Likud MK Demands Turkish Apology for Struma Sinking

by Israel Hayom Staff

Following Israel's apology to Turkey over the Gaza flotilla incident, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin calls for an apology from Turkey over the February 1942 sinking of the MV Struma in the Black Sea • More than 700 Jews died in the sinking.

The Struma, pictured above, was towed to international waters by the Turkish authorities, where it was later badly damaged. | Photo credit: Yad Vashem

 

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir at a memorial for the Struma in 1992.

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Photo credit: GPO/Ziv Koren

MK Moshe Feiglin says that Turkey should apologize for letting Jewish refugees die, but that Israel "does not need" an apology.

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Photo credit: Yehoshua Yosef

A little more than a week after Israel apologized to Turkey over the May 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin demanded on Sunday that Turkey apologize for the February 1942 sinking of the MV Struma in the Black Sea.

In mid-December 1941, more than 700 Jews boarded the Struma at the Romanian port of Constanta with the intention of sailing to British-controlled Palestine despite British limitations on Jewish immigration. On December 16, the Sturma reached Istanbul. There, the Struma's passengers learned both that they would not receive visas from the British to enter Palestine and that they would not be permitted to go ashore in Turkey. 

The Struma was quarantined in the Istanbul harbor for more than two months. On February 23, 1942, Turkey towed the ship and its passengers out to international waters in the Black Sea and abandoned it there, even though the Struma's engine was not working. The next day, the Struma sunk, killing everyone on board except one. It is believed that the Struma either hit a mine or was mistakenly torpedoed by a Soviet submarine.

On Sunday, Feiglin wrote a Facebook post, linked to his Twitter feed, titled "Demand for an apology from the Turks," in which he detailed the Struma sinking. Feiglin concluded his post by saying, "The truth is that we don't need an apology! And also not financial compensation. The Jewish people have a special skill. They know how to remember!"

Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8341

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