Erdogan says Turkey interested in improving relations with Israel

Author: Published: December 25, 2020

Azerbaijan reportedly has been working to try and renew ties between Israel and Turkey.

By REUTERS

DECEMBER 25, 2020 14:57
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (photo credit: REUTERS)
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would like to have better ties with Israel, adding that talks at the intelligence level continued between the two sides.
The two countries have had a bitter falling out in recent years, despite strong commercial ties, expelling ambassadors in 2018. Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.
Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey had issues with “people at the top level” in Israel and that ties could have been “very different” if it were not for those issues.
“The Palestine policy is our red line. It is impossible for us to accept Israel’s Palestine policies. Their merciless acts there are unacceptable,” Erdogan said.
“If there were no issues at the top level, our ties could have been very different,” he added. “We would like to bring our ties to a better point.”
Turkey and Israel, former allies, expelled each other’s top diplomats in 2018 over clashes when dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza border. Ankara and Tel Aviv continue to trade with one another.

In August, Israel accused Turkey of giving passports to a dozen Hamas members in Istanbul, describing the move as “a very unfriendly step” which his government would raise with Turkish officials.
Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, and the group has fought three wars with Israel since then. Turkey says Hamas is a legitimate political movement that was elected democratically.
Israel, which has formalized ties with four Muslim countries this year, said on Wednesday it was working towards normalizing ties with a fifth Muslim nation, possibly in Asia. Tunisia said on Tuesday it did not intend to normalize ties.
Ankara has slammed the US-brokered rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, with Erdogan previously threatening to suspend diplomatic ties with the UAE and withdraw its envoy. It also slammed Bahrain’s decision to formalize ties as a blow to efforts to defend the Palestinian cause.
Palestinians have censured the US-brokered deals, seeing a betrayal of a long-standing demand that Israel first meet their statehood demand. Egypt and Israel established full relations in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

Azerbaijan reportedly has been working to try and renew ties between Israel and Turkey, Walla! news reported on Wednesday. Israel and Turkey both offered the government of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev military support during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Aliyev allegedly phoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week and suggested various paths into improving diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel.
Erdogan was reported to respond positively to the overtures, Walla! reported, and officials in Azerbaijan told their Israeli counterparts that the Turkish politician was swayed into anti-Israeli rhetoric due to the influence of former aids.

Last week,  Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov allegedly called Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to discuss the same issue with the message that his country would be interested to see both of its allies enjoying improved relations.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/erdogan-says-turkey-interested-in-improving-relations-with-israel-653267

At least 6 dead in airstrikes on Iranian missile factories in Syria

Author: Published: December 25, 2020

Airstrikes on Iranian militia bases and missile facilities in Syria leave at least 6 dead, with many more injured, observer group says.

 Tags: Iran Syria Airstrikes

David Rosenberg , Dec 25 , 2020 11:07 AM

 

IAF airstrike (archive)

IAF airstrike (archive)

Flash 90

At least six Iranian-aligned combatants were killed and more injured in a series of airstrikes on militia bases in Syria overnight, according to a report by an observer group.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday morning that airstrikes attributed to Israel in northwestern Syria struck missile assembly facilities maintained by pro-Iranian forces.

Six fighters were killed in the strikes, the SOHR reported, with the death toll expected to rise to the number of militia members seriously injured in the missile strikes.

All six of the dead were non-Syrian nationals, though it is unclear whether they were Iranian, Lebanese, or Iraqi.

The missile strikes took place at around midnight from late Thursday into early Friday morning, and struck facilities used to assemble short and medium-range missiles in the Masyaf district of northwest Syria.

Israel has refused to comment on the airstrike.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense said that Israeli missiles had been launched from northern Lebanon toward the Masyaf area.

It also claimed that the “air defense systems have successfully intercepted the attack and shot down most of the missiles.”

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/293739

Israel-Morocco direct flights to launch in ‘two to three months’ – report

Author: Published: December 25, 2020

“We welcome all Israeli tourists who want to come to Morocco,” Morocco’s Tourism Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui said.

By TOBIAS SIEGAL

DECEMBER 25, 2020 01:31
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (L) and Israel's National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat are seen in Rabat disembarking from the first direct El Al flight from Israel to Morocco on December 22, 2020. (photo credit: AMOS BEN-GERSHOM/GPO)
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (L) and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat are seen in Rabat disembarking from the first direct El Al flight from Israel to Morocco on December 22, 2020.
(photo credit: AMOS BEN-GERSHOM/GPO)
Morocco and Israel will launch direct flights between the countries “within two to three months,” Morocco’s Tourism Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui said on Wednesday, according to Moroccan news agency MAPNEWS.
Alaoui made the comment during the 23rd meeting of the “Mardis du Tourisme” committee that focused on the tourism sector in the country and its future.
Noting the historic cultural relations that have existed between Morocco and Israel for years, albeit low level relations, Alaoui said that both sides have shown “great enthusiasm” in regards to directs flights soon becoming available.
According to Alaoui, some 40,000 to 50,000 Moroccan Jews visit the country annually. “These tourists will continue to come and return to Morocco and show it to other countries,” she noted, emphasizing that “we welcome all Israeli tourists who want to come to Morocco.”
She mentioned several proactive efforts being taken by Morocco’s tourism industry to prepare for the arrival of Israeli tourists and to best meet their needs, as part of promoting Israeli tourism in the country as a whole.
Specifically, Alaoui noted that her ministry has issued a study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the Israeli tourism market. “We are also working, in this sense, with associations to be able to train and prepare more tourist guides”, she added.
Alaoui’s comments were made one day after an Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and and American delegation headed by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner visited Morocco and met with King Mohammed VI, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, Moroccan Prime Minister Saaededdine Othmani and Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
The parties signed agreements on visa exemptions, water cooperation, finance and aviation including direct flights between the two countries. Documents were also signed between Washington and Rabat with respect to $5 billion financial assistance for development through the US International Development Finance Corporation.
The comments made by the Moroccan Tourism Minister are among the first indication of practical implementation of the agreements signed between the delegations.

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report. 

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