Turkey
The $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act includes a bipartisan measure honoring a decade-long memorandum of understanding between America and Israel, giving $3.8 billion annually to the Jewish state, while also temporarily blocking the U.S. delivery of the F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
Ultimately, the United States will decide. Multiple bills are being debated in Congress designed to challenge and block the sale.
Israel weighs measures to counter growing Turkish influence in Jerusalem
Turkey has carried out 400 local projects, including restoration work on the Dome of the Rock and new dormitories at Ramallah’s Al-Quds University, and has attempted to purchase property in Jerusalem.
“The person masterminding the activities is [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, who thinks of himself as a sultan. Even during his election campaign, he relied on hatred for Israel. This subversion has to be blocked and prevented before we lose control,” said MK Anat Berko (Likud), a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Turkey’s President Erdoğan wins re-election, cementing his firm grip on power
He first served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014, then as president, and hailed the election victory as a mandate to build on his muscular Islamist and nationalist agenda.
A presidential and parliamentary election is set to be held on the same day for the first time in Turkey’s history, and it is likely that Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) will further consolidate their vise-like grip on the country.
A bipartisan amendment to the $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed on Monday by the Senate in an 85-10 vote, prohibits the transfer of the F-35s to Turkey amid a deterioration in U.S.-Turkish relations.
The decision was made after children were photographed at a Turkish-funded mosque playing dead, saluting Turkish flags and re-enacting the Battle of Gallipoli, the only major battle won by the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
In early 2005, Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was the fourth best-selling book in the country, selling 50,000 copies. It is now available not only in bookstores but at venues such as Migros, the country’s fourth-largest supermarket chain, with more than 1,800 locations.
Turkish prime minister: State of Israel emulates Hitler and Mussolini
The proclamations were made at a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is being held accountable for “undemocratic” actions and cold reactions to once-warm allies.
Israel summoned the Turkish consul general in Jerusalem and informed him that he was expelled, following Turkey’s expulsion of the Israeli consul general from Ankara.
