Futile Israeli Efforts to Win Ankara Back

by Daniel Pipes

The Government of Israel, we learned yesterday from a Turkish source, has delivered Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) equipment by ELTA, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries. that gives military aircraft protection from electronic attacks. Not only will the AWACS planes, in the wording of the Today’s Zaman article, “greatly increase [the Turkish air force’s] dominance over Turkey’s own airspace” but they will also be useful to it in the Syrian civil war and vis-à-vis “tensions with Israel and Greek Cyprus over the issue of gas drilling.”
What a Turkish air force AWACS looks like.


Ankara ordered the systems years ago but the Israelis held them back following the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010. In part, the Israeli decision to deliver them resulted from pressure from Boeing, manufacturer of the AWACS planes. But in part, it has to do with a hope in Israel that the Turks will again become friendly; this move comes in the context of back-channel talks between the two governments and the decision last week, by Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, in the words of Israel Defense, to “allow the entry of Turkish experts and construction materials for the largest Turkish hospital building in the Gaza Strip, ahead the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Erdo?an in Gaza.”

Israel Defense continues: “There are voices within the Israeli defense establishment calling for the end of the Marmara crisis vis-à-vis Turkey, by finding a formula of apology, in order to return to the Israeli-Turkish alliance against Syria and Iran.”
Comments: (1) As the Turkish newspaper itself notes, the AWACS will potentially be used against Israel in the Mediterranean Sea. (2) This move fits into a larger pattern of an Israeli and more broadly a Western reluctance to recognize the AKP-dominated government of Turkey as hostile. Neither appeasement nor seduction will work. The time has come to come to see Erdo?an & Co. as the opponents they are. (February 18, 2013)
February 20, 2013 | 6 Comments »

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  1. Erdogan is not only The White House’s favorite leader, he is also the favorite foreign leader of The Security Council. I mean the favorite Middle Eastern leader. Israel needs Turkey far more than the reverse. Besides, Israel did murder unarmed aid workers. A deal will be worked out to the tune of $25 million per slain Turk and an official State apology. Livni will write the apology and Netanyahu will read it on air.

  2. I see, so Israel wants to appease Turkey because Turkey is still mad at Israel for defending itself against the Mamara leftist-Islamist terror brigade sponsored in part and sent from a port in Turkey. Israel then gives advanced and sensitive military equipment to Turkey to piss off the Greeks and Kurds and also make Israel an easier target (of Turkey and their allies) as a result of this one-way trade – never mind the future oil/gas platforms which Turkey will no doubt stake a claim and make threats to bomb. Israel then gives Turkey permission to equip Hamas with more “building supplies” to free up Hamas cash for weapons to kill more Israelis. Excuse me for being so dense, strategically blind and uneducated but what does Israel get from such wonderful business deals?

  3. Yidvocate Said:

    Israel seems hell bent on its own destruction

    dear yid,
    not to be repetitive, see bill narvey’s comment # 3 on the “Likud members: Livni will block rightist legislation ” thread.
    it is a very logical suite to your comment.

  4. Israel seems hell bent on its own destruction. It’s no longer capable of assessing it’s vital interests just like Obama has recently stated (not that he knows any better, that’s for sure!).

    The Jewish state has lost it’s bearings and it’s reason for being.

    Unless it can return to it’s Jewish roots and re-establish a Torah outlook and way of life, I fear all will be lost for the Jewish state.

  5. The author’s assumption summed up in the title it’s accurate. For more detailed info on what really happened in Turkey I recommend a book I just finished reading: “Spring Fever – The Illusion of Islamic Democracy” by Andrew McCarthy.