This week's politically and antisemitically motivated arrest of Israeli soccer player Sagiv Yehezkel in Turkey has reignited a fundamental question concerning Israel's foreign relations with its neighbors: How many more diplomatic slaps in the face will Jerusalem have to endure until the message that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not see Israel as an ally?
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Erdogan clearly views Israel as an illegitimate state and with various excuses he tramples over the already rocky relations between the countries. The attempt before the war to rehabilitate relations between Israel and Turkey stemmed from a clear Turkish interest. Erdogan wants to pave the way to American hearts under Democratic rule – especially since President Biden won the presidency – and is mainly interested in trade and military trade relations with the United States. The way there as Erdogan saw it: putting some warmth back into Turkey's relations with Israel.
Video: Six facts about the Israel-Hamas war in 90 seconds / X/@idf
Under Erdogan, Turkey has become an outcast for Western countries, the European Union, and the United States. Ankara had hoped to obtain forgiveness through Israel. It was these interests that were behind Erdogan's groveling to President Isaac Herzog and, later, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well. Erdogan saw Israel as a tool for rehabilitating Turkey's status, while Israel responded to the courtship for economic-commercial reasons. And then it happened again: Erdogan had his way with Israel and once satisfied cast her aside. He has done this countless times since coming to power in 2002. The climax was the violent Mavi Marmara flotilla off the coast of Israel in 2010 and the battle of the "peacemakers" against IDF fighters.
A year or so before the Marmara incident, Erdogan launched a tirade against Shimon Peres: "When it comes to killing, you know how to kill," he shouted at the Israeli president as he lambasted Israel's actions against Hamas in Gaza. On various occasions, he used the international arena to accuse Israel of killing innocents. Above all, he gave a warm welcome to senior Hamas figures who he hosted in Turkey, supported terrorism, and even allowed Turkey to become a central platform for fundraising for the murderous ISIS organization. Erdogan did not forgive Biden, who described his policies as contributing to the rise of ISIS in 2014. The then US vice president's predictions were accurate: ISIS and Hamas are the same.
Turning the other cheek
Western countries have denounced Erdogan's Islamist vision. But Israel? Time and time again, Jerusalem has turned the other cheek, adopting Christian morality. The time has come for Israel to show some self-respect, as is the way of the Middle East, and make it clear to the Jew-hating Turkish president: Enough is enough.
The arrest of the Israeli soccer player for expressing a message in support of the release of hostages – babies and old people – from Hamas captivity, and his expulsion from the country is from the same old Erdogan playbook that had him once detain a couple of Israeli tourists for nine nerve-racking days because they "took pictures of his palace."
Instead of sending another aid delegation to Turkey the next time Turkey experiences a natural disaster, and then expecting sympathy in return, Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and the entire diplomatic establishment should start applying leverage. And Israel has plenty of leverage to use.
No normalization with terrorist supporters
If what Erdogan wants is Israel's recognition, trade ties and prosperity, and warmer relations with Western countries and America, he will have to show respect. That's the Middle Eastern way. A speech making a public apology would be nice, a diplomatic demarch for the Turkish ambassador, and having him sit on a low chair as Israel's deputy foreign minister once did would also make a good start. But now, after the massacre of Israeli civilians (it's a shame Israel missed the early signals of Turkish incitement), there are alternatives to Turkey – the Abraham Accords countries treat Israel much more fairly, and even Saudi Arabia is already opening the door and waiting.
The Israeli message to both the West and the Turks should be: The fault lies not with Turkey, but with Erdogan. It is Erdogan who is deteriorating the country's international standing and harming its economy. Does Turkey have a substitute for Israel as a gateway to the United States and the West? History teaches us that it doesn't.
True normalization will occur when Turkey stops being a hotbed for terror and arch-terrorists. Israeli citizens have proved that they get along just fine without vacationing in Antalya in the last decade. In the next decade, we will prove that we also get along without the tomatoes, while the political echelon teaches the Turkish leadership a chapter in etiquette. This time it will not be enough to stick Israeli leaves on Turkish tomatoes to sell them at the supermarket, like in the "Kupa Rashit" show. What is required here is a real correction.
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