NETANYAHU: DEAL WITH TURKEY ‘STRATEGIC INTEREST FOR ISRAEL’:
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Israeli PM Netanyahu announced Israel's reconciliation deal with Turkey in Rome, on Monday 27 June 2016. Under the agreement, Israel will provide $20 million in compensation to the families of jihadists killed aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, which in 2010 attempted to violently break Israel's blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza. That is in addition to a deal to allow Turkish humanitarian aid into Gaza via Israel. In exchange, relations between the two one-time allies will return to normal, and talks will commence on a potentially lucrative natural gas deal. Netanyahu emphasized that such a deal was of "strategic importance to the State of Israel." In particular, he noted, paving the way to exporting natural gas to Turkey would provide an enormous boon to the Israeli economy. He also highlighted several other concessions which Israel had garnered from Turkey. Under the agreement, Ankara has pledged to "prevent any terrorist or military activity from Turkey soil against Israel" - including fundraising for anti-Israel terrorism. Such a pledge is significant given the use of Turkey by Hamas' leadership as a hub for planning and coordinating terrorist attacks.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan has also pledged to work for the release of the Israeli captives and bodies held by the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip as a humanitarian service. In addition, Turkey has committed to supporting Israel's admission into international agencies of which it is a member- including, crucially, by supporting the opening of an Israeli mission in NATO's Brussels headquarters. Israel had long worked to open a mission at NATO, but Turkish opposition had blocked it from doing so. Netanyahu also referred to the fact that Turkey had in fact dropped its major demand: that Israel end the blockade of Gaza, telling reporters that the reason the deal took so long to strike was due to the fact that Turkey had initially refused to drop certain demands that Israel wasn't prepared to meet. "The additional thing the agreement gives is continuation of the maritime security blockade off the Gaza Strip coast," he said (J.Post) Intercede for ongoing good relations between Israel and Turkey. Pray there will be no betrayal on Turkey’s promise to prevent terrorist and military activity from Turkish soil against Israel. Pray also that Hamas will release any captured IDF soldiers to Israel, and the bodies of those who have perished to their grieving families.
