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Attorney general drops case against Israeli participants in Freedom Flotilla

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Israeli Defense Forces boarding one of the ships bound for Gaza.
Image: Israeli Defense Forces.

Citizens in Israel who participated in the 2010 'Freedom Flotilla' to Gaza will not be prosecuted, according to a statement released today by the Attorney General of Israel, Yehuda Weinstein.

Weinstein said the cases had been closed due to "evidentiary and legal difficulties" related to "proving the basis of the office as well as legal questions regarding the jurisdiction of Israeli law on crimes committed abroad."

Haneen Zoabi, an Israeli Arab and member of the Knesset for the Balad party, was amongst the Israeli citizens who participated in the flotilla. She responded to the dropping of the cases by saying that it "proves what I said all along. My participation in the flotilla was a political act and entirely legal."

Anastassia Michaeli, a Knesset member for the nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu, said the decision to drop the cases was "a boost and reward for terror in Israel and around the globe".


Sources