US Congressman Dennis Kucinich has called for Washington to impose diplomatic and financial consequences on Israel over its deadly attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla.

Israel’s conduct “constitutes an act of belligerence against Turkey, which at one time Israel considered an important ally,” the Ohio Democrat wrote in a letter to US President Barack Obama on Friday.

“It also undermines United States troops’ efforts in Iraq, since your administration’s efforts to achieve stability in the region and to withdraw troops from Iraq have depended upon Turkey’s cooperation through use of its air bases,” the congressman added.

Kucinich also said that the attack on the Freedom Flotilla should have consequences for the aggressors and urged Obama to call Israel to “an accounting for planning and carrying out the attack.”

“If our nation fails to act in any substantive way, the United States licenses the violence and we are complicit in it and our own citizens will be forced to pay the consequences,” Kucinich wrote.

Kucinich also called for an independent investigation into the incident.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31, killing at least 19 people on board the six ships, including eight Turkish citizens, and injuring about 50 others.

Israel also arrested nearly 700 activists from 42 countries on board the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza in order to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering people of the territory.

DK calls for independent probe of Israeli raid

WASHINGTON — A US lawmaker called Friday for an independent probe into Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship and called for Washington to impose diplomatic and financial “consequences” on its ally.

“The US can begin by calling for an independent international inquiry of the Mavi Marmara incident. The integrity of such inquiry necessitates that it not be led by the nation whose conduct is under scrutiny,” Representative Dennis Kucinich said in a draft letter to President Barack Obama.

The message, which Kucinich was circulating to colleagues for their signature before sending it to the White House, urges Obama to “call Israel to an accounting for its conduct in planning and executing” the raid.

“The attack on the Mavi Marmara requires consequences” for Israel’s government, the Democrat said. “Those consequences must be dealt by the United States. They must be diplomatic and they must be financial.”

Israel has defended both its right to carry out the Monday raid and its punishing blockade of Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas. The group is blacklisted in Washington as a terrorist group.

Kucinich, who earlier this year introduced legislation calling for a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, also called for Washington to “begin to redefining its relationship” with Israel.

“No one questions the right of Israel to defend its border, but that defense does not extend to shooting innocent civilians anywhere in the world, anytime it pleases,” said the lawmaker.

Kucinich called the raid “an act of belligerence against Turkey” and warned it “undermines” US efforts in Iraq, which rely on Turkey granting access to key air bases on its soil.

The Ohio lawmaker noted that said Washington views Israel as “our most important ally in the region, whose survival is a primary concern” but that the Jewish state had failed to uphold its end of the bargain.

“Israel owes the United States more than reckless, pre-meditated violence waged against innocent people,” he charged.

A spokesman for Kucinich said that, with the US Congress in recess this week, he would not be releasing how many lawmakers had signed on to the tough message, an unusually sharp criticism of Israel at a time when other lawmakers have pledged to stand by the US ally.

Turkey’s ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan, expressed disappointment Friday that the United States had thus far failed to condemn Israel outright over the raid, which left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

“There is no word of condemnation at any level,” he said, insisting “the US should have been the first party to condemn.”