Israel regrets bracketing India with other violence-hit states

New Delhi, Jun 2 (PTI) An embarrassed Israel Wednesday
regretted a diplomatic gaffe by its Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman, who had compared violence in India to its widely-
condemned attack on a ship carrying aid to Gaza strip.

Lieberman had told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
that violent incidents in countries like India and Pakistan in
the past one month which claimed 500 lives have been ignored
but Israel was being condemned for "defensive actions."
The Israeli Ambassador to India Mark Sofer told
reporters that this was a "regrettable error" and that his
country "does not see India in the same light as it sees its
enemies." India was a close friend, he emphasised.
Sofer said already the name of India has been removed
from the speech of his Foreign Minister and "we are taking
this up to make sure that any misunderstanding risen out of
this error of this nature will no longer be there", indicating
that an apology from his country would be forthcoming.
He also said "Israel stands hook, line and sinker
behind India in its struggle in South Asia."
The Israeli envoy also tried to counter the charges by
countries like Iran and Sudan made after the recent incident
and presented a minute-long video which showed that Israeli
officers gave a warning to the flotilla which was trying to
enter the blocked area.
It also showed Israeli paratroopers jumping onto the
international Gaza aid flotilla.
He said the soldiers got tough resistance of the armed
personnel on one of the boats and some soldiers were beaten
and thrown into the sea.
Criticising Iran strongly, Sofer said that is the
country which killed its people when they were protesting
against government after elections. "Where was the UN then?
Why was it silent?......Every single thing we do at UN seems
wrong," he said.
In an emergency session yesterday, the UN Security
Council called for an investigation into Israel's deadly
commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the Gaza
Strip on Monday, condemning the act that resulted in the loss
of at least nine lives.
Sofer also blamed IHH, a Turkish organisation, whose
activists, he said, were in that boat and were not "interested
in aid to Gaza" rather wanted to derail the peace process in
the Middle-East.
However, he said Israel "regrets" death of these nine
people and "what we have seen is very tragic." PTI PYK
MYR