Overview
- Turkey's justice minister said on Friday, August 21 that Ankara asked the interior ministry to seek Interpol red notices for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Afek Moskovitch over the May interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
- The Turkish filing accuses the two Israelis of grave crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity and aggravated deprivation of liberty in connection with the flotilla raid and the detention of activists.
- The flotilla left Turkey in May with about 50 boats and roughly 430 activists and was intercepted in international waters west of Cyprus; activists were taken to Israel, held at Ktziot prison and later expelled.
- An Interpol red notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition but is not an automatic international arrest warrant and depends on individual member states to enforce it.
- The move sharply raises Turkey–Israel tensions, provoked a strong Israeli government response calling out Turkish rhetoric, and could prompt diplomatic fallout if any country chooses to detain or bar travel by the named officials.