On April 14, 2011, IDI Senior Fellow Prof. Yuval Shany, who heads IDI’s Terrorism and Democracy project, and researcher Dr. Amichai Cohen testified before the Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May, 2010 (the “Turkel Commission”) [1] on the investigation of allegations of violations of international humanitarian law. Prof. Shany and Dr. Cohen were invited to present their views to the Commission following the submission of IDI's response to the IDF Military Advocate General’s position paper on this matter to the Commission on February 10, 2011. [2]
The testimony was given to the Commission under the Commission’s mandate to "address the question whether the mechanism for examining and investigating complaints and claims of violations of the laws of war, as carried out by Israel in general, and as implemented with regard to the events of May 31, 2010, in particular, complies with the obligations of the State of Israel pursuant to the rules of international law."
The testimony of the IDI researchers was part of a series of testimonies presented by various bodies and organizations before the Commission, including state institutions such as the Advocate General, the Military Advocate General, the Head of the Israel Security Agency; human rights NGOs such as Yesh Din, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and B’Tselem; and academic scholars such as Prof. Eyal Benvenisti, an expert in international law from Tel Aviv University.
The Commission is expected to publish its report on Israeli investigation of allegations of violations of international humanitarian law later this year.