I posted yesterday about a U.N. report finding that Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza is legal under international law, that Israel had a right to board and search the vessels in the May 2010 Gaza flottila (organized by a Turkish Islamist group), and that the Israelis faced organized violence when they boarded the ships. The report also criticized Israel finding that the response to the organized violence was excessive.
As predicted, Turkey has thrown a fit over the report (which it tried to prevent being released), downgrading diplomatic ties and cutting military ties:
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday Israel’s diplomatic presence in Turkey was being cut to second secretary level, effectively expelling Israeli diplomats after details emerged of the Palmer Report which dealt with the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship.”Turkey-Israel diplomatic relations have been reduced to a second secretary level. All personnel above the second secretary level will return to their countries by Wednesday at the latest,” Davutoglu told a news conference.Davutoglu said that Turkey was also suspending military agreements after he said that some of the report’s findings were unacceptable.
Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on the wrong course. See my prior posts:
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