Comparison of Israeli and Turkish Commissions to Investigate the Events of May 31, 2010

Criteria for the investigation, as defined by the UN Security Council (SC/9940)

Prompt Impartial Credible Transparent Conforming to International Standards

Commission Powers and Methods

The Israeli Commission The Turkish Commission

Duration of the • The Commission was established on June 14, 2010, soon after the flotilla • Established August 11,
Commission's event. It completed work on its Report (part 1) within seven months. 2010, it finished its work by
Work (Part 1) September. Its report was
prepared in only three weeks.

Commission • The Commission's website includes the testimony of most of those who • The Turkish Commission
Transparency appeared during its public sessions. has no website, its report was
not published, and it has not
• The majority of the Commission's sessions were public. A minority took place
been made available to the
behind closed doors for security, diplomatic or other pressing reasons. The
public.
Commission itself decided which sessions would be public and which closed. The
foreign observers were present during all of the sessions, including those that
were closed to the public.

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 • The Commission will make its report available online in English and Hebrew.

Authority to • The Commission operates with powers and authorities well-defined in Israeli Unknown
summon law (specifically articles 9-11 and 27 of the Commissions of Inquiry Law.
witnesses and
• The Commissions of Inquiry Law determines that the Commission shall have
receive
powers comparable to those of an Israeli civil court.
documents
• Every Israeli government body and official was required to cooperate fully
with the Commission. They were required to submit to the Commission any
information deemed necessary, and to testify before it if so requested.
• The Commission was entitled to seek any information from the Prime
Minister, Defense Minister, other ministers and IDF Chief of Staff, including via
verbal testimony.
• The Commission was empowered to seek the testimony of, or information
from, any person or body, whether in Israel or abroad. It could do so regarding
any subject which it believed was relevant to its investigation.
• The Commission Chair was authorized, under the Commissions of Inquiry
Law, to impose a monetary penalty on officials who refused to cooperate. (Under
certain circumstances, in the case of an extended and unjustified refusal, the
Commission Chair could impose a penalty of imprisonment for up to two years).
• The Commission issued a public call to the flotilla participants, to the
citizens of Turkey, Israel and all other countries, and to any other
eyewitnesses with relevant information, to testify before the Commission.

Evidence and • All of the information requested by the Commission was provided to it. Unknown

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testimony
• Dozens of witnesses were summoned to give testimony, including senior
members of the political and military echelons. Among those who testified were
the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, IDF Chief of Staff, Military Advocate
General, Foreign Ministry Director General, National Security Advisor,
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Dangot,
senior officials in the Interior Ministry and the Israeli Police, human rights and
other civil society organizations, the head of the parliamentary Opposition and
eyewitnesses to the events on the Mavi Marmara.
• The committee examined thousands of pages of documents and hundreds of
video clips.

Impartiality and • Committee made up of independent experts Commission composed of

independence government officials only
• The committee was given total freedom to determine the course and
manner of its work.
• The committee decided who to summon to testify, what information to
request, etc.

The legal Article 9 of the Commissions of Inquiry Law determines that the Commission Chair
foundations of may, with the agreement of the other members:
the committee
• Summon relevant persons to testify and require that documents be
brought before it.
• Require a witness to give testimony under oath as if he or she were
testifying in a civil court.

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 • Impose penalties and use other methods to compel a person to appear
and testify before the Commission, if the person does not have sufficiently
reasonable grounds for refusing.
• To order the gathering of testimony outside of Israel

• Art. 10 of the Commission of Inquiry Law determines that the duties of a

person summoned to appear before the Commission shall be "those of one under
investigation according to art. 2 of the Israel Criminal Procedure Stature
(Testimony)."

• Issues The Commission was asked to examine whether Israel's actions were in accordance Unknown
investigated with international law. More specifically it was asked to-
by the • Examine the security considerations which led to the imposition of a
committee maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip, and the compatibility of the blockade
with the provisions of international law.
• Examine the compatibility with international law of the actions which
Israel took on May 31, 2010 to enforce its blockade.
• Examine the actions and identities of the flotilla organizers and
participants.
• Examine whether the mechanisms which exist in Israel for examining
claims regarding violations of the Laws of Armed Conflict, in general and
specifically with reference to the events of May 31, are compatible with
Israel's international legal obligations (findings regarding this issue will be
published in the near future.)

