Netanyahu: “This is what neighbors do”; Ankra rejects all internationals calls for aid following powerful earthquake.
Yaakov Lappin and Tovah Lazaroff
The Jerusalem Post
10/23/2011
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz on Sunday ordered the Home Front Command to prepare a standby mission to head out to Turkey, after a powerful earthquake rocked the southeastern part of the country.
Turkey has not made any international calls for assistance, an official in Ankara said, and has rejected the dozens of offers made from various countries.
The IDF, however, said it was preparing a mission just in case Ankara changed its mind.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “I have instructed all branches of the Israeli government to offer whatever help it can offer to the people of Turkey.”
Netanyahu said Israel had provided earthquake assistance to Turkey in the past, and Turkey had raced to help Israel during the Carmel Forest fire last winter.
“It is what neighbors should be doing with one another,” Netanyahu said…
The article continues, with video, at The Jerusalem Post.
