Spanish Judge Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Other Israeli Officials Over IDF Sea Attack Upon 2010 Gaza Relief Flotilla (Nov. 18, 2015)

Nine activists were killed during the raid that took place in international waters some 150km from Gaza, one more died of wounds later that month.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid#Casualties
The raid resulted in the deaths of ten activists. Nine were killed during the raid:

İbrahim Bilgen (61),
Ali Haydar Bengi (39),
Cevdet Kılıçlar (38),
Çetin Topçuoğlu (54),
Necdet Yıldırım (32).
Fahri Yaldız (43),
Cengiz Songür (47),
Cengiz Akyüz (42), and
Furkan Doğan (18),

The tenth to die, Ugur Süleyman Söylemez, (51), died 23 May 2014, in hospital, after having been in a coma for four years. All of the dead were members of, or volunteers for the İHH.

Autopsies revealed the nine Turkish men were shot with 30 bullets and five were killed with close-range bullets to the head.

The other Israelis who have been issued warrants are ex-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman,

ex-defense minister Ehud Barak,

ex-deputy prime ministers Moshe Ya'alon

and Eli Yishai,

former state minister Benny Begin,

and Israeli Navy commander Eliezer Marom.

The investigation began after Spanish activists that were part of the flotilla filed a criminal complaint against the Israelis involved in the raid. In June this year, the five year investigation was put on hold, but can be reopened if any of the suspects visited Spain.

A UN report slammed the deadly IDF raid: “Israel’s decision to board the vessels with such substantial force at a great distance from the blockade zone and with no final warning immediately prior to the boarding was excessive and unreasonable.”

South African police have arrest warrants for four Israeli commanders involved in the Freedom Flotilla carnage. An alert was circulated to South African Border Control system in September.

South Africa will liaise with Interpol Turkey to extradite the Israelis should they arrive. A court in Istanbul issued arrest warrants for the four in 2014.

Gadija Davids, a South African journalist, first made the complaint about the attack in 2011. She says she was kidnapped and assaulted before being imprisoned in Israel after the IDF stormed the aid ship.

“This decision has allowed us to hold these commanders, now fugitives from justice responsible to answer for crimes that were committed in the high seas,” Davids said.

Related Articles

• International Reaction To Israeli Raid
• Assault On Aid Ship Sounds Death Knell For Israeli-Turkish Strategic Ties

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ICC: Israel’s killing of 9 Gaza flotilla protesters ‘not of sufficient gravity’ for war crimes probe

“Following a thorough legal and factual analysis of the information available, I have concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court were committed on one of the vessels, the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli Defense Forces intercepted the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla,’” the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou B. Bensouda said in a statement. However Bensouda ruled in the 61-page report that any cases relating to the incident, which brought Israeli-Turkish relations to a historic low, “would not be of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the ICC.”

The Israeli raid on Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31, 2010, killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin as the vessels tried to penetrate the Israeli blockade on Gaza maintained since 2007.

The lawsuit against the state of Israel was filed in The Hague three years later on behalf of Turkey’s Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH) and the victim’s families, with an authorization from Comoros Islands in which the raided vessel, the Mavi Marmara, was registered.

A lawyer representing Comoros pledged not to quit the case.

“This is a moral struggle that we’re pursuing by ourselves. It’s a legal struggle; a struggle in the name of humanity. This struggle isn’t over,” said Ramazan Ariturk, as quoted by AP. “We will object to a higher court at the International Criminal Court and we believe without a doubt that we will prevail.”

Article 12(2) of the Rome Statute stipulates that the court’s jurisdiction extends to crimes committed on board a vessel or aircraft of a member state and its territory. Turkey, Israel and Palestine are not members of the ICC.

Israeli lawyer Nick Kaufman thus claimed that Mavi Marmara was deliberately reflagged just before the flotilla set sail, to exploit a jurisdictional vehicle for the “continuing and obsessive ‘lawfare’ against Israel at the ICC.”

A 2011 UN report found that the raid was justified, but that Israel had used “excessive force.”

Representatives of the Comoros government, meanwhile, are planning to apply for a review of the decision, which “marks the first time a state referral by an ICC States Party has ever been rejected by … prosecutors without even initiating an investigation.”

“It confirms the view expressed by politicians, civil society organizations, NGOs and commentators from many quarters that Israel has a ‘special status,‘” said lawyers Rodney Dixon and Geoffrey Nice.

The 2010 atrocity caused international condemnation and severely damaged Turkish-Israeli relations. Three years after the raid, in March 2013, Turkey received an official apology from Israel over the incident.

In 2012, the ICC declined Palestine’s bid for an investigation into the 2008-09 Israeli military offensive on the Gaza strip on the basis that Palestine was not a recognized state at the time.

