Israel should have apologized to Turkey for its deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship, but instead allowed relations to deteriorate, according to United Kingdom’s former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
“Israel could – and should – have apologized in a full-hearted manner, but in a way that neither humiliated nor embarrassed them. Once the apology had been issued, and accepted by Turkey, both countries would have had a platform for the restoration of normal relations,” Straw wrote in a commentary for the Hürriyet Daily News.
“Instead, relations have deteriorated, from tepid, then to cold, and now to freezing… Israel has only itself to blame,” he wrote. Comparing the situation today to the sympathy for Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, Straw said Israel has become isolated due to “its arrogance; its cavalier approach to international norms; and the inability of its leaders to act in a statesmanlike, strategic way.”
Click here to read the full commentary by United Kingdom’s former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Hurriyet Daily News