Weapons found on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla headed for Gaza in 2011. (Itamar Moatty/IDF Spokesperson/Flash90)
The ICC prosecutor affirmed that there is no cause to open an investigation into a 2010 flotilla incident during which extremists clashed with Israeli security forces.
By World Israel News and AP
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Monday again refused to open an investigation into a 2010 flotilla incident during which anti-Israel activists engaged in an armed confrontation with IDF troops.
Appeals judges in September ordered Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to reconsider her earlier refusals to open a formal investigation into the May 31, 2010 incident involving the Mavi Marmara.
Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed and several other pro-Palestinian activists were wounded by Israeli commandos. Footage of the incident shows the individuals attacking Israeli security forces.
Bensouda decided that the case wasn’t serious enough to merit an ICC probe.
On Monday, she repeated that assertion.
“The Prosecutor maintains her view that there is not a reasonable basis to proceed, because there is no potential case arising from this situation that is sufficiently grave,” Bensouda said in a 44-page document.
The order was the latest and likely the last step in a long legal battle to bring the case before the court.
In 2018, a leading pro-Palestinian activist involved in the incident verified Israel’s version of the events, JNS reported.
Specifically, so-founder and spokesperson of the Free Gaza Movement, Greta Berlin, posted in a secret pro-Palestinian British Facebook group that Israeli troops did not open fire until after Ken O’Keefe, a former U.S. Marine aboard the Mavi Marmara, wrested a gun from one of the soldiers.
“He was responsible for some of the deaths on board the Mavi Marmara,” wrote Berlin. “Had he not disarmed an Israeli … soldier, they would not have started to fire. That’s enough. Most of you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Bensouda first declined a request to investigate the raid in 2014. A panel of pretrial judges asked her to reconsider and she again refused to open an investigation in 2017. That decision was appealed, leading to the order earlier this year to again reconsider.
The original request was made by the tiny Indian Ocean islands nation of Comoros because the Mavi Marmara was sailing under a Comoros flag.
Stevens also sought an apology for his previous rhetoric concerning Israel
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