Istanbul court accepts indictment against Israeli commanders

ISTANBUL 

İstanbul 7th Criminal Court on Monday unanimously accepted an indictment against four top Israeli commanders who were on duty when the "Mavi Marmara" aid ship bound for Gaza came under attack of Israeli troops in May 2010.

A prosecutor in Turkey demanded, on May 23, nine aggravated life imprisonment sentences for four top Israeli generals each including the country's chief of military staff over the killing of nine Turks aboard a vessel in a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The 144-page indictment prepared by Istanbul Prosecutor Mehmet Akif Ekinci sought life imprisonment sentences for former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Naval Forces commander Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom, Israel's military intelligence chief Major General Amos Yadlin and Air Forces Intelligence head Brigadier General Avishai Levi for their involvement in the attack on the Mavi Marmara, the chief vessel in the Free Gaza convoy.
Apart from life imprisonment, the indictment also demands for the top four commanders prison terms of up to 18 thousand years in total for other crimes allegedly committed during the raid.
The indictment also includes 490 victims and plaintiffs, including 189 people who were injured in the attacks.
The indictment rejected Israeli claims that Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara acted in self defense, saying that Israeli commandos used unproportionate force by firing with heavy weapons and automatic rifles on passengers who only carried "plastic flag masts, spoons and forks."
The incident brought Turkish-Israeli relations to a historic low. 
Ankara demanded a formal apology from Israel for the killings and that Israel lifted the Gaza blockade. Turkey has also expelled the Israeli ambassador and suspended military agreements it penned with the country.

Hamas's leader congratulates Turkish families over rejecting Israel's money offer

Izzet al-Risk, one of the Hamas's leaders, paid a compliment on Turkish families who denied Israel's money offer and an informal "apology" message over the Israeli attack on "Mavi Marmara" aid ship.
Talking to the AA correspondent on Monday, Izzet al-Risk said that Israel regionally and internationally must be driven into a corner of legal platform.
Al-risk congratulated the families with their honourable standing.
Ramazan Ariturk, barrister of 9 families who lost their relatives at the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla, had earlier said that Israel offered 6 million US dollars and an informal "apology" message to 9 families, and with this offer the families should withdraw the case in the national and international justice system.
All families had rejected the Israel's offer.
Nine Turks were killed as Israeli navy attacked a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May 2010.
Following the attack, Isarel's government set up the Turkel Commission, a commission of inquiry headed by Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, to investigate the attack.
Turkel Commission prepared the 300-page report. Turkish leaders dismissed the Israeli investigation, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated the demand for an independent investigation, stating that the Israeli investigation will not have international credibility.
Turkey also established an inquiry into the events, which found, in contrast to the Israeli inquiry, the blockade and the Israeli raid to have been illegal. After the Turkish inquiry, Turkey described the raid as a violation of international law, "tantamount to banditry and piracy", and described the killings of activists as "state-sponsored terrorism".
Concerning the Israel inquiry, Turkey said its own commission was "surprised, appalled and dismayed that the national inquiry process in Israel has resulted in the exoneration of the Israeli armed forces".
The Turkish prosecutors had completed their file regarding the attack on "Mavi Marmara" aid ship in the beginning of May 2012, in Turkey.