Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Turkish PM Recep Tayyep Erdogan to apologize for the IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 which resulted in the deaths of nine Turks. Erdogan accepted the apology. You bet he did.
After all, earlier this month Erdogan demanded an Israeli apology during Secretary of State John Kerry’s state visit and scarcely three weeks later, he gets it.
The phone call was arranged by President Obama before he left for Jordan and no doubt he exerted considerable pressure on Bibi to do so.
Obviously, the aim is to restore relations between Israel and Turkey. But that isn’t going to happen. The raid on the Mavi Marmara occurred after they refused to let the IDF board for inspection. The other ships in the flotilla had co-operated. If they had done the same then none of the Turks would have died. Erdogan has only himself to blame for this folly.
Instead, what we have is a victory for both Erdogan and Hamas. It legitimizes these acts of aggression and will only encourage Turkey to organize more flotillas to Gaza and Israel will be hamstrung in trying to ensure no weaponry reaches Gaza.
So will the Obama Administration compel Erdogan to make amends with Israel? Will he apologize to Netanyahu for calling Zionism “a crime against humanity”? Not a chance in hell. He certainly wouldn’t do it on his own because he would lose face with his people. In effect, despite being admonished by the U.S. for his rhetoric against Israel, Erdogan has now been effectively rewarded for it. As such, he will continue to use anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric for his political gain. The end result will be a further deteoriation between Israel and Turkey while both weakening Netanyahu and once again making the Obama Administration look foolish in the Middle East.
