Turkey threatens to cut off diplomatic ties with Israel

Relations between Israel and its ally Turkey, already strained since Israel raided a Gaza-bound flotilla in May, appear headed for rupture. Turkey has warned Israel that it will cut diplomatic ties with the Jewish state unless Israel apologizes for the raid in which nine activists were killed. Israel’s foreign minister says it will do no such thing. The two countries have had close political and military ties for decades, motivated in part because both are non-Arab democracies in a region dominated by illiberal autocracies.

Haaretz