September 5, 2011, 3:24 PM
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Monday morning Turkey took its anti-Israel campaign to a new level. Beyond downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel; beyond suspending military agreements; beyond threatening naval war; beyond threatening to foment an irredentist insurrection of Israeli Arabs; the Turks decided to terrorize Israeli tourists landing in Istanbul airport.
Forty Israeli passengers, mainly businessmen who had landed in Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv, were separated from the rest of the flight passengers. Their passports were confiscated.
They were placed in interrogation rooms and stripped down to their underwear. Their carry-on bags were checked. And then they were lined up against a wall, forbidden to sit down or use the washroom.
Passengers who contacted the Foreign Ministry said they felt frightened and intimidated.
The ordeal went on for 90 minutes, until Turkish authorities returned their Israeli passports and permitted them to pick up their suitcases and exit the airport.
What were the Turks trying to accomplish by terrifying the Israeli tourists? They didn't need to threaten trade ties. Their Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu already took care of that over the weekend.
The victimized Israelis said the Turkish airport authorities wouldn't even answer their questions. Any time we asked them a question, the tourists said, the Turks ignored us.
It was as if they weren't even there.
And that's the thing of it. The Turks didn't harass the Israeli tourists in order to send a message to Israel. They have nothing more to say to us. We are non-entities to them. We're only good for attacking.
No, Israel wasn't the target audience the Turks were playing to on Monday. Their target audience was the Islamic world generally and the Arab world specifically. Turkey's influence in these arenas skyrocketed in January 2009 after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused President Shimon Peres and Israel of mass murder as the leaders shared a stage at the Davos Conference.
Similarly Erdogan's domestic and pan-Islamic support levels increased steeply in the aftermath of the Turkish-supported pro-Hamas flotilla to Gaza in 2010. After nine Turkish government-supported IHH terrorists were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara when they tried to murder IDF naval commandos who had lawfully boarded the ship, the Arabs hailed Erdogan as a hero for bravely attacking Israel.
Given how well scapegoating Israel has served him, Erdogan clearly believes it is a no-risk strategy for raising his star from Cairo to Algiers.
Leftist Israeli commentators refuse to accept what is happening. Writing in Haaretz on Sunday, Shlomo Avineri recommended that Israel compensate the nine IHH members whom IDF commandos killed in self-defense on the Mavi Marmara. Avineri argued that by refusing to do so, Israel was playing into the hands of hardliners. True, "it won't be easy, but we need to grit our teeth and do the right thing," he wrote.
Others have argued that Israel may be able to rebuild its strategic relations with Turkey by selling Ankara more drones with which to kill Iraqi and Turkish Kurds. The Turkish military claimed it killed 100 Kurdish fighters in its attacks last month in Iraq and along the Turkish-Iraqi border. Israeli UAVs reportedly played a key role in the bombing. But Turkey needs more. If we sell them more, the argument goes, maybe they will see how useful we are and stop attacking us.
Aside from being morally reprehensible, these arguments fail to recognize the basic reality that Turkey has no interest whatsoever in rebuilding its ties with Israel. The once-important strategic alliance is over and gone, and Israel cannot do anything about it. All Turkey sees us as today is a scapegoat.
It has been argued by commentators on the Right that Turkey's abandonment of Israel is part and parcel of its abandonment of the US. But this is a mischaracterization of Turkey's policy toward the US.
Since 2003, Turkey has undertaken a series of actions that have harmed US strategic interests. The first, of course, was Erdogan's decision on the eve of the Iraq War to deny the US military the right to invade northern Iraq from Turkey.
The latest action was arguably Turkey's joint air exercises with the Chinese Air Force last September.
Chinese jets en route to Turkey refueled in Iran. The exercise was a clear signal that NATO member Turkey intends to exploit its alliance with the US to build ties with the US's chief geostrategic competitor.
Yet at the same time that Turkey has harmed the US, it has also taken steps to assist it. Most recently, last week, Erdogan belatedly agreed to station the high-powered US X-Band radar on its territory as part of a missile defense system to protect NATO allies against the threat of Iranian long-range missiles.
Turkey's mixed policies toward the US reveal that unlike its position on Israel, Turkey believes that it has an interest in maintaining its alliance with the US. Its hostile behavior is more a function of perceived US weakness than anything else. That is, Turkey is willing to risk angering the US by undercutting it because it does not fear US retribution.
Turkey's aggressive behavior might end if the US made Turkey pay a price for it.
