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Ayalon with Turkish ambassador
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Arab papers on apology: Israel only understands Turkish

Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper in Lebanon calls Turkish prime minister ‘Sultan Erdogan.’ Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper: Erdogan treated Israel rudeness like it deserved – with power and determination

The Arab press did not hide its elation over Israel’s apology to Turkey over its diplomatic faux pas. The Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, called the Turkish prime minister “Sultan Erdogan” in its main headline. It continued on to quip: “Israel understands only Turkish: the apology was on the same scale as the humiliation.”

 

“The threat was effective. The Israelis quickly got on their knees and made a move in proportionate to the humiliation they committed,” wrote the Lebanese paper. “They sent a letter of apology from Ayalon himself to Presidul Gul after being pressured by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The most important thing state in the letter: ‘I apologize for the manner in which Israel behaved. I did not mean to humiliate the ambassador…’

 

The Hezbollah-affiliated paper wrote that most importantly the wording of the apology was agreed upon between Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

 

“Erdogan’s response was to-the-point. He said that ‘he knows’ about the Israeli letter, and noted that Turkey ‘accepted the necessary and expected apology.’ This was an unprecedented apology from an Israeli official in light of the long and warm relations between Turkey and Israel. From now on, the ‘Turkish ambassador affair’, will be seen as setting a new standard for the level of tension between the two sides and for the level of Israeli arrogance, which seems to have learned ‘the Turkish language.’”

 

The newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, took things a bit further. In an article published in the paper, the headline read that this was “an Israeli apology that humiliate Turkey.”

 

The article, which was apparently written prior to Prime Minister Erdogan’s acceptance of Israel’s apology, claimed, “Relations with Israel have always been a moral, religious, and spiritual burden on the shoulders of Erdogan’s government. This burden intensified following Israel’s recent aggression in the Gaza Strip and the penetration of aggressive Israeli forces in order to carry out their barbaric actions through killing women and children, blowing up houses, expelling more than 100,000 people, and more.”

 

The article also claimed: “Erdogan has entirely not accepted the Israeli deputy foreign minister’s humiliation of his ambassador, who is representing Ottoman Turkey, and thereby carries the glorious genes of the Islamic empire. We do not believe that Erdogan will accept the Israeli apology, which comes after much hesitation. If he accepts it, he will do so with discomfort and bracing himself for the next diplomatic clashes.

 

“Erdogan’s government treated the Israeli rudeness in the way it deserved – that is to say, with force and determination. This is a manner to which Israeli governments are not accustomed, especially from Arab states, and, therefore, have been haughty until along came someone who knew how to act with them in a language they understand.”

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.14.10, 11:38
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