News comes out of Turkey today that they are dropping their investigation into whether the IDF committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead:
A crisis in Turkey-Israel relations that began when Israel bombed the Gaza Strip in the beginning of Operation Cast Lead in late December 2008 has come to an end: A Turkish prosecutor dropped an investigation into Turkish allegations that Israel committed genocide and crimes against humanity during the operation, AFP quoted a Turkish news agency as reporting Thursday.
The allegations that led to the investigation came from a group called Mazlum-Der, which bills itself as a "The Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People", but pretty much seems like an organization partly dedicated to demonizing Israel. Take a look at a poll on the front page of their website:
This is an except of their complaint against Israeli actions:
On the criminal application, Israel President Shimon peres, Prime Minster Ehud Olmert, Foreign Ministry Tzipi Livni, Ministery of Defence Ehud Barak, Military Officer President Gabi Ashkenazi, Defense force general Yoav Galant, Israel Military personnel’s chief Peretz, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, Avi Dichter, Carmi Gilon, Dan Halutz, Doron Almog, Eliezer Shkedy, Giora Eiland, Matan Vilnai, Moshe Bogie Yaalon, Shaul Mofaz and some other suspected whom their names are not confirmed, we asked to punish them on the scope of "genocide" and "Crime against Humanity".
Regarding on these people, we appeal to get restraining order, to be arrested in case they make entrance to Turkey,
Broken English aside (I think their English website is just one of those automated translations), they also accused Israel of wanting to "annihilate" Palestinian civilians. These accusations somehow were taken seriously by one Turkish state prosecutor in Ankara. I'm sure this sensationalist prosecutor, probably Turkey's equivalent of Mike Nifong, just wanted to make some news and make a name for himself, but luckily, he was shut down by Turkey's Justice Ministry:
The prosecutor said there were no grounds for prosecution after the Justice Ministry refused it permission to bring charges, the report said.
So you see? Even a state that has been rhetorically hostile towards Israel recently, including a spat between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the G-20 summit, found that no war crimes were committed by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead.