Israel regrets the loss of life during the battle on the Mavi Marmara in May 2010, and hopes a way will be found to repair the damaged relations with Turkey, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said, "Israel never intended for relations with Ankara to deteriorate, and we are not interested in a deterioration now."
Netanyahu was speaking two days after Turkey downgraded ties with Israel to their lowest diplomatic level, expelled Israel's ambassador, canceled all military agreements, and threatened to pursue Israel's Gaza blockade policy at the International Criminal Court.
Netanyahu added that the U.N.'s Palmer report into the Gaza-bound flotilla incident, which was leaked to The New York Times before its official release on Friday, "confirms what we knew from the start: That we reserve the right to defend ourselves and that we acted in accordance with international law."
"We will not apologize for our Naval Commandos defending themselves against violent activists from the Turkish IHH organizations, and we will not apologize for working to stop the smuggling of weapons to the Hamas terror organization which fires at our civilians," Netanyahu added.
The prime minister promised his government would act to protect the naval commandos who took part in the raid on the Marmara from possible legal action against them by the Turkish government.
The release on Friday of the Palmer report, the result of a U.N. inquiry into the events surrounding Israel's 2010 raid of the Mavi Marmara, has elicited different reactions over the weekend from Turkey and Israel. While Israel has largely welcomed its findings with some reservations, highlighting the fact that it assigns blame to both sides, Turkey denounced the report as invalid.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul was quick to call the report "void," while the Israeli Prime Minister's Office called it "professional, serious and thorough" and embraced most of its findings.
An Israeli official pointed out Saturday that the report "not only calls the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza legitimate, it also concludes that there is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and that anyone who wishes to send humanitarian aid to Gaza must coordinate it with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to have it transported through the overland crossing points."
Vice Premier and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe (Bogey) Ya'alon, the senior Israeli minister dispatched to Turkey over the past few months, on Sunday said Israel was right not to apologize for the flotilla incident.
"I was sent to negotiate with the Turks three times. They demanded an apology, compensation, and a lifting of the naval blockade on Gaza. I saw no intention on their part to show flexibility, nor any goodwill," Ya'alon told Army Radio.
"Turkey has not cut off all ties with us. Trade has actually increased, and even some defense ties are continuing. This issue did not start with the flotilla. [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan looked to the East, to our worst enemies. Erdogan wanted to show our neighbors how he defeated and humiliated Israel, even when there was a U.N. report that was in Israel's favor. That was his aim, to humiliate us. And that is a strategic issue," Ya'alon said.
In certain instances, the report adopts the Israeli position. According to the report, Professor Joseph Ciechanover, who was the Israeli representative on the panel of inquiry, said that he "appreciates that the report concurs with Israel’s view that the 'naval blockade was legal,' that it 'was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea,' that the blockade’s implementation 'complied with the requirements of international law,' and that Israel had a 'right to board and search the vessel and to capture it if it found it in breach of a blockade,' including in international waters. The Report rightly found serious questions concerning 'the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers, particularly the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation,' and notes that they planned 'in advance to violently resist any attempt to board the ship' and classifies the decision to breach the blockade of Gaza as a 'dangerous and reckless act,' which 'needlessly carried the potential for escalation.' Israel also notes the importance of the panel’s support for Israel’s long-standing position that 'all humanitarian missions wishing to assist the Gaza population should do so through established procedures and designated land crossings in consultation with the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.'"
"At the same time," the report continues, "Israel does not agree with the panel’s characterization of Israel’s decision to board the vessels in the manner it did as 'excessive and unreasonable.' The Panel was provided with evidence of the repeated warnings it gave the vessels regarding its intent to board them if they did not change course."
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was visibly angry as he told reporters at a press conference that since Israel had not apologized for the incident, Ankara was embarking on a series of steps against Israel, including scrapping all military agreements between the two once-close allies, and downgrading diplomatic ties to the level of second secretary. Davutoglu said that Israel's ambassador in Ankara, Gabby Levy, will leave Turkey by Wednesday.
Meanwhile, popular anger at Israeli continues to rise in Turkey. A Facebook group started by Turks wants to change name of the street housing the Israeli embassy in Ankara from Mahatma Gandhi Street to Mavi Marmara Street. Some 4,000 people have joined the Facebook page in the past two days.
Back in the halls of power, Ankara will now take what it says are all measures necessary to maintain security in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the foreign minister said. However, Davutoglu stopped short of announcing a change in civilian ties such as commerce or tourism. An unnamed officer in the Turkish navy said over the weekend that Turkey will increase its naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea and will subscribe to a more "aggressive policy to counter Israeli Navy aggression."
Davutoglu is considered one of the architects of what some see as an aggressive Turkish foreign policy in the region over the past several years. In an interview with Turkey's state-run TRT television on Saturday, he said that Ankara will take legal action through the International Court of Justice at The Hague to force Israel to lift the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. "Israel has to make a choice; the Arab Spring will bring about a significant enmity against Israel if it fails to change its attitude regarding regional issues," he said on Friday.
Israeli officials said over the weekend that Ankara was initiating Plan B, a series of steps that the Turkish foreign minister warned his country would put into action if Israel refused to apologize for the 2010 raid. Plan B could potentially involve a diplomatic offensive against Israel, with Ankara pursuing legal action against Israeli military officers at The Hague and severing commercial ties between the countries. "We have been aware of the price we might have to pay but any other decision would have exacted a strategic price from Israel," an official at the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry establishment has downplayed the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Gabby Levy, saying that his term as ambassador had already expired several days ago, and he had even bid farewell to his Turkish counterparts. An Israeli official reacted to Turkey's threats to bolster its presence in the Mediterranean Sea by saying that Israel assumes Turkey would abide by international maritime law. As for the possible legal action Turkey might pursue in the International Court of Justice, he said, "we are not going to lower our gaze in humiliation. We will stand behind our people anywhere."
At the Prime Minister's Office, attempts were made up until the very last minute Friday to avert the latest deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations, but officials had been convinced that "Turkey had no interest in putting our relations back on a sound footing ... Its reaction to the Palmer report shows that it seeks a confrontation," an official said. Yoaz Hendel, head of the National Information Directorate at the Prime Minister's Office, reiterated Israel's position that it would not apologize for its "justified actions." While calling relations with Turkey "important," he added that "being right is just as important." "The Prime Minister made a courageous decision not to apologize for an act of self-defense," he said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon also responded to the report on Saturday, saying that "Israel must not subordinate its foreign policy to anyone's whims. We can say without any hesitation that Israel has pursued a responsible approach that stopped short of compromising our interests and the interests of Israel Defense Forces' soldiers."
Diplomats in Ankara told the Turkish daily Hurriyet Saturday that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks, a visit to which Erdogan referred to in July. According to the officials this is part of his "aggressive policy against Israel." They pointed out that the prime minister has already instructed his foreign minister to set a date for the visit. "We are working out the optimal timing for this. Our main goal is to attract international attention to what is going on in Gaza so that it brings an end to the unfair blockade imposed by Israel," a source told Hurriyet.
Among Palestinians, reactions to the report were uniform, with both the rival Fatah and Hamas factions calling it biased against the Palestinians. Top Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar, whose organization controls the Gaza Strip, said the report is the product of "Israeli-American pressure," and said that it is "clearly unfair toward Turkey." Zahar welcomed Turkey's decision to expel the Israeli ambassador, saying that "a country that lets its people be killed and continues to maintain ties with the murderers risks losing credibility among its people." Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat took issue with the findings of the report, calling them "political." The report is "terrible," said Erekat, adding that it violates international law and even "goes against it."
