The new Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (photo: AFP)
Israeli officials have issued a travel advisory for Israelis traveling to Turkey. Israeli intelligence says terrorist groups linked to Iran’s Al-Quds force – a unit suspected of involvement in the recent attacks against Israeli diplomats in India and the former Soviet republic of Georgia– are planning to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets located in Turkey in the coming days.
While addressing Turkey’s parliament this Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, never at a loss for words when it comes to antagonistic anti-Israel rhetoric, publicly attacked Israel for committing a “massacre” against the Palestinians. Erdogan lamented the plight of the Palestinians, stating that “a massacre has been committed slowly but systematically in Palestine since the beginning of the 20th century,” and went on to urge citizens of Israel “who are also victims of genocide, to object to genocide attempts against Palestinians and ask their state to end state terrorism.”
Hypocrisy runs deep in the Middle East. While the Turkish premier accuses Israel of genocide – a crime the Jewish state has never committed – in Turkey, the Kurdish minority has been systematically persecuted, displaced, and murdered by authorities. The Kurds, who are indigenous to this region, have been denied a homeland and a right to self-determination in Turkey as well as in other parts of the Middle East.
You will never catch Erdogan or any Arab leaders mention the oppression by radical Islamists of Christians in Egypt, Iraq, the West Bank, or Gaza. They won’t speak up about the plight of women, who are treated as second-class citizens, or worse, in most Middle Eastern countries. They won’t talk about the stifling of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly that is the order of the day throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Yet, Arab and Muslim leaders are always quick to decry Israel’s supposed persecution of the Palestinians. Why? It’s not because there is any real persecution. It’s not because they support statehood and…
Read More » Comments (0) »Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 at 2:48 PM | Amichai Farkas
Think you don’t want help from Israel? Think again
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan
In response to yesterday’s blog post on Turkey’s about-face on accepting Israeli aid, a commenter calling himself “Ihsan” wrote, first in something resembling Hebrew then in English, this:
“Turks do not want the help of a citizen of the Israeli government, the people of Israel, thank you very much.”
Turks do not want the help, eh? Well, buddy, all evidence appears to be to the contrary. Because the Turkish government asked.
But thanks all the same for admitting that you don’t want help from Israelis. In order to ease your transition back to the Stone Age, we’ve compiled a quick list of things you’ll need to start doing without:
- Your cell phone (probably…they don’t all use Israeli technology. Just the good ones).
- Your computer (well…not the whole thing…just the processor that makes it work. You can still use the screen for something, if you want).
- Your USB flash drive (not much use without the computer, though, so this one’s kind of easy).
- Instant Messaging…ya know, let’s just save time and say “a whole lot of computer stuff.”
- – If you live in a part of the world where they desalinate water…ummm…I’m afraid you’ll probably need to stop drinking. And showering.
A wide variety of treatments for cancers, MS, digestive disorders (an Israeli invented the Pillcam), etc.
- MRIs and CT scanners…again, let’s just save time and say you should avoid illness and injury.
- Any food grown where drip irrigation is used (that’s a long list, so we’ll let you figure out how thorough you’re going to be).
- And, of course, anything that came from any of the six Israelis to win Nobel prizes in the hard sciences in just the last decade (to be fair, a Turk won the Nobel prize for literature in 2006…so we’re sure the technological advancements from that work are just around the corner).
There’s a lot more, but that should get you started.
Turkey accuses Israel of illegally occupying the West Bank (meanwhile Turkey illegally occupies Cyprus) and Prime Minister Edrogan…
Read More » Comments (16) »Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 at 8:55 AM | Stand for Israel
Earthquake-ravaged Turkey now asking for Israel’s help
Tent city for earthquake survivors in Turkey, where there is not enough housing for those displaced by the quake (Photo: Reuters)
Thankfully for their people, the Turkish government has reconsidered its earlier refusal of Israeli aid for the victims of Sunday’s massive earthquake and is now asking for the transfer of mobile housing units. Israel is proud to help, and those of us who support Israel are proud that her assistance is given without regard to politics.
