The Slate website reports that Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador today (September 2, 2011), and said it is cutting all military ties with its former strategic ally, because Israel has failed to apologize for its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year.
Turkey said that diplomatic ties between the two countries will not improve until Israel issues a formal apology for the raid that killed eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish-American.
A UN report on the incident -- just released today -- concluded that Israel's use of force on the flotilla was "excessive and unreasonable," but Israel's blockade on Gaza amounts to a "legitimate security measure."
One senior Israeli official said today that "relations between the two countries have been set back by years."
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