Special to WorldTribune.com By Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor, Global Information System / Defense & Foreign Affairs Israeli-Russian strategic cooperation, already good, was markedly improving in early October 2015. The primary impediment to this improvement had been the incessant pressure put by the U.S. Barack Obama White House on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Consequently, time […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A filmmaker who produced documentaries showing the barbaric atrocities committed by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) was assassinated in Turkey on Dec. 27. “Filmmaker Naji Jerf, father of two children, was assassinated… today in Gaziantep,” the group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), with which Jerf worked, said in a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey Israel has no choice but to deal with unsavory regimes but it might be a mistake to renew ties with Turkey. The communist leadership of China; President Putin of Russia; Turkey’s Erdogan, King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Should Israel deal with such regimes? They are all wholesale violators of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs JERUSALEM — Israel and Turkey on Dec. 17 resumed formal diplomatic relations, but it was only under massive and consistent pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The cost to Israel has already been immense in terms […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Israeli officials are questioning the significance of Turkey’s intent to improve ties with the Jewish state. Senior Israeli security sources told Walla! News on Dec. 22 that Turkey’s motive for rapprochement with Israel is due to Ankara’s falling out with Moscow after shooting down a Russian Su-24 jet on the Syrian border […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has blocked the transfer of surplus warships to Turkey. Congress has approved legislation for the transfer of surplus U.S. Navy frigates to Mexico and Taiwan. House and Senate members succeeded in suspending U.S. plans to donate at least two missile frigates to Ankara amid its threats against […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Israel will not lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip as part of a deal that renews relations with Turkey, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Dec. 21. “They (Turkey) argued against the blockade on Gaza and of course we don’t intend to change our naval blockade policy,” Netanyahu said according to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Hamas leader Khaled Masha’al on Dec. 19, the first such meeting after reports of warming ties between Turkey and Israel. Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported that Masha’al briefed Erdogan on the latest political developments in the region during the 60-minute meeting in Istanbul. The report […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A pair of suspected Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) jihadists hid some 150 European passports in mini-pizza ovens in an attempt to smuggle them into Turkey, a report said. One Syrian and one Turkish suspect were detained after flying in from a European country and are being questioned by police […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russian President Valdimir Putin on Dec. 17 continued his verbal assault on Turkey while NATO moved to contain mounting tensions. In his annual news conference before some 1,400 reporters at a Moscow conference center, Putin hinted that Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 in November in an “arrangement” with the United States […]