Sa’ar: Stop the ‘bad agreement’ with Turkey

Majority of Israelis oppose deal with Turkey

Poll reveals just one third of Israelis approve of Turkey reconciliation agreement to be signed on Tuesday.

Former Likud minister says there is absolutely no justification for Israel paying compensation to families of Marmara Islamists.

INN

Former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday night called on Israeli ministers to stop what he termed the “bad agreement” with Turkey.

Under the agreement, officially announced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier on Monday, Israel will provide $20 million in compensation to the families of jihadists killed aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, which in 2010 attempted to violently break Israel’s blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza. That is in addition to the official Israeli apology and a deal to allow Turkish humanitarian aid into Gaza via Israel.

In exchange, relations between the two one-time allies will return to normal, and talks will commence on a potentially lucrative natural gas deal.

“When the Palestinian Authority pays money to the families of terrorists – we are outraged, and rightly so. But under the agreement with Turkey, Israel will do just that,” Sa’ar wrote on Facebook.

“There is no reason, no justification and no wisdom in paying ‘compensation’ to families terrorists who tried to kill our soldiers aboard the Marmara. From every relevant perspective it is Turkey, from whose territory the terror flotilla came and whose citizens who were terrorists were involved, who should be paying Israel,” he added.

“Creating such a precedent of compensation to the attacker not only harms our national dignity. It is a serious strategic mistake by the State of Israel, whose battle against terrorism is far from over,” warned Sa’ar.

“Israel should have also insisted that the bodies of two fallen soldiers, who fell while they were defending of our people, were returned home in the agreement with Turkey. The same applies to Israeli citizens held in the Gaza Strip.”

“I respect Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but he is wrong on this matter. I hope that the members of the security cabinet will succeed, at the last moment, to stop this bad agreement,” concluded Sa’ar.