Israel Matzav

You didn't really think there would be a deal between Israel and Turkey, did you?

“What happens in Gaza is unacceptable, the occupation by Israel must end," Ibrahim Kalın  a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

 On Friday, a day after high level Turkish and Israeli officials met in London, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that “The teams made progress toward finalizing the agreement and closing the gaps, and agreed that the deal would be finalized in the next meeting which will be convened very soon.”

In Israel, both the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry declined to comment – as they have done for months – on the talks.

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Two major obstacles to an agreement are Israel’s demand that Turkey not house a Hamas command center in Istanbul, and Turkey's demand that Israel lift its maritime blockade of Gaza.

Israel has made clear that it does not intend to lift the blockade of Gaza, which it deems vital for the country's security, although it is apparently willing to let Turkey ship some humanitarian aid to Gaza.

According to the Daily Sabah newspaper, another Turkish demand is that Israel let Turkey dispatch to the area a floating power-generating ship to relieve energy problems in Gaza.  According to the report, Israel did not reject the idea and is considering it, although there is concern that it would set a precedent. This idea was first broached already in 2014.

The Turkish newspaper said that the next meeting between the two countries will take place within the next two weeks.

Labels: Gaza blockade, Hamas, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:58 PM 1 comments

Turkish 'normalization' on ice?

Israel demand that Turkey will prevent any activity of Hamas against Israelis from its territory as a condition for normalization

— Udi Segal (@usegal) March 20, 2016

Labels: Islamic State, Islamic terrorism, Istanbul, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:40 PM 1 comments

Our neighborhood bully

Europe’s silence in the face of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vitriolic attacks against Israel is one of the reasons for the surge of anti-Semitism in Europe, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Wednesday.

In some of the toughest public comments in memory against Erdogan and Turkey, Liberman told a gathering of Israel’s ambassadors to Euro-Asia that Europe’s ignoring the hate and incitement Erdogan cultivates toward Israel has ramifications.

“The silence of the lambs of cultured Europe, politically correct Europe, toward a neighborhood and anti-Semitic bully like Erdogan and his friends brings us back to the reality of the 1930s,” he said.

Labels: anti-Semitism, Avigdor Lieberman, European anti-Semitism, Islamic anti-Semitism, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:17 PM 0 comments

Prominent Jewish couple murdered in Turkey

Police found the bodies of Jak Karako, 77, and his wife, Georgia Karako, 69, at their apartment in the city’s Ortaköy neighborhood.

It is unclear what the motive behind the killing was, but the couple’s caretaker has fled and is considered a suspect in the murder, according to the report. Police have surrounded the crime scene and are in the process of questioning locals.

A source with knowledge of the community, who did not wish to be named, told The Algemeiner, “There is some level of mistrust against the government as a result on recent anti-Semitic incidents. Some believe that the truth about the couple’s murder will never come out, but it will be some manipulated version of what had happened.”

“There have been several reported murders of Turkish Jewish businessmen throughout the past several years, but these incidents were either never solved or were blamed on some small local disputes which the community always looked at with suspicion,” the source said.

“Karako was one of the founders of Ören Bayan, the most famous yarn brand in Turkey,” Hurriyet said. ”Famous actresses, like Türkan Şoray, have played in the brand’s TV ads. Moiz Dana, the other co-founder, died while travelling to the United States in 2009. The sons of Karako and Dana had taken over the company from their father in the 1990s. The families later sold the company due to financial troubles.”

An Uzbek couple, who were suspected to have stabbed the Karakos, have been detained at midnight after allegedly fled the crime scene following the murder.

Suspects reportedly confessed to murder in their first statement to the police. "When we demanded our salaries that they [the Karako couple] have not been paying for the past two months, they said they would not pay anything, as they deducted the amount from the damage we caused at their house," the 28-year-old suspect and his 27-year-old wife told the police.

A third suspect is apparently still at large but police have given no further details about him or her.

