The International Court of Justice in The Hague has closed its preliminary inquiry into the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish vessel that attempted to break the Israeli marine blockade of Gaza in May 2013. Following is the response released by the Israel Foreign Ministry.

Israel acknowledges the decision of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to close the preliminary inquiry of the flotilla incident (the Mavi Marmara) , which was launched following a request on behalf of the Union of the Comoros Islands in May 2013. At the same time, Israel has reservations regarding several points of legal analysis and a number of imprudent statements that appear in the report.

Israel believes that it was pointless to initiate a preliminary inquiry in the first place, and regrets that the resources and precious time of the Court – an institution established to combat the world’s worst atrocities – were allocated to an unfounded and politically motivated legal complaint.

It should be emphasized that this is a preliminary examination, and the prosecutor decided to close the case without deeming it necessary to address the issue of self-defense by IDF soldiers. As noted in the report, the soldiers were confronted with violence on the part of IHH activists on the flotilla, which, as the prosecutor determined, was not a humanitarian delegation.

It should be noted that any initial statement by the prosecutor regarding the conduct of the IDF soldiers, without addressing the main issue of self-defense that justifies the use of force and without having conducted a thorough investigation of the incident itself, necessarily leads to erroneous and misleading statements.

It should be further noted in this context that these exact issues were thoroughly examined in detail by Israel, including by an independent commission of inquiry headed by a retired Supreme Court judge (the Turkel Committee), as well as by a special committee of the UN Secretary General (Palmer Committee). Both determined that the IDF soldiers were forced to respond with force to protect their lives from lethal, pre-planned and organized violence.

The prosecutor also decided to close the case without considering the question of the Principle of Complementarity, whereby the Court will not investigate cases that have been properly investigated by the relevant country. In this context, it should be noted that Israel is recognized by leading professionals in the international community as a state of law, with independent and effective inspection mechanisms that meet high international standards.

Israel will continue to act in accordance with its right and duty to protect the security of its citizens, while preserving the rule of law.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)