Comments (6) »Immediately after the earthquake struck on Sunday Lieberman instructed his office to prepare to send aid to Turkey. President Shimon Peres also called his Turkish counterpart Abduallah Gul in order to offer Israel’s assistance. However, Ankara rejected the bid.
Turkey has been showered with offers of outside help since the quake, but at first only accepted help from neighbouring Iran, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. However, a foreign ministry official said on Tuesday that it had now requested prefabricated housing and tents from more than 30 countries.
“Given the sensitive situation, this is a good step forward,” an Israeli official involved in the affair told Ynet. “In these situations you put all the problems and politics aside. We hope everything is carried out as planned,” he said.
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 4:05 PM | David Kuner
Earthquake: Turkey declines Israel’s offer of aid
Rescue teams search for survivors in the rubble in Turkey (Photo: Reuters)
Turkey was hit by a powerful earthquake Sunday morning, leaving hundreds dead and many more injured. The 7.2 strength quake struck the Van Province region in Eastern Turkey, which is home to a large population of Kurds and is near the Turkish border with Iran.
Many neighboring countries, including Israel, offered to send assistance to the battered region, however the Turkish authorities have so far declined all offers and have opted to deal with the crisis on their own.
In 1999, when Turkey was hit with a devastating earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people, Israel sent teams to help the Turkish authorities in search-and-rescue operations. Those were much better times in Turkish-Israeli relations; nonetheless Israel was fully prepared to send an aid mission to Turkey earlier today in order to help with the victims of the earthquake.
In recent years Turkey has also come to Israel’s aid, such as when catastrophic fires devastated northern Israel in 2010. Immediately upon seeing the urgent need, Turkey sent two firefighting aircrafts which helped stop the fires engulfing the area. Israel accepted Turkey’s help, as well as the assistance offered by many European countries.
Over the years Israel has sent aid worldwide to help with disaster relief, and has been a leader in first-response rescue missions. When Haiti was struck by an earthquake in 2010, Israel set up the first functional emergency medical center equipped with a full staff of doctors and nurses as well as sterilized operating rooms. During the Asian tsunami in 2004, Israel rescue teams operated for weeks on end to help the victims.
We Israelis fully support our government’s offer to send assistance to Turkey in their time of need, despite the Turkish government’s current animosity toward us. While the Turkish government declined the help, we would have been genuinely happy to send it because we cherish life. Israel and her people will forever protect the innocent victims of natural or terror disasters around the…
Read More » Comments (3) »Monday, October 24th, 2011 at 11:38 AM | Amichai Farkas
Israel-Turkey ties worsen – to Israel’s dismay
The current state of Israeli-Turkish relations has been frustrating to many Israelis who up until recently considered Turkey to be the Jewish State’s most treasured friend in the region. Many Israelis remember growing up in a time when hundreds of thousands of Israelis traveled to Turkey annually, trade between the two countries was blossoming, and the Israeli army sold weapons and traded intelligence with its Turkish counterpart.
Unfortunately, Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan has chosen to turn his back on years of cooperation with Israel and instead has decided to work against Israel by aligning with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas. The most current ruffle in Israeli-Turkish relations was sparked by Turkey’s insistence that Israel apologize for the death of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship last summer.
My friend Ofer was born in Israel to parents who had immigrated to Israel from Turkey when they were children. Ofer remembers visiting Turkey routinely throughout his life, first as a young boy with his parents, and later on with his wife and kids. “It’s very sad to see what’s happened to Turkey since Erdogan became their president,” Ofer told me. “I had traveled to Turkey many times and was always treated warmly by the Turkish people.
“The Turkish people are very friendly and most of them have fond memories of the large Jewish communities that once dwelled in Turkey,” Ofer stated. But when asked if he would travel back to Turkey again, Ofer replied no. “Turkey used to be a great place to visit, but the way their government deals with Israel, it is clear that we are no longer welcome.”
Ofer is glad that Israel did not grant an apology for the flotilla incident. “Our soldiers were only protecting themselves on those ships. I was once a soldier myself and I know what it’s like to be attacked, and you have only a few seconds to save your life. Our soldiers did the right thing on that ship last summer and our government acted wisely by not apologizing for those deaths.”
Comments (1) »Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 4:34 PM | Amichai Farkas
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