The Eiland report: Spinning it against Israel

Soccer Dad
13 July '10

Originally the Washington Post reported Israeli troops raid aid flotilla headed for Gaza, killing nine and the New York Times reported Deadly Israeli Raid Draws Condemnation. Both articles seem reasonably accurate in hindsight.

Now Israel has released the results of Gen. Eiland's investigation into the raid on the Mavi Marmara. Checking Yahoo! News yields the following headlines:

Israel military faulted over flotilla raid (AFP)
Israel report blames flawed planning for Gaza raid (AP)
Israel failed in ship interception planning: reports (Reuters)

It's true that the report faulted the IDF for failing to prepare for contingencies, but the report also concluded that the soldiers who fired only did so in self-defense. So the New York Times, was technically correct with Israeli Military Finds Flotilla Killings Justified, but I think that "Israeli military found soldiers acted in self-defense" would have been less inflammatory. Ethan Bronner of the Times adds this:

The military's investigation, carried out by eight officers, did not deal with larger policy issues like the legality or appropriateness of Israel's blockade against Gaza or its takeover of the six-boat flotilla in international waters on May 31.

Should it have dealt with those things? This was an investigation into the operation. Furthermore the blockade is legal. Perhaps the Times wishes it were not so, but that's an editorial judgment and doesn't belong in a news story.

The Washington Post's headline emphasized the operational failures, Israeli review finds fatal raid on Turkish ship lacked planning and alternatives

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