Defense minister urges Ankara to join anti-Islamic State alliance, slams presence of Hamas offices on Turkish soil
Turkey has permitted the Islamic State to send trained terrorists into Europe and funded the group by buying its oil, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday, urging the country to join an alliance against terrorism.
Ankara “allowed the jihadists to move from Europe to Syria and Iraq and back home as part of the Daesh terror infrastructure in Europe,” the defense minister said, referring to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym. Turkey “still hosts the Hamas external [sic] terror headquarters in Istanbul,” Ya’alon said during a press conference in Athens.
The Islamic State has long profited from selling its oil to Turkey, Ya’alon said, and expressed the hope that Turkey “will join the countries that fight terrorism.”
“Hopefully, we’ll have Turkey on board. Israel and Turkey enjoyed [a] very good relationship in the past. Unfortunately the Turkish government decided to deteriorate and to escalate the situation between Israel and Turkey,” Ya’alon said in English during a press conference in Athens with Greek counterpart Panos Kammenos.
“Now it’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government and Turkish leadership to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation in fighting terrorism… this is not the case, so far as you probably know,” Ya’alon said. Islamic State has “enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time,” he said, expressing hope that this would end soon.
Ya’alon’s visit to Greece comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts in Nicosia this week.
Russia also charged that Turkey is buying oil from IS, after Turkey downed a Russian jet that it said violated its airspace. Russia did not provide backing for its claims.
Ya’alon’s markedly bitter attack on Turkey comes at a time when Israel and Turkey are signaling that a restoration of long-frozen ties is imminent.
In mid-December, Israeli and Turkish officials held a secret meeting in Switzerland, at the end of which they announced a significant revival of a once strong relationship that has deteriorated in recent years.
Like us on Facebook
Get our newsletter
Follow us on Twitter
READ MORE ON: Moshe Ya’alon, Greece, Russia, IS Islamic State
by Taboola Sponsored Links YOU MAY LIKE
Platform pricing: What’s the cost of two bananas between friends?
ProfessionalAdviser.com
Lost Keys? Never Again With TrackR!
TrackR Bravo
Lower Back Pain? This Simple Strap Is What You’ve Been Waiting For
BackGenie
The Ultimate Way to Get Cheap Hotel Rooms
Save70
Can Marketing Campaigns Be Treated Like Scientific Experiments?
Optimove Blog
Uber Driver Refused to Take a Pregnant Woman to the Hospital, Husband Says
Time
FROM THE WEBFROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
State pension changes were ‘mis-sold’ to public, Ros Altmann admits (ProfessionalAdviser.com)
[VIDEO] Never Lose Your Wallet Again! TrackR Bravo Let’s You … (TrackR Bravo)
Amazing Last Minute Deals on Flights! (Save70)
Gamified Campaigns: Your Trump-Card for Outstanding Customer Marketing (Optimove Blog)
The Ultimate Way to Get Cheap Hotel Rooms (Hotel Bargains)
Sitting All Day? This Simple Strap Will Reduce Your Back Pain (BackGenie)
Israel not too worried by Islamic State, defense chief says
Teenage ‘poster girl’ for Islamic State beaten to death
Russia strikes Islamic State weapons, oil in Syria
Swedish FM Wallström calls in sick, the Swedish people calls for her resignation
WATCH: Ex-Libyan intel official: IS has Gaddafi-era chemical weapons
Lebanese man ‘lures father to Syria to be beheaded by IS’
by Taboola Promoted Links
MORE IN ISRAEL & THE REGION
Denmark’s Minister of Integration from the Liberal Party Inger Stoejberg sits in Parliament, in Copenhagen on Tuesday Jan. 26, 2016. (Peter Hove Olesen/ POLFOTO via AP)
Denmark approves plan to seize migrants’ valuables
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE Report inappropriate comments
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
CURRENT TOP STORIES
A group of ‘League Children’ upon their arrival in Denmark, 1939. (Courtesy)
Chance discovery gives new life to little-known tale of Shoah salvation
BY RENEE GHERT-ZAND
This 1961 file photo shows Adolf Eichmann standing in his glass cage in the Jerusalem courtroom where he was tried and convicted of war crimes committed during World War II. (AP Photo,b/w file)
Eichmann begged Israel to spare his life, new papers reveal
BY AFP AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF
A member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards chants slogans after attacking a naval vessel during a military drill in the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, February 25, 2015. (photo credit: Hamed Jafarnejad/AFP/Fars
Iran stages large naval drill near Strait of Hormuz
BY AP, AFP AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Holocaust survivors ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. January 26, 2016 (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)
PM: Anti-Israel stances fueled by hatred of ‘the collective Jew’
BY AFP AND JTA
Abe Vigoda attending the TV Land Awards in New York City, April 10, 2011. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
Abe Vigoda, known for ‘Barney Miller’ role, dies at 94
BY JTA
NPR apologizes for map that erased Israel
Now PlayingNPR apolo
If Turkey keeps insisting there will be an end to the blockade of GAZA before a deal is signed then no deal will happen, in-spite of Turkey now needing Israel for various reasons do to its isolation.
Turkey also wants to buy Israeli drones which are some of the best in the world. I personally would be very leery of selling them drones again.
This could signal Israel’s way of playing hardball in the negotiations.
It could just be Ya’alon speaking his mind and bluntly as his manner with no filter.
If Turkey does not dismantle the Hamas offices in Turkey then their also will be no deal. This is a non-negotiable demand from Israel.
“Ya’alon’s markedly bitter attack on Turkey comes at a time when Israel and Turkey are signaling that a restoration of long-frozen ties is imminent.”
So why did he do it now?
With the consent of the US Adm.