Israel And Turkey End Three-Year Rift After Obama Sets Up Call

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a 2010 incident that badly damaged relations between the two countries, Reuters reports.

In 2010 Israeli marines killed nine Turkish activists after boarding a boat challenging Israel's naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

The flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats — carrying 10,000 tons of aid for Gaza — were attempting to challenge Israel’s military blockade of Gaza. Organizers accused Israeli commandos of opening fire as soon as they reached the deck of the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish passenger vessel carrying about 600 activists.

Turkey, Israel’s most important friend in the Muslim world, subsequently recalled its ambassador and canceled planned military exercises. In September 2011 Erdogan called the raid in international waters a "cause for war."

"On behalf of Israelis, he apologized for any deaths those operational mistakes might have caused," an official aboard Air Force One told Reuters, noting that Barack Obama organized the call.

Erdogan accepted the apology on behalf of Turkey and reportedly retracted some comments he made about Zionism.

"Just like Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it becomes unavoidable that Islamophobia must be regarded as a crime against humanity," Erdogan said last month at a United Nations conference in Vienna.

Jon Donnison reports that Netanyahu also "agreed to complete the agreement for compensation" for the families of those killed. Ambassadors will also be reinstated and legal proceedings against Israeli soldiers will be cancelled.

Erdogan and Netanyahu talked for about 30 minutes. Obama joined the call at some point, according to the White House press pool. Reuters reports that the leaders also agreed to work together to improve the humanitarian situation in Palestinian territories.

Michael D. Weiss notes that the apology was likely influenced by the need for Israeli-Turkish intelligence cooperation on the conflict in Syria.

Reuters correspondent Noah Browning called the apology "the take-away" from Obama's visit to the Holy Land, adding that it is "a pretty big accomplishment for him" if Israel-Turkey relations are normalized going forward.

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