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Behaving like turkeys

To see the sharp dive in relations between Israel and Turkey is not only bad for the two countries involved but the region as well - and the wider world too. That Israel ought to have seized the opportunity to batten down the dispute soon after the attack on the flotilla headed toward Gaza last year.

Tony Karon in Time:

"Israel's fallout with long-time ally Turkey is no isolated spat that will be repaired any time soon; it's a dramatic illustration that no amount of U.S. backing can prevent the growing international isolation resulting from Israel's handling of the Palestinian issue. Indeed, the unconditional nature of Washington's backing may, in fact, have become dysfunctional to Israel's diplomatic standing: A U.S. domestic political climate in which challenging Israel on anything is about as wise as threatening to cut medicare payments leaves Washington unable to restrain the most right-wing government in Israeli history from its most self-destructive urges, while economic changes and the radical policies adopted by the United States in the decade since 9/11 have left Washington's influence in the Middle East at its weakest since World War II."

Meanwhile, Gideon Levy over at Haaretz writes:

"The day after nine activists were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara, Israel should have offered a heartfelt apology. Excessive use of lethal weaponry and the close-range killing of civilians from a friendly country is something that cries out for an apology. It's not hard to imagine what would have happened had nine Israeli activists working on behalf of Turkish Jewry been killed by Turkey's army in this fashion.

But Avigdor Lieberman, our thuggish foreign minister, gave the signal, and Benjamin Netanyahu, our easily led prime minister, gave himself over to the "no apology" madness. This, it's worth recalling, came after the incident of the low chair and the incident at Davos. It's also worth recalling that this was aimed at a strong, flourishing, regional power, at the very moment when it was moving away from Syria and Iran - a country with a population 10 times the size of Israel's and a standing army three times the size of Israel's. But who's counting?

And what will Egypt do now that Turkey has almost entirely severed relations with Israel? What new depths will this lead us into?"

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