Ken Watkin to Participate in Israel's Investigation into Gaza Bound Flotilla

"We welcome the Israeli Government's decision to set up an independent public commission which will investigate what exactly occurred on board the flotilla headed for Gaza a few weeks ago," Foreign Affairs Minister Laurence Cannon said in a statement. "Canada fully supports an impartial, credible, and transparent investigation into the tragic incident," he added, referring to the controversial Israeli raid that killed nine Turkish activists. "While we fully support the importance of delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, we also fully support Israel?s right to inspect ships to ensure military material and armaments do not reach the hands of Hamas terrorists," Cannon also said.

Meanwhile, three Canadians who were aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's reaction to the raid was "a disgrace."
Israel's Cabinet has given final approval for an official investigation into the navy's bloody attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla two weeks ago. The inquiry will be headed by a retired Israeli Supreme Court justice and it will include two high-ranking foreign observers: Nobel Peace laureate David Trimble of Ireland and Canada's former chief military prosecutor, Ken Watkin. The Cabinet gave its approval on Monday.



Ken Watkin has been the JAG, the legal adviser to the governor general, the minister of defence, and the Canadian forces on matters relating to military law. The JAG is also in charge of the military justice system. He was born in Kingston in 1954, and educated at the Royal Military College and Queen's University, Watkin began his career as a legal officer in 1982. In 1993, he was the legal adviser to a Canadian military/civilian board of inquiry investigating the activities of the Canadian Airborne Regiment Battle Group in Somalia. From 1995 to 2005, he was involved in a number of investigations and inquiries arising from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. At the time of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he was Deputy JAG, responsible for operations. He is a published legal scholar and has been a visiting fellow at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.