Islam and the West
TURKEY: Goodbye to Long Friendship with Israel?
Analysis by Hilmi Toros
The ties between Turkey and Israel that had been simmering for a few weeks suddenly hit boiling point at the usually sedate World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland. Israeli President Shimon Peres and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan got into a public showdown over Gaza; Erdogan stormed out of a panel discussion with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
Peres defended Israeli strikes as a response to rocket attacks by Hamas. Erdogan denounced Israeli raids and the death and destruction among civilians, many women and children among them, and on UN compounds.
The fine print of the confrontation was that Erdogan, despite the reports in most media, did not storm out of the meeting because of Peres. He had said his bit to Peres in no uncertain terms ("Israel knows how to kill well") and was elaborating when moderator David Ignatius of The Washington Post said the panel discussion was running over the allocated time, and persistently attempted to cut off Erdogan.
Peres defended Israeli strikes as a response to rocket attacks by Hamas. Erdogan denounced Israeli raids and the death and destruction among civilians, many women and children among them, and on UN compounds.
The fine print of the confrontation was that Erdogan, despite the reports in most media, did not storm out of the meeting because of Peres. He had said his bit to Peres in no uncertain terms ("Israel knows how to kill well") and was elaborating when moderator David Ignatius of The Washington Post said the panel discussion was running over the allocated time, and persistently attempted to cut off Erdogan.
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3:14 AM
Moderate Islamist here