To its credit, the Netanyahu government has not accepted the advice of the Left and has refused to apologize to Turkey or pay compensation to the families of those killed aboard the Marmara. Moreover, the government has wisely used Turkey's behavior as a means of building strong bilateral ties with other victims of Turkish aggression. Over the past two years, Israel has strongly upgraded is strategic ties with Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania. Israel should add to these accomplishments by strengthening its ties to Armenia and to the Kurds of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
With newspapers running groundless stories about prospects for reconstituting relations with Turkey, we need to recognize that what we are experiencing now is the beginning, not the end, of Turkey's slide into the enemy camp. Erdogan is openly taking steps to transform Turkey into an Islamic state along the lines of Iran. And the further he goes down his chosen path, the more harshly and aggressively he will lash out at Israel.
Given that scapegoating Israel is not a momentary lapse of reason on Turkey's part but a central aspect of a long-term regional strategy, it is clear that Israel needs to meet Turkish aggression with more than momentary courage in the face of intimidation and threats. Israel needs to build on its already successful policy of forming a ring of alliances around Turkey and develop a long-term military and diplomatic strategy for containing and weakening it.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
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What else could you possible expect from a Muslim nation towards a people who have usurped Islamic lands from the Dar al Islami ?
It's going to get much worse because Turkey has to make up to the Islamic world for their years of abnormal relationship with the infidels.
Secular,naive Jews who still don't understand Islam are soon to learn the very hard way.
To help them understand why Egypt and Turkey are demanding apologies from Israel is because they see a greatly restrained and weakened dhimmi always appeasing them and assume Israel knows their new position under the Road Map process fools call peace.
If Israel had been listening attentively to her solid,dependable,trustworthy old prophets instead of the false prophet like Shimon Peres they would have known that Turkeys friendship with Israel was a temporary aberration as Turkey is one of the nations along with Iran which comes against Israel very soon.
What is interesting about the Ezekiel 38 list is that Lebanon,Syria,Jordan and Egypt are not mentioned.
The reason is because Israel will neutralize them in this soon coming,next war.
This will bring the Ezekiel 38 coalition against Israel.
The delusional with their false peace process like Shimon and the godless Israeli left ignore the truth that peace with Islam is impossible.
The two cannot co- exist.
Islam will be exposed for the lie that it is.
“Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.
Ezekiel 38
In Ezekiel 39:6,7, and 28 God says that this end-times battle will happen that "they will know that I am the Lord".
This message that God's purpose is to cause Israel and the other nations to know He is Lord is repeated over 60 times in Ezekiel.
By learning about prophecy and teaching it to others, people will be able to see the glory, majesty, and sovereignty of God in the fulfillment of His divine word.
Great and correct article as usual. Unfortunately the U.S. will be relying on Turkey by putting an anti-rocket establishment there - which of course will be disabled whenever needed. This was Israel's last Muslim friend. Surely there is a lesson here for Israel and all democratic nations.
Somebody please enlighten me...while reading Caroline's latest column I suddenly got the horrible feeling that Israel and Israelis no longer have the "cuhones" necessary to stand up to Turkey or the arabs for that matter. I say this based on recent events re: the arab missiles into the Negev and now this disgusting treatment of Israelis by Turkey and the panicked messages from the Left. What's up?
Hi Caroline....Good thinking on Turkey. They have clearly chosen Iran in developing a new Persian Empire (or so they hope). We need to stay strong and if that makes us seem impudent or ungrateful (as per Gates)or perhaps even rude I don't trust anyone, certainly not Osamabama.
Phil Bronner
I agree completely with you in this one. Turkey is interested in confrontation.
When Erdogan demanded an apology from Israel he knew that Israel would not be able to do it. And even Israel did apologize Erdogan would press to the next demand, probably the end of blockade of Gaza.
Being a Muslim he does sympathize with his fellow Muslims and does detest Israel.
It is very simple.
I agree that friendship with Turkey is gone for the foreseeable future, i.e. for the time Erdogan and his party AKP are in power.
Turkey exports to Israel $700 million more than it imports; this must stop immediately.
There's no reason why an inimical country should be allowed to run an excedent in its commerce with Israel. This is true with Turkey as well as Norway or Sweden or whoever else hates us.
Israel should unconditionnaly recognize the Turkish genocide against Armenians because it's the right and moral thing to do.
But the situation is complicated.
Take Armenia. Armenia is in a latent war with Azerbaidjan, which is a friend of Israel.
Turkey has closed borders with Armenia. Georgia, their Northern neighbor is a weak, prone to anarchy republic. As a result, Armenia conducts almost all its trade with and through Iran and is a friend of Iran.
