Human Rights Council Takes On the Gaza Flotilla Raid

You may recall the May 31 Israeli commando raid of a flotilla of Gaza bound activists which resulted in the death of nine activists, an emergency Security Council meeting, and a resolution at the Human Rights Council.

The Human Rights Council ended up commissioning a fact finding mission led by a British judge.  That report dropped earlier this week and it was very damning of Israeli actions. Among other things, it offers evidence that six of the deceased were victims of summary executions by the Israeli commandos.   For example, this is what the report said happened to a 19 year old American who was killed in the raid:

Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old with dual Turkish and United States citizenship, was on the central area of the top deck filming with a small video camera when he was first hit with live fire. It appears that he was lying on the deck in a conscious, or semi-conscious, state for some time. In total Furkan received five bullet wounds, to the face, head, back thorax, left leg and foot. All of the entry wounds were on the back of his body, except for the face wound which entered to the right of his nose. According to forensic analysis, tattooing around the wound in his face indicates that the shot was delivered at point blank range. Furthermore, the trajectory of the wound, from bottom to top, together with a vital abrasion to the left shoulder that could be consistent with the bullet exit point, is compatible with the shot being received while he was lying on the ground on his back. The other wounds were not the result of firing in contact, near contact or close range, but it is not otherwise possible to determine the exact firing range. The wounds to the leg and foot were most likely received in a standing position.

The Human Rights Council voted on a resolution endorsing this report yesterday. The vote ended up 27 in favor, 1 against, and 19 abstentions.  The United States was the lone “no” vote. (Europeans made up most of the abstentions.)

The United States dismissed the report as “unbalanced,” which is to be expected.  At the very least, though, someone needs to be held account over these deaths.