RAMALLAH, June 9 (JMCC) - Legal experts agree that the commission of inquiry dispatched by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel's deadly boarding of a fleet of Gaza-bound ships last week is likely to be a whitewash, reports The National.
Days after flatly rejecting an international investigation, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to announce an inquiry panel comprising Israeli maritime law experts and two foreign observers.
It will have no legal authority, cannot require witnesses to appear and will not be able to question anyone who took part in the attack.
The Israeli legal scholar Amnon Rubinstein, who has been invited to serve on the panel, said: “There is coffee without caffeine and there is an investigative committee without an investigation. When you don’t investigate, it’s not an investigative committee.”
The United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the international community must be given a “credible” role in the investigation. “Credible international involvement is crucial to a prompt, credible, impartial and transparent investigation,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Read the story at The National...
