Israel's reconciliation with Turkey seen bolstering its NATO cooperation

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Tue Jun 14, 2016 2:21pm EDT

Israel's reconciliation with Turkey seen bolstering its NATO cooperation

JERUSALEM | BY DAN WILLIAMS

Israel's efforts to reconcile with NATO member Turkey will help enhance Israeli intelligence sharing and other security cooperation with the alliance, a NATO diplomat said on Tuesday.

The once-strong Israeli-Turkish partnership was shattered by Israel's killing of 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists who sailed against its Gaza blockade in 2010, and Ankara had chafed at Israeli contacts with NATO.

But with both countries now working to mend fences, Turkey last month acquiesced to Israel setting up representation at NATO's Brussels headquarters.

Hosting envoys from NATO countries in Israel, including the Turkish charge d'affaires standing in for the ambassador who was withdrawn during the bilateral crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to further close ranks with the alliance.

"Israel has much to contribute to NATO. I believe NATO has much to contribute to Israel. We've already begun that process, but I think we can extend and increase our cooperation," Netanyahu said before the closed-door meeting in Jerusalem.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-nato-idUSKCN0Z02CU

[6chars]

1. this may be so long ago no one can remember, but

"The once-strong Israeli-Turkish partnership was shattered by Israel's killing of 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists who sailed against its Gaza blockade in 2010"

-- Erdogan knew what would happen, sent them, and cried crocodile tears while using it as an opportunity to (1) break the relationship, (2) position himself as a great Muslim leader, (3) extract many concessions out of Israel and try to show dominance over Netanyahu in the process in order to bolster his reputation (i.e., (2))

but it is lost to history, so the AP can say what it wants.

[shira]

2. Yep, no context. Twain was right....don't keep up with the news & you're uninformed.

But do keep up and you're misinformed.