Atalay: "The leaks of US cables benefited Israel"

Recently leaked US diplomatic cables, while illustrating the nature of diplomatic gossip, "appear to be in favor of Israel ," said Interior Minister Besir Atalay yesterday. "There is a serious situation at hand. It is astonishing, really," Atalay told reporters on his way to Parliament's Internal Affairs Commission. "The country that appears to be farthest from this, which was mentioned little, appears to be Israel . This is what we see when we gauge who gained or lost from this." He added, "Such low-grade, rumor-based reports don't look good for the diplomats and foreign ministries involved. Probably the US has the most to think about." The Israeli Embassy in Ankara , however, told news channel NTV yesterday that Israel has no connection to the release of the documents and that any such claims are unfounded.