RUTHFULLY YOURS

On Sunday, when U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Israel to seal an arms deal and reiterate Obama administration platitudes about not allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Ankara, trying to shift reconciliation between Turkey and Israel into high gear.

Israel is ready and willing. Not only did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issue an apology to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month, but he sent a delegation to Turkey on Monday to iron out details of the compensation package that Israel will provide for the families of the activists killed by Israeli soldiers during the 2010 “Free Gaza Flotilla” raid.

It is the Turkish officials who are being intransigent, in spite of the fact (or perhaps because of it) that not a single person would have died on the Mavi Marmara ship had Turkish and other activists not brutally attacked Israeli soldiers who had been dispatched to prevent the flotilla from violating the naval blockade on Gaza.

Neither the Turkish authorities nor much of the Turkish public sees it that way. Erdogan is an Islamist through and through, which is why he is planning a trip to Gaza in the near future to pat his Hamas buddies on the back.

This is problematic for Kerry, who doesn’t want it to be so obvious that this American “ally” is growing closer by the minute to a terrorist organization. And it is a source of dismay for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is playing two hands simultaneously: portraying himself as the only legitimate leader of the Palestinian people, and trying to bury the hatchet with Hamas.

Abbas may wear a suit and tie when he’s not on a mat at the mosque, but the only reason he opposes Hamas is because it constitutes a political threat to his rule. In other respects, his Fatah organization and Hamas are of one mind when it comes to the ultimate goal of eliminating Israel. Their disagreement is on timing and method, much like the disagreement between the United States and Israel on how to deal with Iran.

Because Kerry has made it his mission to create a Palestinian state by the end of 2014, he is frantic about getting Turkey on board. Abbas, too, is eyeing Turkey these days. Indeed, he also went to Ankara this week, where he had a private meeting with Kerry, before asking Erdogan to help him join his Fatah forces with Hamas.

This is the same Hamas that runs Gaza, the terrorist enclave that celebrated last week’s bombings in Boston by cheering, dancing in the streets and handing out cake and candy to passersby. It was like 9/11 all over again, and the residents of Gaza were rejoicing.

This did not prevent Kerry, who enjoyed a “prolonged and constructive” discussion with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the renewal of ties with Israel, to compare the events of the Mavi Marmara to the Boston bombings.

“I know it’s an emotional issue with some people,” he empathized. “I particularly say to the families of people who were lost in the incident that we understand these tragedies completely and we sympathize with them … I have just been through the week of Boston and I have deep feelings for what happens when you have violence and something happens and you lose people that are near and dear to you. It affects a community, it affects a country. We’re very sensitive to that.”

This false and vile analogy should have caused the Israeli delegation, led by National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror, to cancel Monday’s trip. But, of course, with Hagel in Jerusalem to sell Israel crucial military equipment for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and faced with the need for Turkish airspace in the event of such a strike, off they went to negotiate the multi-millions of dollars that Israel will be forced to pay to the perpetrators of the flotilla carnage.

Someone else who won’t be canceling a scheduled trip is Erdogan. He is planning to go to Gaza in May to commemorate the third anniversary of the Mavi Marmara incident, which will involve an anti-Israel hate-fest.

This is why Kerry requested that he postpone his visit, for fear that it might “jeopardize” the ability to “jumpstart the peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians.

And speaking of the Palestinians, Abbas, too, asked Erdogan not to go to Gaza until Fatah and Hamas settle their differences.

Given Kerry’s kowtowing, it is no wonder that Erdogan has no intention of honoring his request. Islamists view bowing down as a sign of weakness, and America keeps showing them that they are right to hold this view.

While Washington continues to assert that it still does not know for certain what “motivated” the two brothers from Chechnya to attempt mass murder at the Boston Marathon, and American pundits argue over whether the remaining brother’s constitutional rights should be upheld, radical Muslims everywhere are hailing the success of jihad against the West.

Shame on Kerry.

Ruthie Blum is the author of “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.'”