February 24, 2013

 (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for now rejected a bid to apologize to Turkey for a fatal raid on a 2010 Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza, Haaretz reported.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has advocated for such an apology since the May 2010, suggested a formula to Netanyahu under which Barak, who is leaving government, would deliver the apology and would absorb any political fall-out.

Netanyahu had considered such an apology in the past, but had balked in part because of the adamant opposition of his foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman.

Now out of government and facing a trial on fraud charges, Liberman is no longer  a factor, but Netanyahu preferred to hold off on any such gesture until after he has cobbled together a new government, Haaretz reported.

Turkish and Israeli media have reported intensified efforts in recent months to refurbish ties in the wake of the raid

. As a condition to normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel, Turkey has demanded that Israel apologize for the death of nine activists who were killed when Israeli commandoes raided the Mavi Marmara ship during a takeover operation in the Mediterranean.

The aid ship, chartered by the Islamist IHH organization, was headed to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel’s naval siege on the Hamas-run area. 

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