JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was meeting his hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Friday in a bid to mend ties after sidelining him in talks aimed at ending a crisis with Turkey.
Israeli Trade Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on Wednesday in Brussels for secret talks seeking a way out of the feud sparked by a deadly raid on Gaza-bound aid ships.
The talks sparked tensions in Israel as it emerged that PM Netanyahu gave the go-ahead for the meeting without informing Mr Lieberman.
Mr Lieberman's office slammed the incident as 'an insult to the norms of accepted behaviour and a heavy blow to the confidence between the foreign minister and the prime minister.'
PM Netanyahu's office, meanwhile, said the omission was a technical snafu and tried to downplay the significance of the meeting with Mr Lieberman, saying on Friday it had been scheduled 'a week before and not just to deal with this incident.' But commentators said PM Netanyahu had no choice but to bypass the tough-talking Mr Lieberman.
'It is no coincidence that Ben Eliezer, not the foreign minister, was sent to try mend the severe crisis in Israel's relations with Turkey,' Haaretz newspaper said in its editorial. 'Clearly the foreign minister, who contributed to the escalation of the crisis, cannot be the man to calm it,'