"Operation Cast Lead was limited in the scope of fire and forces used. IDF soldiers operated in crowded urban areas while Hamas made deliberate and cynical use of the Palestinian population (they were protecting), creating a complex security situation. Hamas operated from within civilian homes, schools, kindergartens, mosques, hospitals and UN facilities (bald-faced lies) while the population in the Gaza Strip was made hostage" - not by Hamas, its legitimate government, by Israeli marauders, rampaging, killing and destroying lawlessly, omitted from the general's account.
Israel's Inquiry Commission - Whitewashing the Flotilla Massacre
On June 14, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced its formation, an internal probe to suppress truths, its members including:
-- former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Jacob Turkel, heading it, a man with little inquiry commission experience;
-- Amos Horev, a retired Israeli major general, a prominent military-industrial complex figure; and two non-voting foreign observers:
-- David Trimble, head of Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party, First Minister of the Good Friday Agreement's power-sharing government, Conservative Party life peer, earlier involved with loyalist death squads and Royal Ulster Constabulary killers (RUC); and
-- Former Canadian General Ken Watkin, earlier involved in whitewashing Canada's role in committing Somalia atrocities in the early 1990s.
A June 15 Haaretz editorial was unimpressed, saying:
"....the committees membership nor its authority is suited to meet the challenges posed by the affair. (It's more) a public relations tool (than a body appointed) to bring justice to bear on those found responsible. It would have....been better if the (committee) had never been born, sparing us the deceptive appearance of a real investigation," what the commission will scrupulously avoid, its findings to be willful coverup, blaming the victims, not their assassins or culpable high-level officials.
An Israeli military inquiry was also conducted, headed by retired Major General Giora Eiland, his released July 12 findings calling the Flotilla attack justified, according to an official summary made public - Eiland submitting a classified 150 page report to IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and Ehud Barak, Israel's Defense Minister. Its conclusions were as follows:
Claim:
"....there were no wrongdoings and no negligences in any fundamental areas during a complicated and complex operation."
Fact Check:
Nonviolent unarmed activists were delivering humanitarian aid to besieged Gazans. In an operation planned weeks in advance, they were willfully attacked in international waters, up to 15 murdered in cold blood, commandos given names and photos of targets, incriminating evidence found on board the mother ship, the Mavi Marmarra.
Claim:
-- "But on the other hand, there were mistakes that were made in decisions, including some taken at relatively high levels, which meant that the result was not as had been initially anticipated."
