Israel May Pull Out Of UN's Flotilla Probe--Ban Ki-Moon's Last Shot At Relevance

Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.
Article 2 of the UN Charter

This quote from the UN Charter is applicable to the Goldstone Report and the legal mistakes Goldstone made in international law--and it also applies to the current UN investigation of the Mavi Marmara.

The fact is that Israel is going beyond its responsibility in recognizing, let alone participating, in the UN investigation of the ambush of IDF soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara.

Therefore, if Israel does not want to have its soldiers interrogated, it is certainly within its rights:

Israel threatened Monday to pull out of a UN inquiry into a raid on a Turkish flotilla heading for Gaza, after the UN chief said there is no agreement that the panel will refrain from calling Israeli soldiers to testify.

Last week Israel agreed to participate in the UN probe into the May 31 raid, when nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed after naval commandos boarded a Turkish vessel aiming to break Israel's blockade on Gaza.

Officials said Israel's agreement was conditional on the panel relying on reports from Israel's own military inquiry, not testimony from soldiers.

But at a Monday news conference at UN headquarters on Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was asked whether he agreed not to call Israeli soldiers before the panel.

Of course, Ban Ki-moon has an awful lot riding on this investigation, so it is natural that he is going to want as much under UN control as possible in the investigation.

The Secretary General's term has been less that lackluster and Ban ki-Moon is trying to stay relevant:

Ban's list of accomplishments is meager and the prevailing image among diplomats and analysts in New York is that Ban is an uninspiring bureaucrat, lacking leadership skills, who has not left a mark on the UN during his four years at its helm.

"The Secretary General had several goals in forming a UN probe of the flotilla incident," a senior diplomat told Haaretz on Monday. "He aspires to be recognized as an active player in the Middle East and sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a potential way to strengthen his position." 

Above all, the diplomat said, Ban views the flotilla incident as a way to overshadow the recent accusations leveled against him.

Ban has as much, if not more, at stake here than Israel does.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and Mavi Marmara and Ban Ki-Moon.