Occupied Jerusalem: Flawed intelligence-gathering and planning led to Israel's botched and deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, with security forces underestimating the potential for violence, said the official report released on Monday.
The report, however, praised the commandos who took part in the operation, saying they were justified in opening fire and killing nine peace activists on board one of the ships.
The report concluded that intelligence-gathering was deficient and that various intelligence units did not communicate properly with each other. It criticised the operation's planners for not having a back-up plan in the event of violence.
It did not recommend any dismissals, though it is possible that some senior officers will be ousted or demoted in an ensuing shake-up.
"We found that there were some professional mistakes regarding both the intelligence and the decision-making process and some operational mistakes," the report's author, retired general Giora Eiland, told reporters at a defence ministry briefing where declassified sections of the report were discussed.
Some of the mistakes took place at fairly high levels of command, Eiland said, giving few details. The report itself was not made public.
The criticisms that were aired at the briefing — as well as the praise for the soldiers who took part in the raid — have been widely voiced inside Israel since the raid.
"If tomorrow we face a similar ship, we'll be able to stop it," Eiland said. "If there are dozens of people on board with cold weapons and they are committed to kill soldiers and committed to be killed, we can't guarantee they won't be killed," he added.
Eiland made the observation after playing footage that he said showed passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, the biggest ship in the flotilla, saying they wanted to die as martyrs.
Libyan ship due
Meanwhile, organisers of a Libyan aid ship, which was sent by a charity group headed by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, have said they do not seek confrontation with Israel but are determined to reach Gaza.
"This ship is carrying humanitarian aid and its organisers are not looking for political propaganda or media campaigns or any provocation," said Yousuf Sawani, executive director of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, which dispatched the protest vessel.
Sawani said he was hopeful the vessel would reach Gaza Tuesday.
Israel has resisted calls for a UN-led inquiry into the raid, saying it would be biased. In addition to the investigation conducted for the military, Israel has appointed a civilian inquiry with a mandate limited to investigating the legality of the operation.
Civilian probe
A civilian panel is conducting a separate investigation into the raid that triggered an international outcry. The panel is led by former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Jacob Turkel, and includes two international observers.
Its narrow mandate does not include an examination of the political decision-making process behind the launching of the raid, although Turkel said it would call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to testify.
Instead, it focuses on whether the naval blockade and the flotilla's interception conformed with international law. The panel also will investigate the actions taken by the convoy's organisers and participants.
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