminal inquiry was warranted into the raid on the flotilla, which left eight Turks and an American of Turkish descent dead on the lead vessel, the Mavi Marmara.

The judges requested that Ms. Bensouda “reconsider her decision not to initiate an investigation,” and do so “as soon as possible.”

The raid incited widespread criticism of Israel, severely damaged its relations with Turkey and focused attention on the naval blockade the Israelis have enforced on the Gaza Strip, the isolated Palestinian territory that has been a frequent flash point for the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted angrily to the court’s new order, asserting that commandos of the Israel Defense Forces who stormed the flotilla had acted in self-defense.

“It is not clear why the court insists on focusing its resources on dealing unnecessarily with cynically and politically motivated complaints instead of dealing with matters for which it was established — mass atrocities,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “Israel expects the prosecutor’s decision to remain in force.”

Ms. Bensouda announced in November that while Israeli military forces might have committed war crimes by forcefully intercepting the ships in the flotilla, which were carrying construction materials and relief supplies, the consequences were insufficiently grave to warrant a criminal inquiry.

The Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros, where Mavi Marmara was registered, asked the court to review Ms. Bensouda’s decision in January.

A new inquiry into Israel’s actions during the flotilla raid, which happened in the darkness of May 31, 2010, could add to the legal complications the Israelis are now confronting from the Hague-based court, which was created more than a decade ago to prosecute egregious crimes.

The Palestinians became members of the court just three months ago, part of their broader effort to establish an independent state by putting pressure on the Israelis.

Last month, the Palestinians delivered files to the court documenting what they said were Israeli war crimes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/world/asia/new-review-ordered-into-israels-gaza-flotilla-raid.html?smid=tw-share

Step in the right direction!