78 percent of Israelis view Turkey as enemy: poll

About 78 percent of Jewish Israelis now view Turkey, once Israel's only Muslim ally in the Middle East, as an enemy nation, according to a poll pub-lished Thursday.

The sharp switch in public attitude toward Turkey came in the wake of a May 31 raid by Israeli commandos on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, which left nine Turkish activists dead.

The poll, published in the pro-government Yisrael Hayom daily, asked participants, "Do you believe that, in light of recent events, Turkey has become an enemy state?"

It said 78 percent of the 561 people polled answered "yes."

Only 13 percent of those polled favored a UN proposal to create an international commission to probe the raid, while 71 percent preferred an internal Israeli inquiry.

The survey, by the New Wave Research group, with a margin of error of 4 percent, also indicated that 91 percent of Jewish Israelis believed the country should stop future flotillas from trying to breach its Gaza blockade.

AFP