Labels: Islamic anti-Semitism, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish Jewry

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:19 PM 2 comments

State Department, NATO have yet to raise Hamas safe house with Turkey

Officials from Israel’s Shin Bet security agency revealed Monday morning that they had uprooted a Hamas plot – involving terror cells spread across at least 46 different Palestinian communities, and masterminded by a top Hamas operative housed in Turkey – to trigger a wave of violence that would destabilize the region, derail Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, and pull off a military coup that would see the US-backed Fatah faction supplanted in the West Bank by Hamas. A senior Shin Bet source who spoke to reporters described the plot’s scope and infrastructure, which appear to have been almost half a decade in the making, as among “the biggest we’ve seen… since Hamas’s formation in 1987.” Other sources revealed that Israel had already seized $600,000, dozens of firearms plus stockpiles of ammunition, and seven rocket launchers to be used in generating the violence. At the center of the plot is Saleh al-Arouri, a long-time Hamas figure who resides in Turkey. Arouri had long ago been identified as having “sole control” over efforts to rebuild Hamas’s West Bank terror infrastructure, and U.S. officials had reportedly expressed concerns at the “highest levels” that the Turks were allowing him to operate from their soil. Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted last September that Ankara’s behavior might qualify Turkey as a state sponsor of terrorism. The recent abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas terrorists – part of a violent escalation in the West Bank that ran in parallel to the rocket and tunnel escalation out of the Gaza Strip - was quickly linked to Arouri. The Daily Beast eventually published an extended backgrounder suggesting that the Hamas figure would have been overseeing that and other similar gambits. Journalists on Monday had already begun to press the State Department on its stance toward Turkey in light of the developments. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf was asked about the controversy at the top of the daily press conference, and promised to check on Foggy Bottom’s response. The Washington Free Beacon quoted Schanzer late Monday worrying that “NATO and the State Department have yet to raise this issue with Turkey” and that “it is not appropriate for a U.S. ally or a NATO ally to be providing Hamas operatives with safe haven.”

Labels: Hamas, kidnapping, murder, Palestinian terrorism, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saleh al-Arouri, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:08 AM 0 comments

Their anti-Semitism knows no bounds

Turkey and Norway have expressed their willingness in principle to operate a seaport in the Hamas enclave of Gaza, according to the Palestinian delegation in Cairo. 

According to a report in Israel Today, the government in Ankara has already announced its intention to send to Gaza over 3,000 prefabricated houses to be quickly assembled, accommodating local Arab families whose homes were destroyed during Operation Protective Edge.

The seaport proposal gives international credence to Hamas's unprecedented demands for unlimited transportation and import access. The terror group has already demanded an international airport in Gaza, a demand which has been categorically denied thus far in the negotiating process due to its security threat on Israel.

Turkish Prime Minister and newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become an increasingly vocal supporter of Hamas, and has heavily criticized Israel since Operation Protective Edge began 35 days ago.

Indeed, Erdogan's country has reportedly become Hamas's lead sponsor since 2013.

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Norway, meanwhile, called on Israel as an "occupier" to show "restraint" in the escalation leading up to the current conflict, claiming that reacting to the rain of rocket fire on Israel would be violating international law. 

“As the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel has a special responsibility under international law," Foreign Minister Borge Brende charged in July. "Neither statements of its intent to step up its settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is in violation of international law, nor major offensives against Gaza are the way forward."

Labels: Gaza blockade, Hamas, Norwegian anti-Semitism, Turkish anti-Semitism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:45 AM 0 comments

IHH sending another terror flotilla, this time accompanied by the Turkish military

IHH chairman Bulent Yildrim was quoted by The Middle East Monitor as telling Gulf Online last week that the activists would set sail as soon as they receive the necessary permit from the authorities in Ankara and that the Turkish military would provide protection to the ship.

Diplomatic officials said Jerusalem was following the reports carefully, but stressed that it was not clear whether the flotilla would ultimately set sail.

So far there has only been a declaration of intent, with no firm date set, one official said.

Harold Rhode, a senior fellow at the New-York-based Gatestone Institute and a former adviser at the in the office of the American defense secretary on Islamic affairs, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Sunday that the real issue in the ongoing conflict is that Turkey and Qatar are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in their goals.

“[Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has been associated with the Muslim Brotherhood long before he was prime minister,” Rhode said.

It should now be clear to all that Erdogan “is now out of the bag,” Rhode said, adding that US President Barack Obama does not speak to the Turkish leader anymore despite previously describing him as one of his closest friends among the world’s leaders.

“Erdogan is doing whatever he can to help Hamas,” he said, asserting that it will only hurt the Palestinian people in the end.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Bulent Yildirim, flotilla of fools, Gaza blockade, IHH, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:16 PM 1 comments

Maccabi Haifa soccer players attacked in Austria

The protesters, who were holding up Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags and were reportedly of Turkish origin, stormed the field as the game against the French soccer team Lille was going on. They proceeded to spit at, curse and kick the Israeli players. Some of the players retaliated, leading to a brawl on the field.

