Chief Flotilla raid investigator gives Israel advice on Hasbara

The leader of the flotilla incident investigation committee castigates government, media – and exposes his committee as a sham

Former Supreme Court Judge, Ya’akov Turkel, harshly criticized both the government and Israeli media today (Hebrew). Turkel claimed the government “doesn’t know how to do Hasbara properly” (inarticulateness in the original), and that its Hasbara organs “have abandoned our judicial Hasbara too quickly. We have more to say, aside from Biblical rights and security reasons”. He also lambasted the Israeli media, who according to him “did not act in accordance with what was good for Israel.”

Turkel is 76, so his formative years were during the pre-Israel days, the collective period of out history; this may, barely, excuse his demands that the Israeli media act like the Syrian one does. However, the fact that a former SCJ judge cannot understand other people may understand Israel’s interests differently from him is much more problematic. Just mutter a blessing he is no longer on the bench.

The elephant in the room, of course, is the fact that Turkel is also the chief of the investigating committee investigating the Mavi Marmara incident. For the senior official in an ongoing investigation to claim publicly that not only is Israel correct but that the government is inept in informing the public about it is cause for some surprise and concern. Turkel basically announced his committee’s verdict is known in advance.

It’s not a surprise, of course; Anyone who paid attention knew the Turkel Committee is a sham months ago. It’s just so unusual to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Even so, it is unlikely that Turkel will be asked to step down; he only blurted what people were doing their best to ignore.

File under “the only democracy in the Middle East”.

(Yossi Gurvitz)