jerusalem | The bad diplomatic news for Israel just kept getting worse.
First Turkey announced that it was slashing the level of its diplomatic ties with Israel to the second secretary level, giving the senior Israeli embassy staff 48 hours to leave the country.
Next the Turkish Embassy in Washington vowed that Turkey would pursue legal action against Israeli soldiers and officials who were involved in the 2010 interception of the Mavi Marmara.
Then 40 Israeli travelers on a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul were separated from the other passengers upon landing and subjected to humiliating searches.
Then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his nation’s navy will step up its surveillance of the eastern Mediterranean Sea — a move that could potentially lead to confrontation with Israel — while also warning of more sanctions against Israel. Turkey already had said it was suspending its vast military ties with Israel.
Along with all that, Turkey pledged to lobby other nations in support of the Palestinians’ U.N. statehood bid after Israel refused to apologize for the Mavi Marmara incident.
Nabil Shaath, a Fatah Central Committee member, met Sept. 6 in Ankara with senior Turkish officials, thanking them for their support on statehood and discussing the release of the Palmer report.
That report, released Sept. 2 by the United Nations, delved into Israel’s May 2010 action on a flotilla that was trying to break its blockade of Gaza. Israeli troops encountered violent resistance when they tried to board the Mavi Marmara, and the ensuing battle left eight Turkish citizens and one dual Turkish-American citizen dead.
The U.N.’s Palmer committee found that Israel’s blockade of Gaza was legal and that Israeli commandos needed to use force as they came under attack on the ship. The report also found, however, that Israel used excessive force when boarding the ship.
Turkey has demanded an apology for the deaths of its citizens, but Israel has refused.
“We need not apologize for the fact that naval commandos defended their lives against an assault by violent IHT activists,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet this week, using the initials of the Turkish charity that sponsored the Mavi Marmara. “We need not apologize for the fact that we acted to stop the smuggling of weapons to Hamas, a terrorist organization that has already fired over 10,000 missiles, rockets and mortar rounds at our civilians.”
Netanyahu then made a last-ditch attempt to head off Turkey’s decision to limit ties with Israel.
“I reiterate that the State of Israel expresses regret over the loss of life. I also hope that a way will be found to overcome the disagreement with Turkey,” he said. “Israel has never wanted a deterioration in its relations with Turkey; neither is Israel interested in such a deterioration now.”
The Obama administration this week was scrambling to stop any further deterioration. The State Department said that senior U.S. diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are working with both allies to “de-escalate” and “defuse” the crisis.
The crisis with Turkey could have far-reaching implications for Israel. Severing trade between Israel and Turkey, which is more than $3 billion annually, would have a negative impact on the Israeli economy.
Diplomatically, the crisis could badly affect Israel’s relationships with Egypt and Jordan. Erdogan visited Egypt this week to discuss deepening that country’s strategic relationship with Turkey.
“Erdogan will say to the Egyptians, ‘What are you doing for the Palestinians?’ ” Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, said. “Egyptians will say, ‘Turkey is not even Arab, and they expelled the Israeli ambassador.’ It will add to the public pressure.”
Liel believes there is even a chance of a military confrontation between Israel and Turkey if, as expected, Israel signs a deal to export liquid natural gas to Cyprus, an island nation that is tensely divided between Greek and Turkish sectors.
“Those vessels will need to go through the Mediterranean, and Turkey will do whatever it can to stop them,” Liel said, adding that Turkey has 40,000 soldiers in the Turkish part of Cyprus.
Also, the crisis with Turkey could strengthen Hamas, which controls Gaza. Erdogan, an Islamist, has vigorously defended Hamas from those who say it is a terrorist group that should be isolated. In fact, he has said that he wants to visit Gaza; if Egypt lets him enter Gaza from its territory, it would represent a victory for Hamas — and a further challenge to Israel.
Beyond the diplomatic fallout, Israel’s relationship with Turkey has played an important psychological role. Tens of thousands of Israelis visit Turkey each year, and the relationship made Israelis feel connected to the wider Muslim world. Turkey was the first Muslim country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, in 1949.
“We used to hold up the relationship with Turkey as an example of how Israel can have a relationship with a large Muslim country,” a senior Israeli official said. “We’re certainly concerned about this now.”
The official said there are two schools of thought in Israel surrounding Erdogan. One says that if Israel apologized for the flotilla incident, the relationship would return to what it was. The other is that Erdogan sees himself as a potential leader of the Islamic world and is leading Turkey to become more religious and more Islam-identified. If that is true, then the flotilla incident is just an excuse to downgrade ties with Israel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.