Israel Matzav

Israel may apologize for Mavi Marmara incident

Play whatever semantic games you want - the bottom line is that Israel is negotiating an 'apology' for the Mavi Marmara incident. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm outraged at the prospect.

The website of the Hurriyet daily reported on its website that Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who at the beginning of the week held talks on the matter in Geneva with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy Yosef Ciechanover, was expected to bring a proposal drawn up in those talks to the Turkish prime minister.

According to Hurriyet, there has been a debate about whether Israel would issue a state apology or a humanitarian one for the raid on the ship trying to break the Gaza blockade. Nine people were killed after IDF commandos lowered onto the ship, organized by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation IHH, an organization listed by a number of countries as a terrorist group, came under attack.

Hurriyet, which said Israel wanted to use words such as "regret" or "sorry" in a statement, rather than "apology," quoted Erdogan as saying late Tuesday that "there is no such distinction as 'the people' or 'the state.' They [the Israelis] must apologize to the Republic of Turkey." In Jerusalem, meanwhile, it is widely assumed that Israel would only agree to a formula in which it was clear that Israel acted in self defense, that it retains its right to act in self defense in the future, and that it had no intention of harming the passengers of the ship.

Netanyahu is sure to come up against push-back from some in his own cabinet, including foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, if he agrees to anything resembling an apology, and also from the families of soldiers involved -- and wounded -- in the incident.

Nahman Cohen, the father of the commando seriously wounded when he was thrown from the upper to the lower deck of the ship, said the idea that the country would apologize or pay compensation was inconceivable and that he would fight any agreement.

Sources close to Lieberman, meanwhile, said Tuesday that an apology to Turkey would be tantamount to "surrender to terrorism." "Israel needs to ask for a Turkish apology, and for it to pay compensation for the aid it gave those supporting terrorists and the IHH," the sources said.

I know this post is sure to elicit comments from whiny Turks - both on the blog and on Twitter - but I'm with Lieberman on this. Dhimmi Netanyahu should be fought if he insists on going through with this. The Turks are a bunch of terrorists. I won't set foot in that country again - not even to change planes in Istanbul (which I have done). And I hope none of you will either. What a s****y country. No apologies for fighting terrorists - now or ever.

Labels: Dhimmi Netanyahu, Mavi Marmara, outrageous apologies

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:18 AM