Israel wants own probe on Flotilla

Israel says it would lead its own controlled examination of its carnage of Gaza-bound activists, defying the global community’s call for an international probe.

Minister without portfolio Benny Begin told public radio on Tuesday that the investigation would only see whether the May 31 attack was legal, AFP reported.

The surge on the Turkish-backed aid convoy, Freedom Flotilla, which had set sail to break Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip, claimed at least 20 people, including eight Turks and a US national of Turkish origin.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged an international assessment into the assault.

The United States on Tuesday backed the call. “We understand that the international participation in investigating these matters will be important to the credibility everybody wants to see,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

21 leaders from Russia, Iran, the Arab world and the Asian nations joined a security summit in Turkey’s Istanbul today, expressing “their grave concern and condemnation for the actions undertaken” by Israel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack “a crude violation” of international law.

The Turkish Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul has already initiated an investigation in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered the prime suspect behind the assault. The Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and the regime’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak are also regarded as potential perpetrators.