Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a cabinet meeting Monday called in order to approve the committee elected to investigate the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. All ministers voted in favor of the committee.
"I am convinced that exposing the facts will prove that our aim was to conduct a defense operation according to the highest standards," Netanyahu said.
He also told the ministers present at the meeting that he had called several European leaders and briefed them on the decision to establish the Turkel committee, in order to clarify that the international community supports Israel's decision.
The leaders included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Quartet envoy Tony Blair.
The Turkel committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, includes two Israeli members aside from the former judge: Amos Horev, who served as president of the Technion, and Shabtai Rosen, a professor of international law.
In addition, two international observers have been elected to the committee: William David Trimble, the first minister of Northern Ireland, and Ken Watkin, former judge advocate general of the Canadian military.
"Two principles guided us: First, maintaining the freedom of IDF soldiers to act and the credibility of the IDF investigation, and second, giving a credible and convincing response the responsible states. in the international community," Netanyahu said.
He added that the probe would prove Israel acted "lawfully, responsibly, and with total transparency".
