ADNAN OKTAR:Of course, they and other people think Muslims will behave emotionally and excitedly and be consumed by anger and that Iran will behave in an unrestrained manner, and there will be unexpected incidents of this kind. But Muslims are very rational and moderate. They are logical and behave rationally. Our Muslim brothers have been martyred there. What can one say? That was very ugly behavior. We say they should apologize. We are not saying we should now launch ourselves against Israel. We are rational, we think rationally, but what happened was really out of order. All Muslims have been aggrieved. It has made everyone really upset. What does saying, “apologize” mean? It means apologize, and our friendship and brotherhood can continue as before.

PRESENTER 1:Can it continue when they apologize?

ADNAN OKTAR:Of course. An apology is important.

PRESENTER 1:Can we treat them as positively as before?

ADNAN OKTAR:What the government did was wrong. But we cannot blame the entire Israeli people. I get e-mails saying, “All Israelis share that mindset.” Not so. That is not correct. There are people who fear and love Allah there. There are compassionate, affectionate people. We cannot regard them all as being involved.

PRESENTER 2: Muslims in any case do not bear grudges.

ADNAN OKTAR:Of course. We always come across this. We are forgiving and affectionate. But it is important to have an apology and a guarantee that it will not happen again. A number of statements can be made to compensate. But aggressive talk is unacceptable in men of state, and is immature and unreasonable. That would be odd. What they have to say is this: “Disproportionate force was used. That is true. We apologize to the Turkish nation and the whole world. We apologize to the families of the martyrs.” They can say, “We acted out of ignorance.” Or, “We got over-excited.” They can make an excuse, we have no objection. But they must apologize. But giving the impression that things are going to escalate, that we are impatient for war, would lead to undesirable consequences. Consequences that everyone would regret.

PRESENTER 1: Is the picture at the moment a normal one? Is it right? As you say, some media groups are really talking as if a war is going to break out. And others are talking in a more conciliatory manner, to the effect that Israel is sorry and what it did was wrong.

ADNAN OKTAR:The right thing is to calm matters down, of course. But the Israeli side also has to have maturity. They should be humble and reasonable, not stubborn types with harsh faces and harsh language. I always say that if there were devout people in the government, the matter would be put to rest. It would be easy for Rabbi Froman or other people who come here to talk, but talking with a harsh military discipline, disliking the people around, stubbornly and with a great feeling of superiority is all unacceptable. It is incompatible with maturity and good manners. It is not something compatible with respect. The matter has to be resolved in the best possible manner, of course. We are determined to insist on an apology. We expect an apology as a nation. And we expect serious initiatives to put matters right. That is our general view, insha’Allah.

PRESENTER 1:What can Israel do to put matters right, its mistake or faulty behavior?

ADNAN OKTAR:I cannot decide on behalf of the nation, of course. But my opinion, my personal opinion is that an apology should be made to the nation from the very highest levels of the state. An apology to start with. There could be visits to the families, to the families of the martyrs and the injured. They could use a conciliatory and respectful language. That would be very good. That could at least balance matters. But the opposite, inflammatory language, would be very wrong. It would be a terrible mistake.