READ MORE:

Turkey PM slams Israel for ‘Hitler-like fascism’

https://www.rt.com/news/177164-erdogan-israel-gaza-fascism/

IDF version of the May 31 2010 attack on the Mavi Marmara with videohttp://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/pressroom/2010/pages/israel_navy_warns_flotilla_31-may-2010.aspx

Ex-Israeli PM, Elud Barak, sued over flotilla raid that killed Turkish-American

http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_ex-israeli-pm-sued-over-flotilla-raid-that-killed-turkish-american_402204.html

Videos emerge online showing Israeli police shooting Palestinian woman ‘execution-style’
https://www.rt.com/news/318116-palestinian-woman-execution-video/

IHH, Insani Yardim Vakfi [Turkish web site]

http://mavi-marmara.ihh.org.tr/

IHH from Wikipedia

Israeli soldiers accused manager and chair
07/11/2015, Saturday

http://mavi-marmara.ihh.org.tr/tr/main/news/0/israilli-yonetici-ve-askerler-sanik-sandalyes/2981

[Electronic translation into English]

ICC’s Appeals Court, an application made by the prosecution on the grounds that Israel can not be tried in the ICC refused contrary finding procedure and returned to the prosecutor.

Although he admitted that the ICC Prosecutor Fatou Benasouda war crimes committed in the Mavi Marmara, the occupant is looking for legal ways to see Israel in return for trial in the ICC Court of Appeal. The court “without adequate analysis of the decision not to reconsider the prosecution of Israeli’s prosecutor” by rejecting the prosecutor’s objection to the reference made to it was declared that the quest for a way out of order.

Israeli soldiers and administrators to be remembered for crimes committed in the Blue Marmara ship on 14/05/2013 Comoros flag state of the ship Mavi Marmara on behalf of the State, he made reference to the ICC in the Netherlands-The Hague. Application file was added as a party to the Rome Statute in Cambodian side and Greece.

ICC Prosecutor, “Israel’s Mavi Marmara attack in the war crimes he committed, to continue effective control over Gaza” occupier “is the status of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in marine protected areas all participants in international law that the civil status of Israeli soldiers and of the passengers in the fleet Although he knew that the civilians carried out the attack that “had been identified. ICC Prosecutor identify this sorting “Israel’s self-defense thesis that finding worthy of discussion” and mentioned that “when the autopsy reports of those who lost their lives assessment; from the beginning, from the feet, they were shot several times in the neck and at least five people were shot dead from gunshot distance, “he said.

The prosecution also victims of these crimes and the number of deaths in the off-peak rate will be the ICC’s jurisdiction (“Gravity” principle) it decided that there was no investigative powers of the grounds.

Israel, remain exempt from prosecution for crimes committed in the Mavi Marmara, and does not eliminate the risk of impunity and questioned whether the account has entered into all kinds of intensive efforts to sustain the law does not recognize policy.

The decision of the ICC Prosecutor “Israel’s Mavi Marmara attack in the ‘war crime’ committed by” although it has been determined “the severity of the crime” justification showing the Comoros against the termination end of the investigation the State Attorney and the Mavi Marmara victims lawyers on 29.01.2015 “War Crimes functioning Punishment of Israel “it had to petition. Preliminary examination of this appeal the Court observed in court Mavi Marmara had found the right lawyer. Although not place the Court of Appeal judgment procedure applying to the ICC prosecutor, had gone looking for a way to avoid criminal prosecution of Israelis. 06/11/2015 The prosecutor in the Court of Appeal that the reference to the date (yesterday) as his refusal, the Israeli authorities to prevent the prosecution and the defendant’s chair to sit the soldiers had no legal grounds to remain.

ICC Prosecutor or bowed to pressure Israel to the ICC’s caused him to lose all legitimacy, or no longer suitable as Israeli criminals to the ICC, the aim will be sat in the dock.
Mavi Marmara incident is not a separate case from the conflict between Palestine and Israel and the Gaza blockade. International Criminal Tribunal for the purpose of organization and responsibility ‘to ensure justice. The establishment of the ICC, which has become a hope for many victims in the justice expectations. But the ICC since its inception has been criticized constantly because of his position in the proceedings to date. The Mavi Marmara file this clamp is fully contracted.

The ICC Prosecutor to investigate the attack scale, qualifications of offenders in cases where constant war crimes to the shape of the action and ignore evidence to show aggravating factor when looking at the impact should start to be tried immediately.

