UN Report Confirms Israeli Blockade Is Legal, and Israeli Forces Faced Violent Rioters

Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) issued the following statement in response to Turkey’s decision to expel the Israeli ambassador from Ankara, following the release of the U.N. report on the Israeli actions to enforce its blockade of Gaza.  Rep. Engel is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Turkey should be ashamed of itself.  In an almost unbelievable act of hypocrisy, the Syrian ambassador sits comfortably in Ankara, while the Assad regime kills more than 2000 of its own people, but Turkey has expelled the Israeli Ambassador for Israel’s proper enforcement of a legally-established blockade.  Rather than bashing the only real democracy in the Middle East, Turkey should focus on its own problems, such as ending its occupation of Cyprus once and for all.

“The Palmer Commission report accurately confirmed that Israel acted within its rights in establishing a blockade of Gaza, and enforcing it.  I think the report went too far, however, when it said Israel used ‘excessive’ force.  Only after the Israelis faced serious, life-threatening violence did they act legally in self-defense.  I can see nothing wrong with that.”

Today, a long-awaited U.N. report on Israel’s May 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound ship said Israel's blockade of Gaza was legal. The report, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, also confirmed that Israeli commandos faced “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers.”   The report verified that Israel's blockade of Hamas-run Gaza “was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law."

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