The Israeli government panel probing the flotilla assault, meanwhile, is holding its first meeting today. At the United Nations, the Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, criticized Israel for rejecting an international probe.

Richard Falk: “I’m rather skeptical, and that skepticism, I think, is reinforced by the investigation that was carried out of the Operation Cast Lead, in which the most serious infraction that was found in the report was an allegation that an Israeli soldier had stolen a credit card. None of the serious allegations involving tactics and weapons and the attack itself were subjected to any sort of objective analysis.”