Poll: Israelis Believe Apology to Turkey Was a Mistake

INN ^ | 7/9/2013, 5:44 AM | Elad Benari

[Olog-hai]

The diplomatic dispute between Israel and Turkey may have come to an end earlier this year when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apologized to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the May 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, but a new poll shows that trust between the two nations has yet to recover.

According to the poll, which was commissioned by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and appeared on Monday in the Israel Hayom daily, 85% of Israelis say the chances of their going on vacation to Turkey in the near future are very low.

Only 28% of Israelis believe that relations between Israel and Turkey under Erdoğan will improve in the near future, while 42% think relations will stay the same and 30% believe they will deteriorate further.

Most Israelis (71%) believe Israel’s apology to Turkey was not justified, while only 29% think it was, the poll found. …

[Telepathic Intruder]

You only apologize when you want someone to know you were wrong and they were right. This just puts blood in the water and is not going to appease anyone. They will become more emboldened to do the same thing, thinking they can get another apology when the inevitable and only possible response comes.

[Netz]

Duh? Obama pressured Bibi into apologizing to the Turk f**k. Obama promised Bibi that if he apologized (what? for defending Israeli territorial integrity and the lives of her Naval commandos?) then Erdogan would normalize relations. As usual, the Israelis caved and Erdogan gave everybody the finger. Obama is “furious”...so, does anybody care that Obama is angry? No. Israel, stop listening to Obama, he's bad news.

[Republican1795.]

Well it’s hard to take back something like that.

[Lancey Howard]

I’m not Israeli but I agree - - Netanyahu screwed up.

[QQQQ]

Apology is worthless. I’m sure that Bibi got more in return than apology.