So, how would you pursue your proposal to strengthen Israeli ties with Armenia?
It is sometimes difficult to make a friend from the ennemy of our ennemy.
It is clear now that Turkey's policy is now directed at overthrowing Bashar Assad's regime and replacing it with a like-minded Sunni regime. That doesn't make Assad a friend of Israel, does it?
By the way, Bashar Assad will be overthrown just like Gaddafi, regardless of what we Israelis wish or pray for.
We should just pray that, on his death throes, he and Hizballah will not launch an all-out attack against us.
But, if does attack us, Israel should for once insure that it is us who kill him and his family and his entourage as a lesson for all aggressors in the future. That should be our aim. And we shall let him know that now, because that's the only way to avert war.
Leftist Israeli commentators refuse to accept what is happening."
The aim of the global Left is to destroy what's left of the civilized west in order to construct their utopia. A country's honour is her strategic asset, especially in the Middle East. That's why those wishing Israel's downfall pay so much attention to humiliating her. As for the genuinely clueless among her military, politicians and media, they are not the first to suggest appeasing an aggressor. Unlike Turkey today, Post-World-War-One Germany, experiencing national defeat and financial collapse, social disorder and governmental paralysis under the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles, had real reasons for her grievances - but Chamberlain's appeasement in response to her growing belligerence has led to one of the greatest tragedies in human history.
Kol Hakavod Caroline for once again putting issues in their proper perspectives. Given the increasingly radical islamization of Turkey it was clearly only a matter of when Turkey's shameful and yes, criminal treatment of Israel, a former ally, would ascend to new heights. Once again the self-hating Jewish Left is spouting its delusionary drivel in part fueled by greed. Why bite the hand that feeds it by cutting off Turkey's source of armaments. That Netanyahu to date has refused to cave in is certainly a step in the right direction. Cementing strategic ties with other members of Turkey's aggression is a hopeful sign that Israel will have the support she will undoubtedly need in the future as US aid will be mediocre at best.
Caroline: Awesome. Thank you for continuing to teach me Middle East politics.
With love always,
A knowledge starved university student.
Ms. Glick,
You wrote:
"Yet at the same time that Turkey has harmed the US, it has also taken steps to assist it. Most recently, last week, Erdogan belatedly agreed to station the high-powered US X-Band radar on its territory as part of a missile defense system to protect NATO allies against the threat of Iranian long-range missiles."
The inimitable Hugh Fitzgerald at New English Review argues persuasively that Turkey's decision to allow NATO to site this radar system in Turkey is in Turkey's interest, and decidedly not NATO's, the US's, or Europe's.
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/37624
Biblically speaking, Turkey has to fall away from relations with Israel to allow Gomer and his bands; as well as Gog and Magog to pass through their land/airspace to attack Israel.
Along with Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, interestingly Egypt has to be out of the way for these folks (except Persia) to attack.
Ez 38:6
Exciting times! God is still in control.
Turkey is a write off. Israel is now strong enough and sophisticated enough to build alliances with others who are not such an ideological, moral or ethical difference in kind, and will thus be much more worthwhile in the not too distant future.
Maybe for the deliberate humiliation of Israeli travelers, a smaller nuke can be programmed for Ankara than the ones targeted on Tehran - you know, just to stir the dust and remind the Turks that the Izzies don't appreciate fair weather friends.
There is nothing more pathetic than an Israeli
leftist. "Pathetic" is actually a rather kind word.
The Turks can be rather hard nuts to crack.
It's been done, many times, but it's not fun.
They're good soldiers.
If the Israeli Left, like their Leftist comrades in the United States, fool themselves into believing that Turkish military officers still run that nation, and that the Arab world is their pal, they should move to Egypt. Israelis living in denial should move to de Nile.
>>"...maybe they will see how useful we are and stop attacking us."
God if that doesn't sound familiar. Similar to accounts I've heard of Jews attempting to deny what they hoped wouldn't happen to them, and did, during the Holocaust. Only we know, that they know better. What then are they gaining by adopting and causing to be adopted, this point of view, clearly against the interests of Jews and Israel?
Is there a new ostrich party in Israel? Are there ostrich genes heretofore unknown within the gene pool? No because we see that manifestation throughout the world, It's just that these people can affect policies and actions, guided by their fears. Or perhaps their desires, which may not be so pure, considering that most people can add 1 and 1 and get the sum of 2.
I do not believe in the accidental especially when these people are involved.
I once watched a video of Erdogan being kicked by a bull in an arena in front of thousands.
He was attempting to show everyone his matcho side, but the bovine got the best of him.