No one was injured, and the Haifa players were taken off the field by police officers and instructed to remain in the locker room until things calm down.

Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat reacted to the incident and said, “This is a dangerous and seemingly pre-planned incident, and we must not ignore it.”

Maccabi Haifa said in a statement following the incident, "We experienced an unpleasant experience of violence on the field and in the stands. We as a club call for co-existence and patience but this attack was planned and dangerous in light of the incitement in the Turkish media.”

“We deplore the violence against us, we came to play soccer and we are sorry that this how the game ended, but this did not happen because of the sport and because of soccer, but because we are a group representing Israel.”

Labels: Austria, Maccabi Haifa, Operation Protective Edge, soccer riots, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:29 AM 0 comments

Erdogan vows Turkish-Israeli relations will never improve so long as he is in power

I get the anger and frustration, and I see it personally from Turkish friends on my Facebook feed and my Twitter stream, who are furious with Israel not because they are Jew-hating anti-Semites but because they deplore the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza, which they see as disproportionate and excessive. And it isn’t just the AKP; anger at Israel is widespread among all segments of the population, as evidenced by the multiple leftist Gaza solidarity rallies taking place in Turkey today and by joint CHP/MHP presidential candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu bashing Israel’s actions in Gaza and the CHP generally trying to score points over the last few days by absurdly trying to paint the AKP as in bed with Israel and complicit with its actions. Israel isn’t exactly popular in Turkey, to make the understatement of the decade, and to expect Turkish politicians to hold their tongues completely or to support Israel’s actions in Gaza is unreasonably naive.

But there is a world of difference between criticizing Israel out of a deeply held difference of opinion versus comparing Israelis to Hitler, equating Israel with Nazi Germany, throwing around the term genocide, openly advocating violence against Israeli nationals and property, and threatening Jews over Israel’s behavior. It is completely beyond the pale, and anyone who cares a lick about liberal values should be denouncing it loud and clear without qualification.

Erdoğan is appealing to the darkest forces imaginable in order to win a presidential election and bolster his laughably pathetic standing in the Arab world, and let’s not forget that he said straight out today that he will never normalize or even improve relations with Israel while he is in office. He has dropped the charade that this has anything to do with the Mavi Marmara or even a set of fulfillable demands that Israel is not meeting, so let’s all remember that the next time someone blames Israel for the impasse in the bilateral relationship. Erdoğan is anti-Israel because he does not like Israel, full stop.

If Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza, stopped responding to Hamas rockets with missiles, ended the blockade, and awarded Khaled Meshaal the Israel Prize, Erdoğan and Davutoğlu would just find some other reason not to normalize relations. Yes, the situation in Gaza undoubtedly plays a big role in all of this – just look at Israeli-Turkish relations under the Erdoğan government between 2002 and 2008, which were cordial and cooperative – but it’s about more than that at this point. Erdoğan and the AKP have gone too far down the garden path of anti-Israel rhetoric at this point to ever turn back.

Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Gaza, Hamas, IHH, Mavi Marmara, Operation Protective Edge, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:49 PM 0 comments

Pigs fly: Netanyahu calls Erdogan an anti-Semite, Zany Zehava blasts Erdogan too - UPDATED WITH VIDEO

After years of publicly restraining himself regarding Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the words of the leader of Washington’s close NATO ally were anti-Semitic.

According to diplomatic officials, Netanyahu spoke to Kerry overnight on Sunday about the Gaza operation, and said that Erdogan's anti-Semitic comments profaned the memory of the Holocaust.

Erdogan, in the midst of a presidential campaign, said on Saturday that “Those who condemn Hitler day and night have surpassed Hitler in barbarism.”

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Meretz head Zehava Gal-On was withering in her criticism of Erdogan, calling his comments “appalling” if they were written in the form of a “talkback” to an article on the Internet, and all the more so when uttered by the head of a state, especially a state with diplomatic ties with Israel.

She said that it seems that because of the presidential election Erdogan has lost “control.” Nevertheless, she said, there can be tolerance for a person who thinks he can use his status as the representative of the Turkish people “to spread ugly and baseless lies.”

Gal-On, who points out that she has criticized the use of force in the current operation, said that a leader who “is able to look his citizens in the eye and claim Israel is committing genocide is despicable, vile and irresponsible.”

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, John Kerry, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel, Zehava Gal-On

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:14 PM 0 comments

Israel pulls all diplomats from Turkey, blames Erdogan for violence

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Friday that he would be retracting much of the Israeli embassy staff in Turkey following the senseless riots, citing safety concerns and growing anti-Israel incitement from the Turkish leadership. 

