probe

Special gov't session called to approve independent flotilla probe.

Barak defends blockade, backs internal flotilla probe, says no to questioning of soldiers.

(AP) JERUSALEM - Israel on Thursday rejected calls from the United Nations and others for an international investigation of its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla but left the door open to foreign involvement.

Israel says the commandos used force, killing nine people, only after activists attacked them with knives, crowbars and clubs, as well as two pistols grabbed from raiders. Activists who had set sail for Gaza with tons of aid, hoping to break Israel's 3-year-old blockade of Gaza, say Israeli commandos fired first.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Monday on Israel's deadly commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, with the Palestinians and Arab nations demanding condemnation and an independent investigation.

The Palestinians and Arabs, backed by a number of council members including Turkey, also called for Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza, immediately release the ships and humanitarian activists, and allow them to deliver their goods.

FM suspected of receiving illegal tip-off in 2008, subverting probe.

“They won’t coordinate it with us ahead of time,” says Olmert spokesman.

Judge cites concern ex-J'lem mayor will disrupt Holyland bribery probe.