JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Israeli naval commandos who intercepted the Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla and praised their morality and restraint.
Netanyahu told the members of the Shayetet 13 elite naval commando unit that their interception of the Mavi Marmara on May 31, which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists, was “crucial, necessary and completely legal. It was of the utmost importance.”
Netanyahu met with the unit Tuesday at the Atlit naval base in northern Israel.
Acknowledging that the soldiers were met on board the boat by armed activists, Netanyahu said the soldiers “acted with a restraint and morality unparalleled in any army in the world.”
"You protected Israel against people who tried to break its defensive shield,” he said.
Netanyahu said that he and the Israeli government fully supported all the unit’s operations.
The prime minister also visited the soldiers who were injured in the operation.
