An Israeli President In Turkey: The Opening Of A New Episode

There is no friendship among nations… All that counts is mutual interests. That would thus be one of the most important implications of that meeting.

After three and a half hours of talks, it had been agreed that Ministers of Economy and Energy would visit Israel in the coming weeks; that economic relations that are already booming would be promoted – a large delegation of Turkish business people will visit Israel – that intel sharing would go ahead increasingly to the benefit of the regional peace efforts. And maybe that diplomatic relations would be improved as both countries hold only chargés d’affaires in their respective capitals.

However, an important note: The presidency in Israel is an honorary post and has no political power to implement all these steps. Obviously, Herzog’s visit to Ankara should have been approved by the Israeli government; still, one cannot just put this fact out of the frame. One could also have expected dialogue with PM Bennett, once Netanyahu, despised by Erdogan, yielded the power.

And last but not least Turkish expectation would be the restoration of the ties with the Jewish Lobby in the US, thus improving diplomatic relations with Washington, those relations that were at the lowest level of its history. Once again, the path to Washington would pass through Jerusalem. Who knows?

The Turkish Jewish community was represented by a delegation in the reception at the Presidential Palace, given to the honor of President Herzog and his wife. Once again, the Jews of Turkey were driven into their traditional task of mediation between Israel and the Jewish Lobby in the US. Once again, they were the stars of the venues.

The next day, President Herzog and his wife Michal visited the Neve Shalom Synagogue, the traditional spot of many Islamist attacks. He was greeted with joyful clapping and shofar blasts by the Turkish Jewish Community. He was called to read a portion – Vayikra – of the Torah and deliver a speech where he confirmed warming relations and deepening ties between the two countries.

The details of this moving speech and the course of the two countries relations – also in the light of the destabilizing war in Ukraine – will be the subject of a following article.