Faruk Logoglu, a deputy chairman of the opposition Republican People's Party, criticized Erdoğan, stating that "The probability that (Turkey's ruling) party has carried Turkey to the brink of a hot conflict is saddening and unacceptable." Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, stated that it was unlikely that Turkish forces would penetrate Israeli waters, but speculated that Turkey might to disrupt future Israeli gas exports to Cyprus and warned of a new Turkish-Egyptian alliance that could isolate Israel in the Mediterranean. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak predicted that the rift would pass in time. At the U.N. General Assembly in September 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama asked Erdoğan to resolve the crisis with Israel. Further Turkish actions (2012–13) The Turkish Foreign Ministry called on the international community and the United Nations to take the necessary initiatives to stop Israel's military operation in Gaza on late 2012, which it described as another example of Israel's hostile policies. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu see in this attack another of Israel's "crimes of humanity." Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United Nations on 19 November of failing to act over the deadly Israeli air bombardments of Gaza, calling Israel a "terrorist state" that "massacres innocent children". During his speech in Vienna on 1 March 2013 at a United Nations event, Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan devoted to dialogue between the West and Islam, decrying the rising racism in Europe and the fact that many Muslims "who live in countries other than their own" often face harsh discrimination. Erdoğan described Zionism as "a crime against humanity" saying, "It is necessary that we must consider—just like Zionism, or anti-Semitism, or fascism—Islamophobia." In an interview to the Euronews, Shimon Peres argued that Erdoğan's statements are based on ignorance and they raise the flames of hatred. On 20 March, Erdoğan began an official visit to Denmark with an effort to clarify his remarks he made on 27 February at a UN conference in Vienna referring to Zionism as a crime against humanity. "Let no one misunderstand what I said. Everyone knows that my criticism [of Israel] focuses on some critical issues. It's directed especially toward Israeli policies on Gaza," Erdoğan said in an interview with Politiken, a Danish newspaper. Erdoğan claimed February comments were not anti-Semitic but rather a criticism of Israel's policies. Reconciliation attempts On 22 March 2013, Netanyahu called Erdoğan and