Israeli media are making a big issue of a claim from sources in Minister Moshe Yaalon's office that he was unaware of last week's clash between IDF soldiers and armed Gaza-bound activists until after the fact – even though he was serving in place of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who was abroad at the time. So reported Channel 2 News on Thursday night.
While the fatal clash took place, Netanyahu was in Canada, leaving Deputy Prime Minister Yaalon to take over his duties. Sources told Channel 2 that Yaalon was totally unaware of the planned IDF takeover of several Gaza-bound ships.
The Prime Minister's Office denied the allegation. “In contrast to what has been reported in several media outlets, Deputy Prime Minister Yaalon was updated continuously by the IDF secretariat before the storming of the ship, during, and after,” spokespersons said.
On Tuesday, Yaalon, who served as IDF chief of staff before entering the Knesset, spoke to the Knesset about the clash aboard the Gaza-bound vessel Mavi Marmara. “The decision not to allow the flotilla to reach Gaza was correct [and] was necessary for self-defense,” he said. “The commanders and the soldiers are worthy of praise and respect for their courage; they fought well.”
Despite his praise, Yaalon also implied that mistakes had been made, which others in public office on the right and almost all the Israeli left, did not. “When there's a need to hand out medals, apparently someone did something wrong... There was room for improvement; I won't go into details,” he said.
Earlier Thursday evening it was reported that former Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Tirkel would be the Prime Minister;s choice to head an investigative committee probing events aboard the Mavi Marmara and the rest of the Gaza flotilla.