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Bibi Apologizes for Turkish Flotilla Incident

Netanyahu admits that there were “operational mistakes”

by
Adam Chandler
March 22, 2013
(Wikimedia)
(Wikimedia)

More highlights from this story to come, but for now we know that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone call to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan contained in it an apology for the 2010 Turkish flotilla incident in which nine civilians died.

Netanyahu has long held out on handing over such an apology given that the Mavi Marmara sought to break Israel’s naval blockade and that IDF soldiers were brutally attacked when they boarded the ship. Nevertheless, Netanyahu acknowledged “operational mistakes,” according to an official quoted in the White House Press Pool. Erdogan was quick to accept the apology.

Whether you agree with this or not, this is an important moment.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.