Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter.
The clash took place before dawn in international waters off Israel, after the flotilla ignored repeated Israeli warnings not to continue to Gaza. The enclave is ruled by the Hamas movement and is sealed off by an Israeli naval blockade.
The United Nations formed its own committee to investigate the Israeli raid, which will meet for the first time on Tuesday.
“Beginning on May 14, my office held contacts with the highest levels of the Turkish government,” Netanyahu said. “These contacts ... were intended to prevent a confrontation with the Marmara flotilla, and they continued until the eve of the flotilla’s arrival off Gaza’s shores,” he said.
“Despite our continuous diplomatic efforts, ultimately the Turkish government did not prevent the attempt by the Marmara to violate the naval blockade ... It appears that (Turkey) did not see in the prospect of a clash between Turkish activists and Israel something that clashed with its interests.” It was Netanyahu’s most explicit public account of behind-the-scenes diplomacy that in the end failed to avert the confrontation.
Nine Turks were shot dead when Israeli commandos stormed the lead ship, Mavi Marmara. Israel says its commandos used live fire only after being attacked with clubs, knives and gunfire by activists who it says were clearly prepared for violence.
The raid sparked a world outcry and almost ruptured Israel’s relations with Turkey. It also pushed Israel to ease its Gaza blockade, which is aimed at preventing the territory’s Hamas rulers from bolstering their weapons stockpile but also aggravates the privations of 1.5 million mostly aid-dependant Palestinians.
The Jerusalem-based inquiry is led by retired Supreme Court justice Jacob Turkel and includes two foreign observers. With a limited mandate, the panel’s findings will likely have little effect on the stability of Netanyahu’s government.
It is investigating the circumstances surrounding Israel’s handling of the encounter with the six-vessel, Turkish-owned aid flotilla that was trying to bring aid to Gaza, and cast a spotlight on its blockade in a direct challenge.
A separate, internal probe by Israel’s military, which included interviews with the commandos who stormed the ship, found intelligence and operational errors in planning but defended the soldiers’ use of force.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon denied Monday that he had struck an agreement with Israel that would bar a UN panel from interviewing Israeli military personnel about a bloody commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
“There was no such agreement behind the scene,” he told a press conference in a response to a question as to whether he had reached an understanding with Israel that the UN panel could not grill members of the Israeli military.
