The people on the Mavi Marmara flotilla were genocidal Jew-hating jihadis, as you can see in the above video: they were chanting a jihad war cry recalling Muhammad’s massacre of the Jews of Arabia: “Khybar, Khybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.” See the photos here of their weapons. But the Turks have cleverly recast these jihadis as victims of supposedly unwarranted Israeli aggression, and even prevailed upon Obama to pressure the Israelis to apologize, which they never should have done.
“Turkish Court Orders Arrest Of 4 Israeli Officials In Relation To Mavi Marmara Attack,” Daily Sabah, May 26, 2014:
ISTANBUL — Turkish court orders arrest of 4 Israeli officials in relation to 2010’s Mavi Marmara attack. A judge ordered the arrest of the Israili chief of defence staff, Gavriel “Gabi” Ashkenazi and three other official who were responsible for attack.
Nearly four years ago the Israeli navy attacked the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship in humanitarian flotilla carrying aid and construction materials to the Gaza, which remains under an Israeli blockade.
Turkish grief and rage at the deaths and humiliation Turkish citizens suffered continues.
In May 2010, Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin in international waters when they attacked the Mavi Marmara. The convoy was led and established by the Turkish NGO the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). Uğur Süleyman Söylemez, an IHH member, was also badly injured during the raid in 2010 and died at the age of 51 on Sunday after being in coma nearly 4 years. The numbers of those who died due to the attack now stands at 10.
The sixth hearing in the Mavi Marmara trial was held in Istanbul seventh High Criminal Court on Monday. The Turkish court ordered arrest of four Israeli officials, who authorized and ordered the raid and an INTERPOL red notice to be issued for the officials, who neither attended the trial nor responded to the summons sent for them.
The Israeli officials named by the court are Israel’s former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former air force intelligence chief Avishai Levy.
The deadly raid in 2010, which caused international outrage, soured Turkish-Israeli ties. Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered an apology to Turkey during a phone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The two states started negotiations on a compensation deal for the families of the victims of the Mavi Marmara incident.
Compensation talks with Israel are “positive” and a final deal is near, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. “Problems have been overcome to a considerable extent, but until the talks have been finalized, we will not announce the amount of compensation,” he said in a statement on May 8.
IHH leader Yıldırım believes Israel should not be negotiated with. “The best relations with Israel are zero relations,” Yıldırım said in a press conference. “They see this country as their own. An Israeli told me, ‘We will kill you in Turkey,’ which means they see Turkey as belonging to them.”
On the fourth anniversary of the raid on Friday, IHH will hold a march in Istanbul on Saturday, starting from the Sultan Ahmet district to the Sarayburnu district, where the Mavi Marmara ship launched from. “We will hold our accounting this day. No-one should suppose that we will step back from our case.”