While Israel's handling of the fake freedom-fighting flotilla was a disaster, Israel has the legal right to ensure that shipments to Gaza do not contain arms, and the obligation to do so to protect its citizens.

While it is indisputable that the "flotilla fiasco" was a public-relations disaster for Israel, the presumption in the global media has always been that Israel is the villain regardless of the facts.

Though critics continue to unfairly condemn Israel for the Gaza blockade, which forms a necessary barrier between Israel’s enemies and those who would help arm them, now is a terrible time to consider abandoning the blockade.

Contrary to conventional wisdom in Washington, Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not interested in preserving his country's relationship with Israel, but is determined to bolster Turkey's standing in the Arab and Muslim world's at Israel's expense.

By not moving decisively to quash U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's call for an "international" inquiry into the Gaza flotilla fiasco, Obama's inaction is understood as implicitly consenting to this flagrant abuse of the U.N. Charter.

How could Turkey, a country which President Obama called "a critical ally" come to glorify terrorists? Washington's alarm is late.

Israel is the only Western democracy whose existence and legitimacy are still being questioned independently of its actions, but defending Israel means defending the values that made and sustain Western civilization.

Turkish-Israeli relations all but collapsed earlier this year. Yet the current downturn in relations is made even worse by Mr. Erdogan's decision to reach out to China.