If the US adamantly refuses to apologize to Pakistan for the accidental killing
of 24 Pakistani soldiers last November, Israel certainly need not say sorry to
Turkey for the Mavi Marmara deaths, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said
Monday.
Liberman, speaking at an accountants’ conference in Eilat, said
Israel should not hesitate to make this position clear to
Washington.
“The Pakistanis asked the US to apologize, and the Americans
said ‘no way,’” Liberman said in reference to the November incident where US
forces accidentally fired on two Pakistani border posts.
The US has since
expressed regret for the incident, something Israel has also said it was willing
to do regarding the killing of nine Turks on the May 2010 flotilla that aimed to
break the blockade of Gaza.
“So when they come to us and pressure us to
apologize over the Marmara, because of this or that constraint, sometimes even
to best friends you must say ‘no.’ Otherwise, no one will respect you,” Liberman
declared.
Liberman said the commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara and
clashed with those on the ship were clearly exercising their rights of self
defense. The Turkish pressure on Israel to apologize now is to “deter us from
using the legitimate right for self defense,” he said.
Last week a
Turkish court decided to indict former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and three
other former top IDF officials for involvement in the Mavi Marmara
confrontation.
Liberman said his position on the issue remains the same
as it was immediately following the incident: “We were right, and you don’t
apologize over something right, regardless of the pressure.”
Michele
Flournoy, who served as the third top official in the Pentagon before stepping
down earlier this year, said last week at an Institute for National Security
Studies conference in Tel Aviv that it was very important for “Israel to repair
its relationship with Turkey.”
Flournoy, who played a key role in shaping
US President Barack Obama’s national security policy, hinted that Israel should
apologize, saying Turkey was one of the strongest and most influential voices in
the region, remained a close and valued NATO ally for the United States, and
shared “our interest in preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon
state.”
While acknowledging that “she understands that past events have
made concrete steps towards reconciliation quite difficult,” Flournoy said “if
there is ever a time for Israel to rise above past differences and
recriminations with Turkey, now is that time.
“Israel must act more
strategically, and I think there is tremendous opportunity to rebuild its
partnership with Turkey and with other partners where it can. This is really
important at a time of such [regional] uncertainty.”
The Wall Street
Journal reported in May that during discussions last December in Washington over
whether it should apologize to the Pakistanis, Flournoy suggested language
whereby the US would apologize for the “unintentional and tragic” deaths, but
would not accept full responsibility. According to the paper, she argued that
the “US risked the issue festering.”
No US apology has yet been
forthcoming, and The Wall Street Journal quoted a senior administration official
as wondering how Washington could apologize to a country that was providing, at
least through some parts of its government, tacit support to those attacking US
troops.
“This isn’t about politics,” the official is quoted as saying.
“This is about the message that would send to our troops and that is what no one
in the military or the White House could countenance.”