Israelis invite Mavi Marmara captain to give testimony at their investigation

The Gaza flotilla probe panel set up by Israel in an effort to whitewash its piracy and murder at high seas, has invited the captain of the Mavi Marmara to give evidence. His testimony would follow on the heels of the Chairman of Israel's National Security Council Professor Uzi Arad testified before the Turkel committee behind closed doors and the Mossad director Meir Dagan was expected to testify on Tuesday.

Now, no doubt, they will be baying that if Mr. Halid Terzi fails to appear, he obviously has something to hide. Nevertheless, it might just be that he has the good sense not to confer any sort of legitmacy on this so-called "internal investigation". All the more so that by the time Uzi Arad, Meir Dagan and others have spouted fourth their justifications for the crime that took place on May 31st, whatever he says will simply be seen in relation to some bigger picture. A picture which we will be told is all about the survival of Israel itself.

No, my advice to Mr. Terzi is that he steer clear of this farce. Furthermore, although not completely relevant, could you actually imagine an internal enquiry by the Lebanese government in 2006 or the Hamas government in Gaza in 2009 inviting Israelis to give testimony. It is, indeed, time not only for Israel to waken up but for the rest of the world to do so and realise that rather than confer this rogue state with some sort of credibility, it is time to deprive it of any legitimacy until it accepts international law. That could begin with an external investigation into the crimes committed not only at high seas on the 31st of May but also the countless other crimes committed in the past by the Zionist regime and before that we could expect an Israeli withdrawal from, at least, all of the territories occupied after June 67.