Ex-Israeli PM sued in America for deadly flotilla raid

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is being sued in an American court for his country's deadly raid against six Turkish boats in international waters that were attempting to break Israel's siege on Gaza in 2010, while Barak was Minister of Defence.

The parents of 19-year-old Turkish-American Furkan Dogan, who was one of nine people killed in the nighttime raid, filed an unlawful death and torture suit against Barak in federal court in Los Angeles on October 16.

There is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed on one of the vessels when Israeli Defence Forces intercepted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010

Barak was served with summons papers on Tuesday after he gave a speech close to Los Angeles.

On May 31 2010, Israeli forces raided a Gaza-bound flotilla of mainly Turkish activists attempting to break the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2006, killing eight Turks and Dogan aboard the Mavi Marmara, the largest of the six vessels in the flotilla.

A United Nations panel found the raid was "excessive and unreasonable," and a 2010 report by the United Nations Human Rights Council [UNHCR] found that Furkan Dogan was shot five times, including once in his face while lying on his back.

Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court [ICC] said in November 2014 that there "is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, were committed on one of the vessels, the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli Defence Forces intercepted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31 2010".

The Israeli raid also severely deteriorated the once close ties between Israel and Turkey.

Attorneys for Dogan's parents said Wednesday that they have been pursuing Barak for years to serve him with litigation, coming closest in France in 2010.

"It's been an ongoing process ever since this happened to get accountability," said Rodney Dixon, a London-based attorney in Los Angeles for the litigation. "It's a major breakthrough."

Dan Stormer, a Los Angeles attorney also working on the case, said Barak is a "war criminal who led a massacre," and that Dogan's family deserves justice.

Dogan's parents have an uphill battle with the litigation, said Douglass Cassel, who teaches international human rights law and international criminal law at the University of Notre Dame.

"All down the line, the hurdles are daunting," said Cassel, especially because a 2013 Supreme Court ruling imposed limits on the ability of foreigners to use American courts to seek accountability and monetary damages for human rights abuses.

The case also could be thrown out for political reasons, and Barak may qualify for immunity, Cassel said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon, said in a statement that the lawsuit "is yet another attempt to abuse otherwise legitimate legal tools for the cynical, political purpose of attacking the State of Israel."

"We are confident that the United States will not lend its hand to such abuse," said Nahshon.