Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seven other former and current government officials are at risk of arrest if they step foot on Spanish soil over the Marmara affair after a judge drew up warrants earlier this week, Spanish media reported Friday.
Other officials in the case include former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman; current and former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and Ehud Barak, respectively; former interior minister Eli Yishai; former minister of intelligence Dan Meridor; minster without portfolio Benny Begin; and former head of the Navy Eliezer Marom.
Together with Netanyahu, and excluding Morom, the officials make up the so called ‘Forum of Seven,” an ad-hoc committee of ministers that made key decisions on security issues.
In response to the judge’s order, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said: “We consider it to be a provocation. We are working with the Spanish authorities to get it canceled. We hope it will be over soon.”
In the 2010 incident, a group of human rights activists and a smaller group of IHH activists (which the quasi-government Turkel Commission Report identified as affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood) boarded several ships to try to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israel commandeered and stopped most of the ships without incident, yet when Israel Navy commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, IHH activists attacked them, leading to some commandos being wounded and, eventually, 10 deaths on the IHH side.
Turkey and many others in the international community accused Israel of war crimes, but it was cleared by the Turkel Commission and the UN-sponsored Palmer Report, which validated some of Israel’s narrative of fighting in self-defense or said there was not sufficient evidence to pursue Israel for war crimes, even as the Palmer Report said some of the IDF’s force was excessive.
This is just the start of the “list” for these sick clowns. Ehud Barack especially
I’ll be adding that one to my christmas wishlist.