A cynical use of morality<\/p>\n
By Haaretz Editorial<\/p>\n
Two outrageous new developments have worsened the already tense
\nrelations between Israel and Turkey. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, the head of the
\nIsrael Defense Forces’ Ground Forces issued a tongue-lashing to
\nTurkey’s prime minister to remind the country of past atrocities. It
\ngoes without saying that as an army man, Gen. Mizrahi is not tasked
\nwith formulating Israel’s foreign policy, nor does he appraise other
\ncountries. But even more grievous is the liberty he took to denounce
\nand preach morality to a strategic ally, causing a stir in relations
\nbetween Israel and Turkey.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Israel’s Foreign Ministry pulled out a long worn-out
\ncard, threatening to label the massacre of Armenians in 1915 as
\ngenocide. It is hard to believe that the Foreign Ministry had a sudden
\nattack of morality regarding the Armenians. For years the ministry has
\navoided adopting the word holocaust or genocide regarding the massacre
\nof Armenians, not only because Israel seeks to preserve its
\nexclusivity over the word holocaust. Mainly, it knows that adopting
\nthe word genocide in the Armenians’ case would be tantamount to a
\ndiplomatic showdown with Turkey, one that would in all likelihood
\nresult in a severing of ties.<\/p>\n
This time the Foreign Ministry apparently decided that the Turkish
\nprime minister’s blunt statements about Israeli policy deserve a
\nfitting Israeli response, or at the very least the threat of such a
\nresponse. The debate is not whether to define the killing of Armenians
\nas genocide or a holocaust. This is a moral issue that obligates us to
\nre-examine history and offer a value-based judgment. The criticism is
\naimed at Israel’s trying to make political use of the Armenian issue
\nto “punish” Turkey for daring to be so insolent as to condemn the
\nmilitary operation, whose results are a matter of controversy even in
\nIsrael.<\/p>\n
Turkey is one of Israel’s most important allies even if its prime A cynical use of morality By Haaretz Editorial Two outrageous new developments have worsened the already tense relations between Israel and Turkey. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, the head of the Israel Defense Forces’ Ground Forces issued a tongue-lashing to Turkey’s prime minister to remind the country of past atrocities. It goes without saying that as an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,89],"tags":[997],"class_list":["post-9301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-turkey","tag-davos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nminister does not always express an understanding of our policies or
\nresorts to insulting language.<\/span><\/strong> The Foreign Ministry’s main efforts
\nshould thus be geared toward containing the dispute and restoring the
\nrelationship to its proper course. If Israel seeks to alter its stance
\non the question of the murder of the Armenians, it would be wise to do
\nso at a more appropriate time, from a worthy position of morality and
\nnot as a way to make threats. It shouldn’t happen whenever a
\ndisagreement erupts with Turkey.
\n
\nAs for Gen. Mizrahi, perhaps the chief of staff should let his
\nsubordinates know when they are overstepping the bounds of their
\nauthority. In a different era, one would have expected the general to
\nbe relieved of his duties because of his comments.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"