The basic distrust that Israel’s diplomatic and security leadership feels toward Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was further exacerbated May 26 when a court in Istanbul issued international arrest warrants against senior officers who served as members of the Israeli army's General Staff when Israel took control of the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
Israeli experts in international law downplayed the significance of this legal procedure; the political leadership called it “a mere political move, one which it is doubtful any respectable country will abide by.”