"Foreign Minister (Avigdor) Lieberman issued a statement... following the demonstrations and instructed the Israeli consulate and embassy to reduce their diplomatic staff in Turkey," an Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman told AFP, without stating the numbers concerned.

Liberman instructed the Foreign Ministry to clarify to the Turkish government that such incitement is unacceptable.

"Israel protests strongly this violation of diplomatic relations, including the Vienna Convention and others, which have been encouraged by the Turkish authorities during these protests," he said. "We attribute the responsibility for the safety of Israeli citizens and embassy staff on the Turkish government."

The move follows a number of inflammatory and anti-Semitic hate slurs from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has become increasingly vocal against Israel after the IDF moved to protect millions of Israelis from Hamas rocket fire.

Labels: Ankara, Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, Istanbul, Operation Protective Edge, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:48 PM 2 comments

IHH preparing to send Mavi Marmara back to break Israeli 'blockade' of Gaza

Bülent Yıldırım: Mavi Marmara yola çıkmak için hazır bekliyor. Abluka ve ambargo kalkana kadar mücadele edeceğiz pic.twitter.com/lAAUg3djPY
— İHH (@ihhinsaniyardim) March 27, 2014

Labels: Gaza, IHH, Mavi Marmara, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:18 PM 2 comments

Anti-Semitism in Turkey will never change

Arutz Sheva has seen an email by a Turkish Jewish businessman, relating a harrowing anti-Semitic attack on him and his partner in the northwestern Turkish town of Babaeski, in the country's Marmara district, once again highlighting fears for the future of Turkey's 15,000-strong Jewish minority.

The two men - who requested anonymity - were visiting clients in the Thrace Region, when they stopped off in the town for a lunch break. But upon making their orders at a local restaurant, they were in for a nasty shock.

"We gave our orders at a fish restaurant, but the owner of the restaurant realized that we are Jewish," the email related.

"After he made it clear that he won’t serve food to Jews, he started to insult Jews, the Jewish religion. He finally lost his control and marched over two of us with a dangerous tool."

Arutz Sheva has learned from a friend of the victim that the "tool" in question was in fact a doner blade - a large, sword-like implement for cutting meat. He said passersby did nothing to intervene.

Faced with such sudden and extreme violence, the two men had little choice but to flee.
"We could not defend ourselves at all, we just ran away from this anti-Semitic man. We ran for our lives. Experiencing an event like that affected us so much."

He said he felt a duty to share story with others, and said he and his partner were lucky to make it out in one piece.

"Thank God we are safe at home now," he said.

Labels: Mavi Marmara, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:33 PM 0 comments

Turkey's little Nazi: 'We hate Syria but we hate Israel even more'

“There is an attempt to give the impression that Turkey has coordinated with Israel. We have issues with Syria, an issue based on a principle. But let me say it clearly: The Turkish government has never cooperated with Israel against any Muslim country, and it never will,” Davutoğlu told reporters during a joint press conference in Istanbul Nov. 1 with his visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Several reports said, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that Israel targeted a missile storage center with Russian-made SA-125 missiles, likely to be supplied to Hezbollah, the Shiite Lebanese militant group.

Reports relayed by Israeli media claimed that Turkey was behind the attack in Latakia by disclosing critical information to Israel.

Davutoğlu slammed the reports, describing them as “black propaganda.” “Those [reports] are attempts to cast a shadow on the Syrian people’s rightful struggle and Turkey’s attitude with principles. It is out of the question for us to participate in any common operation,” he said.

Davutoğlu also added that Turkey would stand against such Israeli operation, but emphasized that the information on the strikes was not confirmed yet.

Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Barack Hussein Obama, Hezbullah weapons, Syria, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel, weapons acquisition

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:20 PM 0 comments

Long overdue: Young Jews leaving Turkey

Nesim Güvenis, the deputy chair of the Association of Turkish Jews in Israel, told the Hurriyet Daily News that political tensions between the two countries and rising anti-Semitism have contributed to an increase in the number of young people moving abroad.

Güvenis made aliya in the early 1980s, along with tens of thousands of other Turkish Jews, primarily because of his children, he told the newspaper.

“They didn’t want to go to university where leftists or other groups were putting pressure on them to take sides at school,” he said.

A rise in anti-Semitism related to national tensions between Ankara and Jerusalem has led the current exodus, he said, declining to give exact figures.

