Why does the government of Israel reject an independent international investigation of the aid ship attack?

I don’t get it.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/04/2918848.htm?section=world

“Israel has rejected calls for an independent international investigation of its raids on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Monday that killed nine activists. The raids have sparked international condemnation, with South Africa becoming the latest nation to withdraw its ambassador from Israel in protest. Israel has defended the actions of its soldiers from the outset, saying the deaths of the activists onboard the humanitarian ships in international waters was an act of self-defence by its commandos.”

How can Israel’s government be so extremely stupid? Only an independent investigation has a (small) chance of reestablishing trust. If this is not done, everyone will think that Israel got something to hide distorting the truth. Turkey was an important ally of Israel. It seems that the current Israeli government doesn’t care about destroying all good relations with other countries. In the end, only the US and Germany will be left. How can the Israeli voters let them? Where is the outcry of the moderate Israelis? Every new house in East Jerusalem creates at least 100 new terrorists. The incident on this ship will create 100,000 new terrorists over the next years. Unless, the UN can clearly show that weapons were smuggled and the activists tried to kill the Israeli soldiers so they had to defend themselves. Or Israel is guilty of violating international law and is willing to apologize and pay compensation to the families of the killed activists.

No one is above the law. This is a basic principle.

In many of my Fluther posts I made it completely clear that Israel is facing a very dangerous lunatic enemy. Hamas is a democratically elected terrorist organization promoting the one true religion in its ugliest form. Just to be clear who the opponent is here. I completely understand the concern of weapons being smuggled into Gaza. I’m a friend of Israel and I also appreciate all peaceful Palestinians (hopefully voting for peaceful governments). I’m concerned about Israel because this current government seems getting closer and closer to lunacy as well. Again I don’t understand how the current Israeli government doesn’t care about destroying all good relations with other countries. This is a diplomatic suicide.

Israel is a democracy. Israel appreciates pluralism. Where is the opposition? Where are the intellectuals whose voices do count? This lunacy has got to stop.

I just don’t get it.

Do you have an explanation why the Israeli government is so stubborn? What do they have to lose accepting an independent international investigation? The reputation can’t get any worse.

The bestselling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell today accused Israel of murder, piracy and kidnapping after describing how the aid ship he was travelling on was seized by Israeli forces this week. Mankell, whose detective novels featuring the commissar Kurt Wallander have sold almost 30m copies worldwide, was aboard the Swedish ship Sofia, one of six ships in the flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. The 25-strong crew, including Mankell, were all arrested and held in custody.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in Berlin, Mankell, 62, described the “horrifying moment” when he realized the Israelis had chosen to attack the ships deep in international waters. Our idea had been a non-violent, non-fighting back method. But we soon realized the Israelis had chosen the real, real ugly solution to attack in international water … It was only when I got on my flight home that I realized that people had died in the attack, when the stewardess told me on the plane,” he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/gaza-flotilla-attack-henning-mankell

There are so many contradictions between the news released by Israel and the news released by the people aboard the ship.

What can be done to improve the situation?