ISRAELI DAILY LAMBASTES COMMANDER OVER TURKEY REMARKS
Today’s Zaman
Feb 17 2009
Turkey
A leading Israeli newspaper criticized both the country’s ground
forces commander for accusing Turkey of past atrocities and the
Foreign Ministry for signaling that Israel could recognize claims
of an Armenian "genocide" in the Ottoman Empire to punish Ankara,
which has grown increasingly vocal in its criticism against Israel’s
treatment of Palestinians.
Israeli Ground Forces Commander Gen. Avi Mizrahi was quoted as saying
last week that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should
"first look into the mirror" before attacking Israel for its 22-day
offensive in Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead in
January. Erdogan walked out of a panel discussion at Davos following
an angry exchange with Israeli President Shimon Peres in late January,
promising never to return to Davos. His earlier criticism included
a suggestion that Israel be barred from the United Nations.
In an editorial published yesterday, the liberal Haaretz daily said
Gen. Mizrahi was an "army man" and thus "not tasked with formulating
Israel’s foreign policy, nor does he appraise other countries." It
said: "But even more grievous is the liberty he took to denounce
and preach morality to a strategic ally, causing a stir in relations
between Israel and Turkey."
"Perhaps the chief of staff should let his subordinates know when
they are overstepping the bounds of their authority," Haaretz said,
and went further to state that one would even have expected the
general to be relieved of his duties "in a different era."
Israel’s ambassador in Ankara was called into the Foreign Ministry on
Saturday and given an official memorandum of protest over Mizrahi’s
remarks. More importantly, the Turkish General Staff also resorted to
a rare measure against Israel, which traditionally has had good ties
with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and suggested in a statement
that military cooperation with the Jewish state could be at stake
due to Mizrahi’s comments.
Haaretz also called into question the Israeli Foreign Ministry
resorting to the so-called Armenian genocide card amid disputes
with Turkey. "It is hard to believe that the Foreign Ministry had
a sudden attack of morality regarding the Armenians," it said. The
debate is not whether to define the killing of Armenians as genocide
or a holocaust. … The criticism is aimed at Israel’s trying to make
political use of the Armenian issue to ‘punish’ Turkey for daring to
be so insolent as to condemn the military operation, whose results
are a matter of controversy even in Israel."