"It is the Turkish government which needs to be tried for the deaths of the Islamic terrorists on the Mavi Marmara and not IDF officials," asserted Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center.
The comments came in response to Tuesday’s news that a Turkish court decided to begin an in absentia trial for four former Israeli military commanders over their role in the 2010 killing of nine Turkish citizens taking part in the flotilla aiming to reach Hamas-ruled Gaza.
"The Turkish leader Erdogan was the one who allowed these extremists from Al Qaeda, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood to launch a naval expedition against Israel, a country that Turkey was not at war with," declared Darshan-Leitner. “The United Nations has investigated the Israeli coastal blockade of Gaza and has determined that it was in full compliance with international law. The flotilla, which was provided material support by the Turkish government, was a provocation designed to endanger the lives of Israeli sailors tasked with enforcing the lawful blockade. As such, officials in Istanbul and their role in this act of war against a non-belligerent nation needs to be investigated. Erdogan must be tried for his liability over the deaths of the terrorists and the serious injuries to Israeli servicemen."
In 2011, Shurat HaDin's legal actions against the Mavi Marmara's insurance companies prevented it from once again sailing to Gaza's shores.
The Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center is a civil rights organization that combats the terrorist organizations and the regimes that support them through lawsuits litigated in courtrooms around the world. Shurat HaDin seeks to bankrupt the terror groups and grind their criminal activities to a halt – one lawsuit at a time.
Established in 2003 and based in Tel-Aviv, Shurat HaDin works together with western intelligence agencies and volunteer lawyers around the world to file legal actions on behalf of victims of terror. It is a fully independent non-profit organization, unaffiliated with any political party or governmental body. Shurat HaDin has succeeded in winning more than $1 billion in judgments, freezing more than $600 million in terrorist assets and in collecting $120 million in actual payments to the victims and their families.