Erdogan, standing before a portrait of another deeply moral statesman, Ataturk
Speaking of myopic moral equivalence, here is one from Haaretz, with thanks to Ali Dashti. But where are the Israeli suicide bombers? I know that Israel is accused of targeting civilians. I also know that Palestinian Arab terrorists tend to hide among civilians. But that is something we dhimmis are not supposed to notice.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticized Israel’s Rafah operation, saying that although Turkey also suffered from terrorism and was fighting it, he did not see a difference between what terrorists were doing and Israel’s demolition of homes and the damage it was bringing to civilians.
Erdogan met with National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky, who said that the Turkish PM renewed offers to mediate between Israel and both the Palestinians and Syria.
Paritzky said the Turkish leader had been forthright in his criticism of Israel’s assassination of two Hamas leaders and a recent huge raid on the Gaza Strip.
“The prime minister was very unhappy, to say the least,” Paritzky told a small group of reporters.
“He claimed that the activities of the State of Israel do not promote peace…[But] he is willing to offer his services to mediate, negotiate and bring peace to the area.”
Muslim but firmly secular Turkey has close economic and security ties with Israel, which regards Ankara as a valuable ally in the region, but has also traditionally supported Palestinian aspirations to statehood.
Erdogan, who had previously offered to mediate in the Middle East conflict, accused Israel in March of “terrorism” after the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Speaking in a newspaper interview, he said then that the assassination had seriously damaged peace efforts and there was “nothing left to mediate”.
But apparently none of the killings of innocent non-combatants ordered by Yassin damaged peace efforts, eh, Erdogan?