New Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett hit out at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday over his response to an apology delivered by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for a May 2010 IDF raid on a flotilla heading for Gaza, in which nine Turkish nationals died.
“It seems that since [Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s] apology, Erdogan is doing everything to make Israel regret it”, Bennett wrote in his official Facebook page. “He is running a personal and vitriolic campaign at the expense of Israeli-Turkish relations.”
Netanyahu apologized to Erdogan in a phone call last week, just as US President Barack Obama was leaving the country. During the conversation, Netanyahu voiced regret for the loss of life in the incident, and apologized for any mistakes that led to the death of the nine Turkish activists. Breaking a three-year deadlock, the two agreed to normalize relations.
Since then however, Erdogan appears to have backtracked on commitments he made during the conversation, announcing that he intends to visit Gaza, and saying that despite Israel’s apology, it is still too early to drop the case against IDF generals accused by Ankara of being responsible for the deaths.