“Look at the environment in Turkey at the moment. We are uncomfortable with being ‘othered’... I am more Turkish than many, but we couldn’t make them believe it,” Güvenis told Hurriyet.

Labels: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish Jewry

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:19 PM 0 comments

Turkey's war with Israel escalates

The recent media reports against Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan may stem from Tel Aviv's unease about Fidan's intention to cancel secret agreements between Israel and Turkey that allow Mossad agents to conduct operations in Turkish airports without any visa requirements or customs controls, Yeni Şafak daily columnist Abdülkadir Selvi has claimed. 

In his column published on Tuesday, Selvi stated that in the periods when democratically elected governments in Turkey did not have full control over the ruling of the country, through secret agreements, Israeli intelligence service Mossad has been given authorization to conduct operations in Turkish airports without facing any restrictions and MİT chief Fidan is preparing to stop this. Israel's unease about Fidan's intention, Selvi claimed, may lie behind the accusations against Fidan in the international media.

Selvi also stressed that in the forthcoming days MİT is expected to apply to the Prime Ministry for the cancelation of the agreements concerning Mossad's operations in Turkish airports.

Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Hakan Fidan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:03 PM 0 comments

Davutoglu says Turkish intelligence agency 'doing its job' by exposing Israeli agents in Iran

“When you read these articles, [Turkish intelligence chief] Hakan Fidan is accused of establishing an independent intelligence structure and not letting other intelligence agencies operate in Turkey. Therefore, he is being blamed for doing his job,” Davutoğlu said in a live interview on private broadcaster Kanal 7 aired on the night of Oct. 18.

Davutoğlu’s remarks came a day after veteran Washington Post columnist David Ignatius claimed that Turkey blew the cover on a group of Israeli spies, disclosing their names to Iranian intelligence, while noting that Fidan was considered “suspect” by Israeli authorities due to his “close” ties to Tehran.

Another article published in the Wall Street Journal last week claimed that Fidan championed the idea of sending weapons to the Syrian opposition without any discrimination.

Referring in particular to Ignatius’ article, Davutoğlu said the accusations against Fidan were contradictory. “These [claims] are so inconsistent that on the one hand it is said Fidan is close to Iran, but in the same article, he is accused of supporting groups who fight against Iran’s influence. This is a very serious accusation. None of our officials act on behalf of any other country,” Davutoğlu said, adding that intelligence represented the state’s “privacy.”

“If this privacy is not used by the state’s units to serve only that people, your strategy can’t succeed … Turkey is not a country where other intelligence units can comfortably perform operations. This is a requirement of independence,” Davutoğlu said.

“I am not saying that the claims are true, but after all, every intelligence agency works for the interest of its own country,” he said.

Davutoğlu also said Fidan had become the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) after gaining “everyone’s credit” after taking part in negotiations with Israel and authorities in Gaza.

He also said there were “open threats” targeting Fidan. “This is the day to stand for Fidan, who has been the target of these accusations. Fidan is not doing this work for his personal interests but for Turkey,” Davutoğlu said.

“We see this media campaign as an attack and there might be an Israeli effort behind it,” a Turkish intelligence source said on the phone yesterday. “Especially after the Washington Post story on Oct. 17 and the follow-ups with Jerusalem bylines.”

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Sources in Ankara believe that besides trying to defame Turkey in U.S. eyes as a country tolerating terrorists like Iran – and because of its “independent tack” on Syria, amid an effort to try and corner it in a possible move in the U.S. Congress – Israel might have had another motivation. That might be, according to those sources who asked not to be named, an attempt to avoid paying compensation for the nine Turks killed by Israeli commandoes on May 31, 2010, on board the Mavi Marmara on its way to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

After the official apology from Netanyahu (which was brokered by Obama) on March 24, talks started for compensation to the families of the victims, albeit with no result, as Israel does not want to make the payments in the form of “compensation,” according to Israeli diplomatic sources talking to HDN.

Also, Erdoğan’s close relations with Hamas are another source of disturbance between the two. By coincidence, Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, was received by Erdoğan in his office in Ankara on Oct. 9, the same day that the WSJ story published.

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It is unclear whether an Israeli “plot” is behind the obvious campaign against Turkey’s intelligence chief and whether it is aimed at Erdoğan’s foreign policy choices, especially regarding the greater Middle East. Turkey is criticized at home and abroad for being distanced from the European Union and getting too involved with the uncertainties of the Middle East. Both the recent EU Progress Report, which calls for Turkey to foster higher standards of democracy to keep up with its European venture, and the Geneva Conference on Syria might be chances to fine-tune Turkish foreign policy. 

