Report: Acting PM didn't know of raid

Minister Moshe Ya'alon was unaware Navy raid of flotilla underway until after operation got out of hand. Earlier this week deputy minister criticizes incident, says 'someone failed to prepare standard operating procedure'

Attila Somfalvi|Published: 06.10.10 , 21:28

The acting prime minister during the Navy commando raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla did not know the operation was underway, according to a channel 2 report aired on Thursday.

The report claimed Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon was only updated after the operation got out of hand, resulting in nine fatalities and dozens of injuries on board the Mavi Marmara ship.

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Ya'alon substituted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on a state visit to North America on the day of the operation.

The new information revealed the "chain of command" during such a dramatic operation, and sheds light on Ya'alon's statement from the beginning of the week.

During a closed discussion in the Knesset, Ya'alon said that "in a place where citations should have been given, someone failed to prepare a standard operating procedure.

"The decision was right, but there is room for improvement –and I am not going to elaborate," he added.

The deputy prime minister's comments angered some in the military, and a senior IDF official said in response that "since Ya'alon was the acting prime minister at the time of the incident, he is responsible.

"If there wasn't a standard operating procedure, why didn't he make sure there was one? Why didn't he hold a consultation several hours after the flotilla incident and send the ministers to give interviews to the press? He was the acting prime minister and it was his responsibility," the source added.

The Prime Minister's Office denied reports that Moshe Ya'alon, acting prime minister at the time of the IDF raid on the Gaza flotilla, knew about the operation only after the fact.

"Contrary to reports in various media channels, acting Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon was updated on an ongoing basis by the military secretariat in the Prime Minister's Office before the raid on the flotilla, during the raid, and afterwards," the Office said.