On Oct. 21, the Turkish paper Sabah reported that an extensive operation by Turkish security forces had resulted in the arrest of 15 Mossad agents. The surprising report didn't upset us especially, since it was clear that it wasn't the most reliable article of the year. But the report should have been a warning light. Israel didn't respond, rightfully, but Turkey should have been expected to. Ankara couldn't ignore a story like that, especially one that ran in a newspaper identified with the regime.
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Nine days ago, Israeli tourists Mordy and Natalie Oknin, were on vacation in Istanbul, visiting the Çamlıca Tower on the Asian side of the magical city, and taking pictures of the views. Since the Turkish report about the supposed arrests of Mossad agents hadn't resulted in a travel warning, they were convinced (justifiably) that there was no risk in taking a picture of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's private residence, which is documented on social media.
Who would have believed that the innocent picture would send them to prison and create a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which were nevertheless able to handle it efficiently and with perfect coordination between various systems. On Thursday, an entire country was able to breathe easy (may social media forgive me, but in the case of the couple's arrest, users acted as if they were exempt from the laws of the state).
President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, and Mossad Director David Barnea successfully navigated their first crisis. Not everything is about position – there is also a need to calm things down. The government can be praised when it succeeds. The country belongs to all of us. Everyone wondered what Erdogan got. Some say the Turkish president wants someone to listen to him and received a phone call with President Herzog. In a difficult time for Erdogan's Turkey, which went too far in adopting political Islam, a happy ending like this one gives it credit in the international community.
Turkey, which is engulfed in a major economic crisis and dealing with a difficult PR problem, is looking to improve its public relations. It doesn't cost us much, and for Turkey, it's worth its weight in gold. It's too bad that the Oknins didn't know that their all-inclusive trip would include spending eight days behind bars. Thank God, they made it home.
The banality of the relations
This week, I returned to the United Arab Emirates after I hadn't been there for a long time. The last time I was there was in January 2010. Since then, plenty of water has flown under the bridge, even if, apparently, not enough. This time, I entered the country on an Israeli passport for the first time. What a difference. No longer on a French passport that allowed me into Iraq during the Gulf War via Qatar, Kuwait, and most enjoyably, the Emirates. The Abraham Accords have made the Israeli passport not only relevant in the Gulf, but into a friendly and even sought-after one.
I visited Abu Dhabi and from there left for a visit to United Arab Emirates University in the desert capital Al Ain. And Dubai, of course. How could a visit miss that amazing city, which never stops developing? I spoke Hebrew, I heard Hebrew, and of course at the expo in Dubai I saw an endless stream of locals and tourists visiting our booth and taking pictures with our flag in the background. They call this peace between the peoples. Not peace between leaders. Not peace in the dark. Not relations with a concubine. That's over.
And that's the amazing thing about the Abraham Accords. People have tried to play down their importance. Do you remember? They tried to say it was just a banal agreement. That it was a deal intended to secure F-35s. Very quickly, we saw that was nonsense. This peace is in the interest of the Emirates, who very bravely gambled on ties with us. For their people, for us, and for the region. Yes, at the expo the Palestinian booth was set up next to the Emiratis', because when you're a country like the UAE you need to balance things all the time. But as our diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana reported, an Emirati source said, "We talk to everyone." And that is why they are great.
This banal agreement has made our ties to a large Arab population into something banal. Therein lies the greatness of the accords – the banality of the relations. Indirectly, it has also contributed to warmer ties with Egypt and Jordan, who understand that they now have competitors, and that peace between peoples is better than peace between leaders. Peace without feelings of inferiority.
Let's get back to Turkey. Do you remember David Ben-Gurion's peripheral alliance, when he realized that there was a need to form regional ties? And that without Arab friends, he reached out to Turkey, Iran, Chad, and Ethiopia. Today, all that has been upended.
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Iran is far from being a friend and is even our biggest enemy. When it comes to Turkey and political Islam (the Muslim Brotherhood), which it is spreading in Libya, Jerusalem, and even throughout Africa, the country under Erdogan isn't exactly a lover of Zion. On the other hand, we have all of a sudden started to collect Arab friends in the Gulf and the Arab world. Ben-Gurion would be turning over in his grave.
But we should remember that Turkey and Iran today are not the Turkey and Iran of the 1950s. The Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and the Shiite ayatollahs weren't exactly part of the "peripheral alliance" back then. And our Arab neighbors, at least some of them, have undergone a massive change. People claim that a third state helped resolve the crisis, even if Jerusalem is insisting that even if one had been willing to step up, there was no need.
Either way, this has been an interesting and successful week. Mordy and Natalie Oknin are back home, and a crisis that could have lasted weeks if not months was solved by the effective work of the Bennett-Lapid government. Of course, the fact that they weren't really spies helped. The trip to the Emirates proved what I already knew: that the Abraham Accords were an immense achievement by the Trump administration and the Emirati crown prince, and of course the Israeli government. In particular, the direct flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, just like the outgoing flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi over Saudi Arabia, proved to us that there is indeed a new Middle East and mainly – that normalization is a vital condition for true peace.
We can assume that at this rate, if Elon Musk and Richard Branson will forgive me, we'll get to Saudi Arabia long before we get to the moon. The Abraham Accords created a new climate in the Middle East, one in which even Erdogan realizes that he might have to change the record. Israel did well in helping him out. And I don't know why, but I feel like saying thank you to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed.
