Israel’s deputy foreign minister has signaled he regrets humiliating Turkey’s ambassador, in an effort to defuse a diplomatic flap that has further strained ties between the once-close allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in publicly yesterday for the first time since the flap erupted earlier this week, gently chiding the Israeli diplomat for his conduct.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon did not go so far as to explicitly apologize for inviting Israeli TV crews on Monday to film how he forced Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to sit on a sofa lower than his and denied him a handshake.
He also stood behind his decision to summon Celikkol to protest a Turkish TV show that depicts Israeli intelligence agents as brutal.
“It’s not my custom to offend ambassadors and in the future, I will explain my positions in accepted diplomatic ways,” Ayalon said in a statement to the Israeli media late on Tuesday.
The put-down enraged Turkey and deepened the rift that has emerged over the past year between the Jewish state and its closest friend in the Muslim world.
Israel has been worried by Ankara’s tilt away from the West and toward the Jewish state’s archenemy, Iran, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been fiercely critical of Israel’s use of overwhelming firepower against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Turkish embassy was not immediately available for comment early yesterday, but Israel Radio said the insulted Cellikol wants an explicit apology.
For years, Israel had enjoyed close military and economic ties with Turkey as Ankara sought to grow closer to the West. In 2008, the Turks mediated several rounds of indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria that have since broken down.
Israel’s war against Gaza Strip militants who had fired thousands of rockets at Israel for years signaled a sharp downtown in relations, exacerbated by Turkey’s improved ties with neighboring Iran.
Erdogan was outraged by the high Palestinian civilian death toll and days after the offensive began, he stalked off a stage he was sharing with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with the parting shot: “You kill people.”
Turkey also canceled a high-profile military exercise with Israel last fall.
Erdogan reignited tensions on Monday by accusing Israel of threatening world peace. That same day, Ayalon summoned Celikkol, and the frictions exploded.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader was satisfied with what he characterized as Ayalon’s “apology,” adding that the protest was justified, “but should have been expressed in an accepted diplomatic fashion.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese