Israel has named its first ambassador to Turkey since 2010, when Ankara ceased its ties with the regime in Tel Aviv over an attack on a Palestine-bound aid ship.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, said on Tuesday that Eitan Naeh was formally nominated as the envoy to Turkey, pending a final approval by the cabinet.
Tel Aviv, however, has not confirmed the ambassador yet. The nomination is the first since Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara five years ago after the regime forces stormed a Turkish aid flotilla traveling to the besieged Gaza Strip. Ten Turkish activists were killed on board the ship, which sought to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza.
Turkey said in June that it had accepted Israel’s apology and compensation offer over the flotilla attack and decided to resume diplomatic ties. Reports said Israel had also guaranteed that Turkey could deliver its aid to Gaza unharmed although some sources in the occupied territories denied there was such a guarantee.
The United States and Britain are believed to have played a major role in the normalization of Israeli-Turkish ties. Naeh is currently head of the Israeli mission in London.
Thousands protested in Istanbul last month to condemn the normalization of relations, saying Ankara should have continued to denounce Israel’s deadly siege on Gaza.
Many Muslim nations condemn the regime’s occupation of Palestine and other Arab territories and have no diplomatic relations with the Israeli entity.
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