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 It should be noted that the Turkel commission is in fact the second Israel committee established to examine the events of May
31, 2010. The findings of the committee headed by Major General (ret.) Giora Eiland were submitted to the Turkel
Commission, and Eiland himself gave testimony before that commission.

Commission Members:

Israeli Commission Turkish Commission

Commission Public and independent commission headed by a former Supreme Court justice Internal government commission
character

Commission members Jacob Turkel, Committee Chair Officials from various

government offices. Individual
• Served as a judge for 38 years, including ten years on Israel's
identities are not known
Supreme Court
• Served as chair of numerous public commissions
• A senior lecturer at the leading institutes of higher education in
Israel.

Amb. Shabtai Rosenne

(note- Amb. Rosenne passed away on Sept. 21, 2010, while the Commission's
work was in progress)

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 • An internationally-renowned legal scholar and diplomat
• Served for 19 years as a legal advisor in the Foreign Ministry
• Recipient of Israel Prize for Jurisprudence
• Recipient of Hague Prize for International Law in 2004
• Elected as Honorary President of the American Society of
International Law
• Faculty member of leading law faculties in Israel and abroad
(including Bar-Ilan University, University of Cambridge, University of
Amsterdam, the Hague Academy of International Law.)
• Served as a legal advisor to the governments of the USA,
Yugoslavia, Japan and other countries.

Major-General (Ret.) Amos Horev

• Former President of the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology
• BA and MA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Served in numerous senior positions in the IDF
• Served as Chief Scientist of the IDF
• Chaired numerous public investigative commissions

Prof. Miguel Deutch

• Tel Aviv University School of Law Professor

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 • Members of tens of academic commissions and committees
• Lecturer at numerous leading universities in Israel and abroad and
at the Institute for Continuing Legal Studies for Judges
• For the past 17 years has advised and drafted legislation for the
Ministry of Justice
• Principal Researcher and member of the Civil Law Codification
Committee, chaired by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak

Amb. Reuven Merhav

• More than thirty years of service in the diplomatic and intelligence fields,
including in the Foreign Ministry and Mossad
• A Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies for more than 15
years.
• Led the joint team from the Prime Minister's Office and the Jerusalem
Institute which studied issues related to permanent status negotiations with the
Palestinians. Served as an advisor to PM Ehud Barak at the 2000 Camp David
Summit.
• Served as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1988-1991)
and Director General of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption (1992-1993).
• Studied Middle Eastern history, Arabic and languages at the Hebrew
University's Institute of Asian and African Studies.
• Was awarded a Medal of Merit by the President of the Czech Senate for his
work at the Holocaust Era Assets Commission (HEAC).

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 Brigadier-General_(Ret.) Kenneth W. Watkin,
Foreign Observers on \
the Commission: Took
an active part in all • Citizen of Canada
facets of the
Commission's work, • Retired in April 2010 as the Judge Advocate General for the Canadian
including its forces after 33 years of military service, including twenty-eight years as a
discussions, military legal officer.
consultations, and
examination of • Judge Advocate General from 2006 to 2010.
witnesses.
• Was the legal advisor to a 1993 Canadian military/civilian board of inquiry
that investigated the activities of the Canadian forces in Somalia.

• From 1995-2005, was Government counsel in respect of various

investigations and inquiries arising from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

• Received in 1997 the Maritime Commander's Commendation for legal

services provided to the Canadian Navy. In 2002 was appointed to the
Order of Military Merit and in 2006 was appointed Queen's Counsel.

• From 2002 to 2003 was a Visiting Fellow at the Human Rights Program at
Harvard Law School. .

• Appointed the 2010-12 Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law

at the United States Naval War College.

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 • Has published widely on a variety of operational law topics,
including the international humanitarian law, human rights and discipline.

The Rt. Hon.(William) David Trimble, Lord Trimble

• Citizen of Ireland

• 1998 Nobel Peace Laureate (jointly with John Hume), following the
making of the Belfast Agreement (Good Friday).

• Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, 1995 to 2005.

• First Minister, Northern Ireland, 1998 to 2002.

• Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1998 to 2007.

• Created Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey in 2006. Sitting in the House of

Lords as a Crossbench peer (2006), then as a Conservative Peer (2007 to
date.)

• Member (South Belfast) of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.

• Formerly a Senior Lecturer in law at Queen's University, Belfast.

• Published numerous articles and books on various legal subjects.