The announcement Oct. 25 on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs internal messaging system regarding the cancellation of the meeting of the appointment committee, which was set to take place in two days in order to appoint an Israeli ambassador to Ankara, disappointed many diplomats in Jerusalem and at Israeli missions abroad. Several senior officials at the ministry submitted their candidacy for this important and desirable post, despite the many security risks involved in heading the Israeli diplomatic mission in Turkey these days. The most prominent among the potential candidates were Eitan Naeh, currently the deputy ambassador in London; Emmanuel Nahshon, the ministry spokesman in Jerusalem; Irit Ben Abba, the ambassador to Athens; and Amira Oron, the charge d’affaires of the embassy in Ankara.

Sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted before the cancellation of the committee meeting that Netanyahu prefers to appoint a close associate — a political appointment — but the ministry’s announcement said that “in light of the changes stemming from the resignation of the ministry’s director general, Dr. Dore Gold, it was decided to wait to convene the committee until the end of the process of installing Yuval Rotem as interim director.” Or, in a loose translation from diplomatic speak: Netanyahu, who also serves as foreign minister, wants to hold on to the ambassador post as a consolation prize for someone who feels put out by the changes at the top of the ministry.

Either way, by delaying the appointment, the prime minister delays the last step in the normalization agreement signed and authorized on June 27; the agreement was already supposed to be fully implemented. This is a move that requires some explanation in light of the fact that Turkey already has announced the name of its intended ambassador to Tel Aviv, Kemal Okem, and that Erdogan’s press secretary Ibrahim Kalin said two weeks ago that he expected the ambassadors to be exchanged within a week to 10 days.

This isn’t the only mishap in the implementation of the reconciliation agreement, which is meant to normalize relations between the two nations, which underwent a serious crisis following the Marmara incident in May 2010. At the time, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers killed 10 Turkish citizens in a violent confrontation while taking over the Mavi Marmara as it was sailing to Gaza as part of the solidarity flotilla. Following this event, Turkey called its ambassador back from Tel Aviv and expelled the Israeli ambassador from Ankara. On Oct. 19, an Istanbul court refrained from rejecting a criminal lawsuit brought by the families of those killed on the Marmara against IDF commanders and set another hearing for December. The termination of criminal proceedings against IDF officers related to the Mavi Marmara incident is a central element of the reconciliation agreement, as part of which Israel paid $20 million in compensation for the loss of life in the takeover of the flotilla.