Israel to apologize to Turkey?
After more than a year of refusing to do so, Israel's defenseless 'defense minister' wants to apologize to the Turkish Islamist terrorists who tried to murder IDF soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara in May of last year (Hat Tip: Joshua I). Internal discussions between defense officials and Justice Ministry officials over the past few weeks have suggested that a cautious apology could stop possible lawsuits by Turkish organizations against Israel Defense Forces officers and bring the affair to an end.Well, look at the picture above. It's a picture of an IHH terrorist with a live weapons. The morons at the Defense Ministry just released it last month, even though they have known about it forever (in fact, they did not want to release it at all). Was that picture before the Palmer Commission when they decided that the IDF used excessive force in response to Islamist terror?
A report by the UN-sponsored Palmer Committee on the incident, of which Israel received a draft earlier this month, is scheduled to be released in a few weeks. The report focuses on the events of May 31, 2010, when nine Turkish nationals were killed and dozens of participants were wounded after Israeli commandos took over the ship, which was part of a flotilla to Gaza.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been trying to reach a compromise between Turkey and Israel.
The committee has accepted Israel's claim - as has the Turkel committee which investigated the incident (where there were two foreign observers ) - that Israel's maritime closure of the Gaza Strip is legal, and that Israel acted lawfully in deciding to stop the flotilla.
However, the report harshly criticized the way Israel acted in doing so; these actions led to the deaths of nine Turks, members of the radical Islamic group IHH, who were shot by Israeli naval commandos aboard the Mavi Marmara.
The committee determined that Israel used excessive force and said deaths could have been prevented in several cases - although participants armed with clubs and iron rods attacked the commanders as they descended from a helicopter to the ship.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has recently come out publicly against an apology, which he said would humiliate Israel and serve as a blow to national pride. Defense officials counter that an apology now will prevent legal problems later for officers and soldiers.Lieberman is right and no, it won't. The pictures are out there. Keep reading.
Photographs of several IDF personnel involved in the raid have been posted on the Internet and are now in the hands of leftist and Islamic groups in Europe. Defense and justice officials have expressed concern that these groups will take steps similar to those of British pro-Palestinian groups, which have prevented senior Israeli officials from entering Britain for quite some time.So we're going to humiliate the IDF in the hope that they can peacefully join 60,000 other Israelis doing drugs on the beaches of India? Brilliant....
In this case, however, a ban would extend to young soldiers who took part in the raid, many of whom are about to be released from the army and are planning trips abroad.
Senior defense officials told Haaretz that Israel has a major stake in improving relations with Turkey in light of Turkey's standing in the region, its past economic relationship with Israel and the opportunity to renew defense-related export to Turkey.After the way Turkey has behaved for the last two years, only 'Israel's most decorated soldier' - who is rumored to have slept through the biggest battle of his military career - who tried to give much of the country away to Yasser Arafat in 2000-01, could believe that Islamist Turkey has a role to play on our behalf.
Although these views do not represent the Defense Ministry's official stance, Defense Minister Ehud Barak intimated as much in an interview last week on Channel 1: "From a strategic point of view, we have an interest in smoothing things over with Turkey," Barak said. "National pride is important [but] in the end, we have to understand that we have other interests here ... Turkey can have an important role in issues relating to Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Hamas."
What could go wrong?
Labels: Ehud Barak, IDF, Mavi Marmara, Shayetet 13, Turkish obsession with Israel
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:30 AM
7 Comments:
a lot could go wrong with an apology. There is no benefit here. Forget the direct humiliation for a second and think... what was the real purpose of the flotilla in the first place? The intent was to humiliate so that Israel's integrity was disrespected. That was the entire reason for the altercation. Right now Israel looks pretty good to those who are not biased. by threatening or showing signs that they will apologize Israel could hurt it's own ability in the future to protect itself and it's citizens. This is a real problem. If you have people in the government who really think they should apologize then they really need to be thrown out of their position. Are not these the same people who agreed to force these young IDF heroes to show up on the boat with paintball guns? This is really sick to now apologize.
An Israeli apology to Turkey besides betraying IDF Marines who fought for their lives, would send a message Jews can about nothing but money!
For Stupid Jews, it means living up to all the crude stereotypes anti-Semites have painted of them over the centuries: cowardly, cruel, stupid and greedy.
Its enough to make one sick! What could go wrong indeed
carl
why cant you israelis reform your political system
in a normal system, barak is not defense minister, and even if he were, he wouldve been forced to resign long ago
apologize, even though the report finds fault with turkey?
have them release the report and explain what they mean by excessive force
if the blockade is legal, and israel had every right to board the ships, then attacking the idf was illegal and an act of war
no apology...and barak must resign
turkey needs israel...so that the eu and the usa dont see her as continuing the slide toward islamist control
as an aside, read this insane interview conducted by rabid jew hater, max blumenthal
http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/07/being-jewish-in-turkey-before-and-after-the-mavi-marmara-part-1-of-2/
max just hates zionists? no...max hates jews who are happy being jews and he pines for the days when all jews can be like those still stuck in turkey
and note how max lets his muzzie pal try and paint the young lady as a racist and wanting to see herself as a foreigner in her own country
blumenthal must be banned from israel
sorry to run on, but if you recall your report of the boats being "attacked" in gaza...well the people manning the socalled human rights boat are all members of the ism...israel shouldve sunk that boat
I've read carefully all the comments to the article in Ha-Aretz which you quote here. The visitors can vote for or against each comments, and interestingly, all the anti-Israel comments have overwhelmingly positive balance of votes and likewise all the pro-Israel comments are voted down.
This clearly demonstrates who are the typical audience of this Palestinian daily in Hebrew. Indeed.
Haaretz uses a strange choice of words:
"The report focuses on the events of May 31, 2010, when nine Turkish nationals were killed and dozens of participants were wounded AFTER Israeli commandos took over the ship, which was part of a flotilla to Gaza."
Ah no. The deaths and injuries (including to Israeli soldiers) occurred WHEN the IDF were attempting to board the ship and then to take it over, having met violent resistance.
Where did I read yesterday that Turkey is going to allow the flotilla ships to sail from her ports after Ramadan? Is this blackmail to try to force an apology?
Don't apologize!!! No good will come of it.
I remember an anecdote about an Israeli slumming in India who hooked up with a group of acolytes gathered at a guru's daybreak meditation service in the mountains. When the sun rose over the rim of the earth the Israeli exclaimed, "ah, this is the meaning of life!"
The guru looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face, and asked "you don't have the sun back where you live?"
If the IDF finds it appropriate to apologize to Turkey, will they also have a public apology session for the IDF guys that got their heads bashed in and their families? If the IDF does apologize, maybe it would be for sending people onto the ship rather than drilling a hole in the hull with a laser. Or putting a rope into the propeller. Or disabling it with an EMP pulse. Maybe Turkey and Israel can hold a joint press conference apologizing to all the dead and injured, Turkey for allowing the theater production to embark (Greece has shown that the ships don't have to be let go) and Israel for not using a standoff method of stopping the ship(s). But I would hate to see Israel apologize unilaterally.
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