Israeli defense minister slams Netanyahu over crisis with Turkey

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak rebuked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday over his failure to reach an agreement with Ankara to prevent a downgrade in the diplomatic ties between the two countries. Barak pointed out that Netanyahu agreed to recommendations of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on the issue, which included not issuing an official apology over the deaths of eight Turkish nationals and a U.S. citizen of Turkish descent during an army raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010. "Netanyahu was on his way to reach a compromise, but was thwarted by Lieberman," Barak said, the Ynet news site reported Monday. Barak said that he believed that had the event and it's aftermath been handled differently, the situation would not have gone as far as Turkey downgrading commercial and diplomatic ties with Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch announced on Monday that Israel will remove its police representative in Turkey in light of the deepening crisis. Aharonovitch said he feared the current diplomatic situation between the two countries might pose a threat to the representative's security, the Ha'aretz newspaper reported. "Lately, there have not been working relations between the police representative and the Turks. In addition, we are concerned for the safety of the representative and as such he will be transferred in the coming days," Aharonovitch said.