Israeli military inquiry : "...attaches no blame to the navy commandos..."

From the CBC:

Israel made 'mistakes' in Gaza ship raid: panel

Last Updated: Monday, July 12, 2010 | 4:57 PM ET

Israeli authorities did not do an adequate job of planning the deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, says an Israeli military inquiry report released Monday.

A frame grab from a video released by the Israeli military shows what the military says is a pro-Palestinian activist hitting Israeli soldiers with a club-like object after the soldiers raided a ship that was part of Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, 2010. (Israeli military/Reuters)

Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed and dozens injured during the May 31 pre-dawn raid, when Israeli commandos boarded six vessels on their way to Gaza.

The deaths occurred aboard one ship — the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara.

Declassified sections of the Israeli military commission's report cited several flaws in preparation for the raid. The report said faulty intelligence led military planners to underestimate the possibility of violent resistance to the boarding.

"Mistakes were made in the various decisions taken, including within relatively senior ranks, which contributed to the result not being as we would have wished," the panel's chair, retired general Giroa Eiland, told reporters at a briefing.

"In this inquiry, we found that there were some professional mistakes regarding both the intelligence and the decision-making process and some operational mistakes."

The report attaches no blame to the navy commandos that carried out the raid and does not call for anyone's dismissal. But officials told The Associated Press that some senior officers could be demoted or forced out.

Israel has maintained that its forces had the legal right to board the vessel to enforce a naval blockade it put in place in 2007 to stop weapons from reaching Hamas-controlled Gaza. It says its forces fired in self-defence when passengers attacked them with metal rods....

More here.

There is another civilian inquiry ongoing, and still there are calls for an international inquiry. It is my opinion that Israel should not bow to pressure and agree to any international inquiry. Imagine the outcry if it was demanded of ANY other country to participate in such a deal after they had defended their own territory! Absurd.

As this report says, one of Israel's failings in this incident was in having their troops woefully under-equipped in terms of weaponry as they faced these armed militants, on the Mavi Marmara. Lesson learned, I hope.