Bibi refuses to apologize to Turkey for Mavi Marmara raid

Prime Minister Erdogan is livid but he really has no right to be. Those 9 Turkish citizens who died when their ship tried to run the Gaza blockade knew full well that the Israelis would try to stop them. That was the entire purpose of the exercise; to portray the Israelis in a bad light.

And perhaps if they wanted to avoid casulaties they might have left the guns, knives, and clubs at home.

At any rate, Prime Minister Netanyahu is refusing to apologize for the actions of the Israeli military and Turkey is retaliating:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would not apologize to Turkey over an Israeli raid that killed nine Turks on a ship bound for Gaza, reiterating his position after Ankara downgraded its relations with the Jewish state.

Turkey on Friday froze all military pacts with Israel, expelled the Israeli ambassador and threatened legal sanctions after a U.N. report on the May 2010 raid failed to trigger an Israeli apology.

The report said that Israel had used unreasonable force in the raid of the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, but added that pro-Palestinian activists onboard mounted organised and violent resistance.

Turkey also wants an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza and compensation for the families of the those killed in the raid.

"We do not need to apologize that the naval commandos defended themselves against the violent activists," Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting, echoing a statement issued by his office on Friday.

"I hope a way can be found to overcome the dispute with Turkey. Israel never wanted its relations with Turkey to deteriorate and now too Israel is not interested in a deterioration in relations," he said.

The U.N. report by a four-member panel said Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was a legitimate security measure to prevent weapons from reaching the enclave but the amount of force used by the Israeli commandos was "excessive and unreasonable."

How unreasonable is it for soldiers to defend themselves from people trying to kill them?

I doubt whether relations will improve as long as Erdogan is prime minister and Turkey continues on a path to becoming just another Islamic state in Iran's sphere of influence. It's a serious matter because Turkey had been a reliable ally for Israel.

Apparently, not anymore.