Israel Matzav: Turkey: We won't forget and we won't forgive

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Turkey: We won't forget and we won't forgive

In this country, when you want to show everyone that you're really angry at something someone has done to you, you say 'lo niscach v'lo nislach' (we won't forget and we won't forgive). Turkey has apparently developed a similar tradition. And they're applying it to last year's Mavi Marmara incident and telling us about it over and over again (Hat Tip: Joshua I).

Turkey will never forget the nine Turks killed when Israeli troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, days before the submission of a U.N. report on the raid last year, Reuters reports.

In a speech to a conference of foreign ambassadors to the Palestinian territories in Istanbul, Erdogan condemned the continuing blockade of Gaza as "illegal and inhuman" and said the Palestinians' troubles were Turkey's troubles and would not go neglected.

Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel after the incident in May 2010, suspended military cooperation, and closed its airspace to Israeli military aircraft.

It wants Israel to apologize for the killings, pay compensation to the families, and end the embargo of Gaza.

For its part, Israel has agreed in principle to pay compensation, but says its marines acted in self-defense after an initial boarding party was attacked with knives and clubs.

The United States would like its two allies to be friends again. But even if they reach closure on the Mavi Marmara incident, Turkey's sympathy for the Palestinian cause and readiness to engage Hamas will mean the relationship will not be free of tension.

So what is Israel going to accomplish by prostrating itself in apology to the Nazi-sympathizing Turks? Why is much of Israel's political elite insisting we must apologize to the Turks? Even they don't suggest taking down the Gaza blockade!

Erdogan made the statement at a 'Palestinian Ambassadors' Conference in Turkey on Saturday.

Erdogan demanded the apology in a two-day conference of the Palestinian envoys and the Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Xinhua reported.

"Until we receive an official apology for the nine Turkish citizens killed, until the families of those victims are compensated and until the blockade on Gaza is lifted, relations between our countries will not normalize," Erdogan said.

But if you read Haaretz, the report is toned down considerably as the Israeli Left continues to convince itself that if only we would apologize to Turkey, all would be forgiven and they could comfortably return to the beaches of Antalya.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that his country will not normalize its relations with Israel as long as Israel does not apologize for the killing of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists during the takeover of the Mavi Marmara ship last year.

Erdogan, who spoke at the “Palestinian Ambassadors’ Conference” in Istanbul, added Israel should compensate the families of those killed and end the blockade of the Gaza Strip. "No belief can make killing innocent people legitimate," Erdogan said. "I salute the Palestinians, and those who are dedicated to the Palestinian cause. I remember the nine martyrs who were killed by Israeli soldiers in May 2009, and I hope God will have mercy on their souls."

Note that it sounds like only the apology is a precondition to the normalization of relations. The compensation and lifting the blockade are only things that Turkey thinks Israel 'should' do. That's much different than the other two reports. And if you read the whole thing, you will see that it doesn't even mention the statement quoted in the PanARMENIAN item about Turkey's sympathy for the 'Palestinian' cause and its readiness to engage Hamas.

Isn't it great how Israelis can keep deluding themselves? What could go wrong?

Labels: Gaza blockade, Gaza plenty, Mavi Marmara, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish obsession with Israel, unilateral declaration of statehood