Israel Matzav: 'We did our part'

Thursday, March 28, 2013

'We did our part'

It's looking increasingly likely that Israel's attempt to apologize to Turkey is going to fail. And with President Hussein Obama apparently having tired of the issue now that he got Israel to capitulate, Israeli officials are putting out the word that we did all that we could have done, and if the reconciliation fails, it's not our fault.

Jerusalem hopes its apology to Ankara for mistakes that might have led to the unnecessary loss of life on the Mavi Marmara turns the page in relations with Turkey, but if it does not, one official said, everyone will see “that Israel went the extra mile.”

The official’s comments came even as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to “rub Israel’s nose” in the apology, claiming it now makes Turkey a major player in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

Although the official refrained from specifying who he had in mind when saying that “everyone” would see that Israel did its part to mend fences, the US had for months been pushing for an Israeli-Turkish rapprochement, arguing that this was supremely important to American efforts to cope with the radically changing Middle East.

In addition to US President Barack Obama, who brokered the phone call between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Erdogan, and who expressed support for the efforts at healing the Israeli-Turkish rift, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Netanyahu since Friday to welcome what Merkel called the “understandings” between Turkey and Israel.

One senior diplomatic official said that finding a way to put the Mavi Marmara incident behind Israel and Turkey was an important demonstration to the US that Jerusalem could act as a “team player.”

'Everyone' is going to see? Really? Have we forgotten the country and people that we are and the neighborhood in which we live? For those who have forgotten, here is a reminder of what our policy was supposed to be after the 'disengagement' from Gaza in 2005:

In 2005, Israel enacted its Disengagement Plan to forcefully evacuate all Jewish settlers in Gaza. Israelis who had been encouraged by their government to settle in Gaza and lived there for scores of years had to leave homes, businesses, farms and fields. Upon its withdrawal from Gaza, Israel announced that it would consider any attacks from the Gaza strip as acts of aggression to which it would respond swiftly and decisively.

And we announced that because... having unilaterally withdrawn from Gaza, it was inconceivable to our political geniuses that the world would say anything if we retaliated for 'Palestinian' rocket attacks. That didn't last even one day.

And now the idiots think the world is going to go the extra mile to recognize the fact that we were a 'team player' and did all we could to appease that Nazi Erdogan?

What could go wrong?

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Gaza expulsion, Hamas rockets, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish obsession with Israel