ICC Mavi Marmara technical information about the file:

Application Deadline: May 14, 2013
Applicant States: Comoros State, Greece, Cambodia
Crime: War Crimes

Accused:
1. Shimon Peres, President of Israel
2. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister
3. Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister Period
4. Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister Period
5. Gabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff of Israel Period
6. Alfred Eliezer Marom, Israel Period Navy Commander
7. Amos Yadlin, Head of Intelligence period İsrial
8. Tal Russo, commander of the Central Command İsrial Mavi Marmara attack
9. Other commands and implements all political, civil and military officials.

http://mavi-marmara.ihh.org.tr/tr/main/news/0/israilli-yonetici-ve-askerler-sanik-sandalyes/2981

Deadly Israeli raid on aid fleet

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/05/201053113252437484.html

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, gave his “full backing” to the military forces after the raid, which he said “was to prevent the infiltration of thousands of rockets, missiles and other arms that could hit our cities, communities or people”.

“I give my complete backing to the army, the soldiers and commanders who acted to defend the state and to protect their lives.” He also said Israel regretted the loss of life in the raid.

Protests worldwide

Israeli media reported that many of the dead were Turkish nationals.

Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs the Gaza Strip, said the assault was a “massacre” and called on the international community to intervene.

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, urged Arabs and Muslims to show their anger by staging protests outside Israeli embassies across the globe.

The call came even as demonstrationsdenouncing the Israeli raid were being held in many cities around the world, including the capitals of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Thousands of Turkish protesters tried to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul soon after the news of the operation broke.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, officially declared a three-day state of mourning.

The United Nations Security Council  met on Monday afternoon for an emergency session to discuss the matter.

Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the chief foreign policy official of the UN, called on Israel to end its “counterproductive” and “unacceptable” blockade of Gaza.

Live ammunition

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, on board the flotilla’s lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, said in his last report before communications were cut off, that Israeli troops used live ammunition during the assault.

The Israeli military, 10 of whose soldiers were reportedly wounded in the operation, said troops opened fire after “demonstrators on board attacked the IDF naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs”.

Our correspondent said that a white surrender flag was raised from the ship and there was no live fire coming from the passengers.

Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros, reporting from the Israeli port of Ashdod, where the aid ships were taken after the assault, said the Israeli army was not giving any details of who had been killed, injured or detained.

“As soon as [the ships] land here, the goods [will be] taken [and] put into a terminal, and the passengers [made to] undergo extensive security checks,” she said.

“[They will be] given the choice either to go home straight away, in which case they will be taken to Tel Aviv airport. Or if they resist deportation, they will be taken to a nearby detention centre where, we understand, they will [remain] for at least 72 hours.”

More than 80 activists had been detained by mid-evening, Sabine Hadad, the spokeswoman for Israel’s immigration police, told AFP.

“So far, 83 have been detained, of whom 25 have agreed to be deported. The rest are going to jail,” she said.

Hadad said the Israeli authorities were expecting “hundreds more” arrests through the night.

Israeli defence

Defending Monday’s military raid, Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesperson, said the Israeli commandos came under fire from people on board the flotilla whom he branded as “violent extremists”.

“Israel was totally within its rights under international law to intercept the ship and to take it to the port of Ashdod,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Unfortunately they were met by the activists on the boats with deadly violence, knives, metal clubs, even live fire on our service people. They initiated the violence.”

He said the people on board the flotilla were not peaceful activists.

“They are part of the IHH, which is a radical Turkish Islamist organisation which has been investigated by Western governments and by the Turkish government itself in the past for their links with terrorist organisations.”

But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, said the flotilla was carefully inspected before departure that there was no one on board “other than civilian volunteers.

“I want to say to the world, to the heads of state and the governments, that these boats that left from Turkey and other countries were checked in a strict way under the framework of the rules of international navigation and were only loaded with humanitarian aid,” he said.

Israeli ‘cover-up’

Murat Mercan, the head of Turkey’s foreign relations committee, said that claiming activists on board had links to terrorist organisations was Israel’s way of covering up its mistake.

“Any allegation that the members of this ship is attached to al-Qaeda is a big lie because there are Israeli civilians, Israeli authorities, Israeli parliamentarians on board the ship,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Does he [Regev] think that those are also attached to al-Qaeda?”

The flotilla, aiming to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, confirmed that the attack took place in international waters, saying: “This happened in waters outside of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves.”

Mark Taylor, an international legal expert, told Al Jazeera that every state, including Israel, has the right to self-defence.

“In situations in which the state feels that it needs to take an act in international waters to defend itself, it will do that,” he said.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s legal under international law.

“In this case, we’re looking at a humanitarian aid convoy, with prominent people and activists, clearly not a military target in any way whatsoever.”

‘Dire need of aid’

Israel said the flotilla boats – carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid – were embarking on “an act of provocation” against the Israeli military rather than providing aid, and issued warrants to prohibit their entrance to Gaza.

