Turkey put former Israeli military chiefs on trial in absentia for ordering a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship, prolonging a dispute between the former allies even as their interests in the region converge.
Islamist demonstrators cheered outside the Istanbul court today at the start of the trial. Hundreds of supporters of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or IHH, the Islamic charity that organized the Gaza aid ship, waved Palestinian flags and shouted anti-Israeli slogans, television footage showed. Israel outlawed the IHH in 2008 on grounds of alleged ties to Hamas.
