Turkel Findings: Like Police Investigating Themselves?

Good grief, could this Edmonton Journal staff-ed possibly lack any more nuance? Judge Jacob Turkel's commission was government appointed, but…

By Pesach Benson January 25, 2011

Good grief, could this Edmonton Journal staff-ed possibly lack any more nuance?

Judge Jacob Turkel’s commission was government appointed, but independent from that point on. Lord David Trimble of Ireland and Canada’s Brig. Gen (Ret.) served as international observers.Yet the Journal writes:

But as some Israeli commentators have themselves pointed out, a government effectively investigating itself is rarely convincing to those not inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt in the first place. One is reminded of the poor optics of police forces investigating themselves in this country.

The editorial staff must have missed this statement by the Trimble and Watkin:

We have no doubt that the Commission is independent. This part of the report is evidence of its rigor.

Even independent commissions of inquiry are organized by governments. How else would the Journal expect Israel to assemble a team of heavyweights to carry out a professional investigation of a heavily charged incident?

Crowdsourcing?

© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025

Pesach Benson

Pesach Benson

A Baltimore native, Pesach was with HonestReporting from 2011 to 2020. He edited the Israel Daily News Stream and authored the e-book, Red Lines: HonestReporting’s 8 Categories of Media Bias. Before moving to Israel in 1995, he worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Jewish Times. Pesach has a B.A. in political science from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where he was executive editor of the campus newspaper.

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