But Adnan Abu-Hasana, a spokesman for UNRWA, said the Gazans are in dire need of aid after Israel’s war on the territory in December 2008-January 2009 destroyed buildings and infrastructure.

“We need hundreds of thousands of tonnes [of aid] to rebuild Gaza,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We need more of building materials … We need spare parts for machines in the agricultural and industrial sectors, for the fishermen, all these sectors are nearly collapsed.

“Eighty per cent of the Gazans are dependent on humanitarian aid coming from UN organisations such as UNRWA.”

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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Deadly Israeli Raid Draws Condemnation http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/world/middleeast/01flotilla.html?_r=0

By ISABEL KERSHNER MAY 31, 2010

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Q&A: Aid and Israel’s Gaza blockade
May 31, 2010

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/31/gaza.flotilla.aid/index.html

(CNN) — The deaths of nine people during a raid by Israeli soldiers on a flotilla bringing aid to Palestinians in Gaza has once again brought worldwide attention on Israel’s blockade of the area.

Who organized the flotilla?

The Free Gaza Movement, a Cyprus-based human rights group, brought together a number of organizations to form the Freedom Flotilla. The coalition includes the European Campaign to end the siege of Gaza. Another pro-Palestinian group, Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), a Turkish organization, also sent a ship. The flotilla left Cyprus on Sunday and had been due to arrive in Gaza on Monday.

Why a flotilla?

The Free Gaza Movement says it wants to raise awareness of what it describes as the “illegal siege on Gaza” by Israel. It says the blockade of Gaza by Israel is unjustified and that it denies Palestinians vital goods and services. “We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of Gaza and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation,” the group says on its Web site.

What does the convoy consist of?

Six ships — three passenger and three cargo vessels — carrying over 10,000 tons of aid and 600 passengers from more than 20 countries, says the Free Gaza Movement. Most of the passengers were Turkish. The cargo consists of food, medical aid and other supplies including cement, prefabricated housing and educational equipment, the group said. The Turkish prime minister said Monday that the vessels were inspected before they left port in Turkey to make sure the cargo did not include weapons.

What does Israel say about the blockade?

The blockade was imposed by Israel in 2007 after the militant group Hamas seized control of the territory. It is designed to stop the smuggling of arms into Gaza, the Israeli government says. Israel says the Gaza shoreline is closed to maritime traffic. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israeli civilians were plagued a year ago by rockets and missiles fired from Gaza that originated in places like Iran and Syria.

What does the U.N. say about the blockade?

The U.N. has described the blockade of Gaza by Israel as the “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people living there. The United Nations has repeatedly criticized the blockade and the insufficient flow of materials into the area for basic needs and reconstruction. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned the closure “creates unacceptable suffering, hurts forces of moderation and empowers extremists.”

What goods does Israel allow into Gaza?

About 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid flows into Gaza each week, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. Israel says it allows enough humanitarian aid — including food and medicines – into Gaza for the people who live there and that the blockade is designed to stop Hamas from building or acquiring arms. Israel has never published a list of banned items but it has refused to allow into Gaza books, paper, blankets and reconstruction materials. The U.N. says 80 percent of Gazans rely on some form of humanitarian aid.

Why did Israel object to the flotilla?

The Israeli government described the flotilla has a “provocation” and said it was a political stunt. Danny Ayalon, the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, said: “The organizers’ intent was violent, their method was violent and the results were unfortunately violent.” The Free Gaza Movement said the flotilla’s aim was to “challenge Israel’s blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in an open-air prison.”

Was there another route for this aid?

The Israeli government said it would allow humanitarian aid on the flotilla into Gaza through its normal channels. An IDF spokesman said the vessels “refused to comply with an invitation to come to Ashdod port where they could transfer aid into the Gaza strip.” Audrey Bomse, legal advisor to the Free Gaza Movement, told CNN the group did not believe the Israelis would let the cargo into Gaza and that the cargo also included reconstruction aid which Israel does not allow into Gaza

How did things turn violent?

The Israel government says its soldiers faced violent resistance as they boarded the largest ship, the Marmara. The Free Gaza Movement denies there was violent resistance to Israeli soldiers, saying the soldiers immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians. Video released by the Israeli Defense Forces showed intense fighting on the decks of the ship.

What happens next?

The ships were escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod and 15 people who had been aboard were taken to an Israeli prison in Beer Sheva, according to a spokesman for the Israeli prison authority. Meanwhile diplomatic tensions rise. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel, there was widespread international condemnation of the Israeli operation and the U.N. Security Council met Monday.

Have ships been sent to Gaza during the blockade before?

Yes, the Free Gaza Movement on its website says it has organized eight voyages to Gaza, “successfully arriving in Gaza five times.” The group said its “boats are the first international ships to sail to the Gaza Strip since 1967.”