BICOM

A Turkish high criminal court yesterday unanimously accepted an indictment seeking life sentences for former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi and three other Israeli generals over the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid. In response to the reports, Ashkenazi told the Jerusalem Post that he hoped common sense would prevail and expressed hope that Turkey would re-establish diplomatic ties with Israel.

“From the beginning of the affair, I appeared before every forum, sometimes on my own, to defend IDF soldiers who performed their job out in the field on behalf of Israel,” Ashkenazi said. “If the price of what I did is not being able to visit Turkey – I am willing to pay that price, ” Ashkenazi told the Post.

OC Israel Navy V.-Adm. Eliezer Marom, former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former IAF intelligence head Brig.-Gen. Avishai Levy were also charged in the indictment which seeks nine counts of aggravated life imprisonment. The former IDF commanders were charged over their alleged involvement in the killing of nine Turks on the Gaza-bound aid ship the Mavi Marmara, Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman and the Andalou Agency reported Monday.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated rapidly after Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara aid vessel in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turks in clashes with activists on board the ship.

Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze all military cooperation after a UN report into the incident released last September largely exonerated Israel.

On 8 February 2011, the report of Israel’s Turkel Commission, a comprehensive inquiry with international observers that examined the events surrounding the flotilla, held that “the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip… was legal pursuant to the rules of international law.” Moreover, that the “actions carried out by Israel on May 31, 2010, to enforce the naval blockade had the regrettable consequences of the loss of human life and physical injuries. Nonetheless, and despite the limited instances of uses of force for which we could not reach a conclusion, the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law.”