Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is the target of a lawsuit filed by three American and one Belgian citizen, all of whom were on board another flotilla vessel which tried to break the IDF Navy blockade on Gaza. According to the lawsuit filed in a Washington federal court, Israel is charged with ‘war crimes’ for the actions of navy commandos who boarded the vessel in May 2010 leading to the deaths of nine Turkish nationals, in addition to claiming some 150 others were injured.

In the recent conciliatory agreement signed between Israel and Turkey, Israel agrees to pay $21 million in compensation to the families of the nine killed. Turkey has agreed to drop all legal actions against Israeli and the state in return.

The four Americans David Schermerhorn, Mary Ann Wright and Huwaida Arraf, a dual US-Israeli citizen, and Belgian national Margriet Deknopper, were on the ship “Challenger 1”. That vessel was carrying media equipment. According to the Ynet report, they claim of the 17 people on board that vessel, some were injured and one person sustained partial loss of his eyesight when a stun grenade detonated too close to him.

According to attorney Steven M. Schneebaum, the Israeli operation was illegal, taking place in international waters. It is added that Shaked is mentioned as the head of Israel’s Ministry of Justice. Other ministers are also mentioned in the lawsuit.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)