The Israeli Side

After I read a post of Istanbulian Calling, I was more curious about the Avi Mizrahi story and what the Israeli general had actually said.

I contacted Amir Oren, the Haaretz correspondent who had written the initial story, letting the world know about Mizrahi's remarks.

Amir Oren, whom I hadn't met before, sent me the following reply quickly and kindly:

"Maj. Gen. Mizrahi did not refer to the Armenian and Kurd issues in so many words. The indication or hint was clear and obvious to all present, but the word "Genocide" was not used. Of course, the interpretation was not denied when the report came out."

As a result, I don't agree with the cynical touch of Istanbulian Calling, even though I agree that this cynicism is indeed journalistic.

I think that Amir Oren did a great job to inform us, even without any quotation marks. It is beyond doubt that the Mizrahi story made a sensational impact in Turkey, resulted by a diplomatic note from Ankara to Israel.

But how about the Israeli side? By far, we didn't hear anything about the reactions of the Israeli public. We have seen a couple of analysis in the Israeli press, mainly of Haaretz again, which were mostly critical about Mizrahi's remarks. And the ordinary Israeli citizen? Did he/she support the general or did he/she condemn him?

I asked these questions to my friend and colleague Daniel Bettini, the Foreign News Editor of Yedioth Ahronoth. His answer is as follows:

"It actually had a little impact here. If I'm not wrong, our paper didn't even publish it - just our internet site Ynet (Link 1 - Link 2). Of course they talked about it on the news, on TV and on the radio, but in the printed press it hadn't such a huge impact.

"I don't know about the quotation marks in the Haaretz story. You have to understand that a lot of people in Israel were shocked about the words of Erdogan and the huge demonstrations in Turkey on the war in Gaza. We didn't expect from Turkey such a reaction and that's why some people and in this case Mzrahi reacted this way, I think.

"The point is: Israelis, almost everybody here, love Turkey, the Turkish people, culture and the vacation spots - because of the reactions in Turkey, the whole story got big proportions here. I'm confidant that very soon the relations between the two countries, who really were and are good friends, will get back to normal."