Israel Latest: Turkel Committee on Gaza Flotilla Raid "Self-Defense for a Legal Blockade"

In the first part of its findings,  the Turkel Commission, an Israeli panel of enquiry into last May's Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, declared that commandos acted in self-defense when they boarded the lead ship, killing nine Turkish citizens. The committee said that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip does not break international law, adding that Israel had also complied with the humanitarian conditions for such a blockade.

The official report did express some criticism of West Jerusalem, calling on officials to "examine the medical needs of the people of Gaza in order to find ways to improve the current situation" and to find ways to "focus its sanctions on Hamas while avoiding harm against the civilian population".

The English translation of the report will be submitted to the United Nations panel, chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, that is probing the incident. 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the Turkel Committee "proves Israel is a law-abiding nation that could inspect itself and which respects the norms and rules of the international system". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also satisfied: 

The truth is simple. DF soldiers defended themselves and their country. It is not only their privilege but also their duty and the State of Israel stands behind their actions. 

The IDF soldiers board the Marmara with courage and restraint. The goal was to enforce the naval blockade on Gaza. The whole world saw how our soldiers were attacked and were forced to defend their lives. We established an independent panel of inquiry and the report that it submitted clearly shows that both the blockade on Gaza and its enforcement are legal, and that IDF soldiers acted legally and in self-defense.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the report and said that the Israeli report had "no value or credibility".