The right wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netenhayu has had to engage in serious damage control to rescue to its ties to Turkey after deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon publicly humiliated Turkey's ambassador Oguz Celikkol. Ayalon who is stepping in for the "disgraced" hard line foreign minister Avigdor Liberman, who is currently under investigation for malfeasance, exhibited a most diplomatic behavior best put into words by the "Jerusalem Post": "Yes, it is essential the Islamic government in Turkey know that there are consequences to its unbridled derision of Israel, but the public humiliation of a diplomat shifts the onus from Turkey’s bad behavior to Ayalon’s boorish performance.”
The parting of the way occurred 12 months ago when president Shimon Peres publicly rebuked Turkey's prime minister Erdogan for critizing Israel's preemptive war against the Hamas government in Gaza. And the long ties which have bound Ankara and Jerusalem for a good half century are fast loosenly.
It is foolhardy for Israel to show bad temper at a time its Turkish ally can serve and has used its good offices with Arab governments and the Palestinian Authority to bring closure to the seemingly intractable Arab Israeli and Palestinian Israeli problems. In short, Ayalon's display of arrogance has shot Israel in the foot, and poisoned the waters of an alliance and a friendship which could serve Jerusalem well.
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