Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eiland delivered his report on the Freedom Flotilla fiasco to the IDF Chief of Staff today, and said that “the issue should be viewed with perspective, being that the damage caused to Israel is not as severe as it seemed following the incident”.
According to Haaretz, Eiland told journalists after he delivered the report that “mistakes made at the relatively top levels that caused the results to be different from what was planned”. The Haaretz story is posted here.
The Eiland report was commissioned by the IDF – and it focused only on the military aspects of the operation.
The Jerusalem Post reported, however, that “Eiland slammed the Navy for not preparing a ‘Plan B’ for the operation and should have reconsidered rappelling commandos onto the Mavi Marmara’s upper deck after noticing from sea and air that there were several dozen activists on board prepared to violently resist”. According to the JPost, Eiland said that “the Navy did not have technology that would have enabled it to stop the ship ahead of the operation without putting soldiers on board its upper deck to take control of the bridge … During their work, members of Eiland’s panel met with a number of officials who offered ideas how to stop the ship without boarding it. According to the committee, it is possible to develop such a capability but it will take approximately two years. Since the flotilla, the Navy has met with a number of companies and is pursuing technology that could be used to stop a ship in the future”.
A Libyan-chartered, Moldovan-flagged cargo ship has just left Greece and is now near Crete, on its way towards Gaza now. However, officials from the Libyan aid group say they do not want to provoke Israel, and have variously said they are either prepared to go to El-Arish, or let Israel inspect the cargo, or whatever… Needless to say, this expedition is being tracked by the Israeli Navy and other services.