Israeli inquiry is an insult to those who died

The murder of nine peace activists on the high seas and the piratical seizing of six ships cannot be washed away by secret Israeli inquiries, which will not publish their findings for the public to read and understand. Two days ago, an Israeli military investigation published only a few sections of its findings and offered the bizarre conclusion that the main problem with the assault on the Mavi Marmara and five other vessels carrying aid to Gaza was that the Israeli military had not prepared enough for their action.

This conclusion is an insult to the memory of the dead killed by the Israeli military. The supposed investigation is ridiculous, and adds nothing to the world's desire to see a proper explanation for what happened. The eventual outcome of a parallel Israeli civilian enquiry is all too likely to follow the same lines, and it has been banned from examining the political thinking behind ordering the assault on the flotilla.

These killings and the impounding of the ships happened in international waters. This assault on ships sailing under Turkish and US flags has to be treated as piracy, and made subject to international law. The United Nations should take action, and move ahead with its own investigation, to come to a conclusion as soon as possible. If that means referring the matter to international courts, it should do so.

Delay only serves to hide the guilty parties and give them more time to cover up their crimes, and to divert the world's attention from their acts. The Israelis have already succeeded in diverting the damning Goldstone Report on their use of illegal weapons during the siege of Gaza. The same fate should not happen to the investigation of the murder of nine people, and wholesale piracy of the Freedom Flotilla.