KittyKitten
Nerdysillysweetspicysaucy
Israel admits ‘mistakes’ in attack on aid flotilla
Vita Bekker, Foreign Correspondent
* Last Updated: July 12. 2010 11:54PM UAE / July 12. 2010 7:54PM GMT
TEL AVIV // Israel yesterday admitted for the first time that it made mistakes in the commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine people died.
The official Israeli army report on the attack found that there were failures in intelligence-gathering and planning of the botched military operation on May 31 that killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American, said Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general who led the army’s investigation.
Mr Eiland said: “There were mistakes in the various decisions taken, including within relatively senior ranks, which ended up in a result we did not anticipate.”
Israel has faced an international outcry since the raid on the Turkish-registered Mavi Marmara. Turkey, once its close regional ally, withdrew its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises after calling the attack “state terrorism”.
However, the army denied that there were significant errors in the execution of the raid. Gabi Ashkenazi, the military’s chief of staff, said: “Neither I nor the inquiry found that a major failure occurred or that there was negligence. But definitely following such an in-depth inquiry there are mistakes that must be corrected in the future.”
.............................................................................
more at http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100713/FOREIGN/707129810/1002/TRAVEL
Vita Bekker, Foreign Correspondent
* Last Updated: July 12. 2010 11:54PM UAE / July 12. 2010 7:54PM GMT
TEL AVIV // Israel yesterday admitted for the first time that it made mistakes in the commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine people died.
The official Israeli army report on the attack found that there were failures in intelligence-gathering and planning of the botched military operation on May 31 that killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American, said Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general who led the army’s investigation.
Mr Eiland said: “There were mistakes in the various decisions taken, including within relatively senior ranks, which ended up in a result we did not anticipate.”
Israel has faced an international outcry since the raid on the Turkish-registered Mavi Marmara. Turkey, once its close regional ally, withdrew its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises after calling the attack “state terrorism”.
However, the army denied that there were significant errors in the execution of the raid. Gabi Ashkenazi, the military’s chief of staff, said: “Neither I nor the inquiry found that a major failure occurred or that there was negligence. But definitely following such an in-depth inquiry there are mistakes that must be corrected in the future.”
.............................................................................
more at http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100713/FOREIGN/707129810/1002/TRAVEL
