In a commentary published Thursday in the English-language Jerusalem Post under the headline “We will not be Turkey’s punching bag,” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Ankara of anti-Israel incitement. He also offered to meet his Turkish counterpart as part of a “frank and honest dialogue” on how the two countries’ longtime alliance might be restored.

Ties between Turkey and Israel frayed to near the breaking point after Israeli naval commandos killed eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent during a raid last year on a flotilla of aid ships trying to breach the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

But Lieberman said the tensions predated that incident, and were manufactured by the Turkish government.

“Contrary to popular assertions, the current crisis with Turkey did not begin yesterday and certainly not after the events surrounding the flotilla in May. The crisis began long before this government was established and was long predetermined in Ankara,” the ultra-nationalist foreign minister wrote in the Jerusalem Post. “The exact genesis of the current crisis can be traced to the moment in January 2009 when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan verbally attacked and humiliated President Shimon Peres … at the World Economic Forum in Davos … [T]his outburst was not improvised or reactive, but part of a carefully thought-out strategy.”

In his commentary, Lieberman cited a visit by Erdoğan to Lebanon in November, during which the Turkish leader accused Israel of killing women and children. He also lashed out at the imminent release of the Turkish movie “Valley of the Wolves,” saying it included anti-Semitic slurs.

The minister said Israel had no desire to see relations with Ankara deteriorate, accusing Turkey’s politicians of exploiting Israel for domestic political purposes. Lieberman also likened Turkey to Israel’s arch-foe Iran on the eve of its 1979 Islamic revolution, writing: “Unfortunately, recent events in Turkey are reminiscent of Iran before the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Like Turkey, Iran was among Israel’s closest allies and the two nations held good relations between both governments and people.”

Far-rightist Lieberman has vowed the Jewish state will not apologize to Turkey for its May 31 attack on the Mavi Marmara ship, which was part of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla. He criticized Ankara for failing to respond to the “dreadful spectacle” of crowds welcoming the vessel back to Turkey with chants of “Death to Israel.”

“The lack of condemnation for these outrageous scenes … makes it extremely hard for us to show restraint. We will not be a punching bag and will react, as any other sovereign nation, to such insults and abuse,” Lieberman wrote.

Turkey and Israel have held mediated talks seeking a way to reset relations, but Ankara has insisted on an Israeli apology for the raid. Lieberman said Israel is seeking a frank and honest dialogue with Turkey and called on his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu to join him for talks. “I invite my counterpart, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu, to Jerusalem, or any other location, where we can discuss all issues of relevance to both nations and the wider region. Allies can have disagreements; it is how we deal with these disagreements that is the true mark of any relationship,” Lieberman wrote.

“If the Turkish government is truly honest about seeking to normalize relations with Israel, it needs to stop looking for excuses and attaching preconditions,” he added. “Israel should not be used as an issue in the upcoming Turkish national elections in June.”
Source : Daily News

”I am preparing the Israeli army for a large-scale war since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite,” Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi was quoted as saying in a cable sent from the US embassy in Tel Aviv.

The document, dated November 15, was quoted on Sunday by the Oslo daily Aftenposten, which said it had obtained WikiLeaks’s entire cache of 251,187 leaked US embassy cables.

General Ashkenazi told the delegation led by a Democrat, Ike Skelton, that despite Iran having about 300 Shihab rockets that could reach Israel, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon posed the most acute threat.

In a war in 2006 between Hezbollah and Israel, the death toll was 1200 Lebanese, many of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Agence France-Presse

A trail of smoke is seen after the launch of a rocket from the northern Gaza Strip aimed towards Israel on December 27, 2008. (REUTERS/Baz Ratner)