“My opposition to apologizing to Turkey is not new, and I expressed it clearly before and after it happened,” Liberman wrote on his Facebook page, referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s March 22 apology for the Israeli takeover of Gaza protest ship Mavi Marmara in 2010.

“I reasoned and explained that it will not improve relations between the countries but will only harm Israel’s standing in the region and play into the hands of extremists in the Middle East, with Turkey under Islamist extremist [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan among them,” Liberman continued.

“I am therefore not surprised by Turkey’s accusation that Israel is behind the report in The Washington Post about ‘revealing spies to Iran,’ and I don’t even know if there was such a spy ring.”

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“I hope we will all stop deluding ourselves and understand the situation in which we live, and the difference between what we want and what exists,” Liberman wrote.

Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, intelligence, Iran, Iranian nuclear threat, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spying, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:49 AM 1 comments

'Even if Erdogan an anti-Semite, he should keep it to himself'

Following the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, NATO member Turkey adamantly opposed Israeli involvement – “even the most innocent” – in any NATO programs, he said. These programs included joint exercises, intelligence exchanges, and research and technological development programs.

“We were hoping that after the arrangement between [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu and [Prime Minister Tayyip Recep] Erdogan in the spring, Turkey would pull back a little and allow some of the programs,” he said. “But there is nothing.”

By not allowing Israel’s participation in NATO programs, he added, Turkey was blocking participation with other Mediterranean countries, because Israel and other nations in the region – Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria – took part in NATO projects as a bloc.

“We can’t cooperate with any of them, because the programs are all blocked, nothing can go through,” he said.

Lampridis said he was surprised by the continued Turkish opposition, especially since practical cooperation between Turkey and Israel was taking place on a daily basis, “like where Turkey has an advantage, of course, and Israel is demonstrating goodwill.”

For example, since Turkish goods can no longer be transported overland through Syria to the Persian Gulf, every week hundreds of Turkish trucks arrive via ferry to the Haifa Port where they then proceed across the country to the Jordan border crossings, carrying millions of dollars worth of goods to Jordan and onward to the Gulf.

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The Greek ambassador also took Erdogan to task for blaming Jews and Israel for the unrest over the summer in Turkey and for the overthrow of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.
“You just don’t say such things,” he said.

Asked if he thought Erdogan was an anti-Semite, he replied, “Even if he is, is it the position a prime minister takes? He can do it privately if he wants. You don’t do it openly and expose a whole country – a country that has never been anti-Semitic in the past, to tell the truth, especially under the Ottoman Empire, when it was a haven for Jews. Other countries were not, Turkey was. What’s wrong with the guy? It really beats me.”

Labels: Arab boycott of Israel, Greece, Haifa, Haifa port, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Arabia, Turkish anti-Semitism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:44 AM 1 comments

Egypt tells Erdogan to stay home

Egyptian media is reporting on Sunday that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anticipated visit to the Gaza Strip has been canceled, according to Israel Radio.

Erdogan, who was due in Gaza last month but postponed the visit following the Egyptian military’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, has provoked the wrath of the army-backed government in Cairo over his fervent condemnations of Morsi’s ouster and his overt sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Turkish premier was highly critical of what he viewed as the West’s passive response in allowing the Egyptian army to take down a democratically elected government.

Erdogan accused Western and Arab nations of "double standards" for failing to condemn the overthrow Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood like Erdogan has Islamist roots.

Labels: Egyptian army, Gaza, Hamas, Mohammed Morsy, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:34 PM 0 comments

Bipartisan group of US Reps slam Erdogan's anti-Semitism

The letter requested Gül to publically condemn “the anti-semitic rhetoric” of government officials.

The signatories noted that another letter had been written a few months ago asking Erdoğan to retract his statements that compared Zionism to a “crime against humanity,” without success.

They also argued that Erdoğan’s accusations of an “interest rate lobby” engineering the Gezi protests were implicitly targeting Jews, recalling that Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay had openly stated that a “Jewish diaspora” was behind the recent unrest in Turkey.

The letter was prepared on the initiative of Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Illinois), Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Florida) and Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina) and signed by congressmen from both the Democrat and Republican parties, the report said.

Labels: Abdullah Gul, Ahmet Davutoglu, Nazis, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish anti-Semitism, US House of Representatives

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:06 PM 0 comments