Does anyone think an apology would have forestalled this? Clearly Erdogan has been trying to bully and intimidate Israel prior to this gambit which is more of the same. Israel has no choice but to maintain the boycott which has now been declared legal. And the US is permitting this? The Law Forum (Nitsana Dershan-Leitner) wrote to the Israeli government advising that the consent of Knesset is needed to amend the Treaty with Egypt. This prevented them from consenting to more Egyptian troops in the Sinai. Now Egypt is joining Turkey in the challenge to Israel in her territorial waters. Ted Belman
Erdogan drives toward armed clash with Israel. Oil and gas at stake
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 9, 2011,
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan this week coolly moved his country step by provocative step towards an armed clash with Israel – not just over the Palestinian issue, but because he covets the gas and oil resources of the eastern Mediterranean opposite Israel’s shores.
Thursday night, Sept. 8, he announced that Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In his remarks to Al Jazeera television, the Turkish prime minister also said he had taken steps “to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean.”
He did not say what steps he had taken. However, for some time now, he has moved mountains to isolate Israel by drawing a double diplomatic noose around it.
If Turkish ships breach the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, which a UN report last week pronounced legitimate under international law, Erdogan will become the first Muslim leader to embark on military action in the Palestinian cause. The Arab nations which fought Israel time after time in the past will be made to look ineffectual and the Turkish leader the regional big shot. Even Iran would be put in the shade for never daring to provoke Israel the way Turkey has.
The Turkish prime minister clings to the belief that the foremost Arab powers, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have been watching his maneuvers with deep suspicion, will have no choice but to play ball with him now that he has confronted Israel. The first crack in the Arab ice came about Thursday, Sept. 8, in the form of Egyptian consent to join the Turkish Navy in sea maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean.
Erdogan plans to send his warships into this water for two missions:
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1. To split the Israel’s small Navy into two heads – one for sustaining the blockade against Gaza and one for safeguarding the gas and oil rigs opposite its shores.
2. To scare Israel into the full or partial stoppage of its offshore oil and gas operations, thereby robbing it of energy power status and substantial economic gains. Erdogan is determined never to let Israel overshadow Turkey in the regional stakes and will put a stop to the Jewish state’s progress – even if military aggression is called for.
debkafile’s military sources report that the Turkish prime minister is resolved to corner Israel into an inescapable military confrontation. It might not happen at once or even within a week, but it will happen a lot sooner than many Israeli politicians and military chiefs imagine because he is using Israel as his ticket to regional prestige.
Erdogan is driven to assert Turkey’s importance additionally by the way he was shouldered aside in Libya. Ankara invested heavily in its support for the Libyan rebels. But when British, French, Jordanian and Qatari special forces stormed Tripoli on Aug. 21 and overthrew the Qaddafi regime, Turkey was left behind and forgotten in the heat of the action.
From Ankara, the Turkish leader watches the sharing out of Libyan oil as the spoils of war among the Western powers and Qatar as an outsider.
Since he can’t pluck up courage to intervene in Syria, he has plumped for seizing eastern Mediterranean natural resources to elevate Turkey’s standing. Not only will he snatch the treasure out of Israel’s hands but no less important, he will challenge his country’s traditional rival Greece whose military ties with Israel are growing stronger.
As for Washington, Erdogan is counting on President Barack Obama’s backing in a military clash with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are less confident of US support. This gives Turkey an edge in a conflict – the cost of the passive military policy pursued consistently by Israeli leaders in the face of security threats.
The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will also suffer if Turkey and Israel come to blows by being overshadowed.
Lieberman: Exact a Price From Turkey
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman plans to adopt measures that will show Turkey is must treat Israel with ‘respect and common decency.’
Turkey now Israel’s 3rd-Largest Export Market
Despite political tensions, Turkey has become Israel’s third-largest export market, up from ninth-largest last year
This quote discredits the entire article, which is not an actual news story but one guy’s opinion at Debka, a source of questionable reliability (they predicted various wars between Israel and Hezbollah and Israel and Iran the last several years that never occurred). Anyway, I doubt Erdogan is that stupid as to count on Obama’s backing. Erdogan may be counting the USA would take no action but there is no chance Obama or any other American leader would side with Turkey in a military class. Turkey may be a nominal member of NATO but they did not assist the USA in the Iraq conflicts and they have trivial support in America. More likely is a military coup in Turkey.
BlandOatmeal Said:
Agreed. Lesser threats can be run down and properly dealt with after larger military escorts are properly eliminated.
One cant be diffident when a bully threatens – it only invites further bullying. (But that’s an old lesson that Israel surely should have learned by now.)
The first real provocation by Turkey should met with a serious destructive response.
If something like that happened I wonder if the Turkish military would see that as an opportunity to do something about Erdogan…
Once oil and gas reserves were discovered in Israeli territorial waters, it was inevitable that the muslims would attempt to steal it.
I am hoping that the Israeli govt. gives the Turkish Fuehrer a proper response. To hell with the blockade runners — sink the Turkish escorts!
Israel will have to stand firm in the face of the Turkish threat and reconfigure its national security strategy. Israel needs to upgrade alliances with Cyprus, Greece and other nations threatened by rising Turkish revanchism.
Turkey is sliding into the enemy camp and this might happen faster than any one anticipates.