THE TELEGRAPH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that he could not "afford to ignore a threat to Israel's existence".
Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal clash at sea on May 31 in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists, after boarding their vessel from a helicopter at night.
The May 31 raid took place in international waters off the coast of Israel after the aid flotilla ignored several Israeli warnings not to continue its course to Gaza, which is ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement and sealed off by an Israeli naval blockade.
Netanyahu took his seat before the seven-man panel and listened to a brief introductory address by its chairman before cameras were switched off.
"The state of Israel and the (Israel Defence Forces) operated according to international law," he said. "As prime minister I can't ignore Hamas as a threat to Israel's existence." >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Monday, August 09, 2010
