Erdogan Ruptures Turkish-Israel Relations

DEBKAfile Special Report

January 5, 2009

A deep crisis in Turkish-Israel relations appears to be the first strategic casualty of Israel's offensive to suppress Hamas' rocket campaign. DEBKAfile's Ankara sources report that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seriously planning to freeze the long-standing military ties between the US's foremost defense allies in the Middle East and call off forthcoming joint maneuvers. If his hostility toward Israel persists, it will have far-reaching fallout for American Middle East policies and Israel's defense position in the region.

And there is no sign of him relenting; just the reverse.

Monday, Jan. 5, Erdogan outdid himself in vituperation when he accused Israel of "perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction. Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents," he said.

This level of abuse is rarely heard even from Israel's worst enemies.

Washington has been trying to hold together the framework of Turkish-Israeli...
In full

Print

Send to Friend

US-Russian race to arm Lebanon with heavy weapons

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 20, 2008

First 10 Cobras reach Lebanon

The United States and Russia are bidding hard against each other to give the Lebanese army heavy weapons, a contest which Israeli diplomacy has failed to deter, DEBKAfile's military sources report.

Defense ministry official Amos Gilead arrived in Moscow Friday, Dec. 19 only to watch his train leaving the station: Sophisticated Russian S-300 air defense systems were already speeding toward Tehran to guard its nuclear sites and MiG-29 fighter jets had been pledged to Lebanon.

In Washington, too, Israeli diplomats pleaded in vain with Bush administration leaders to refrain from giving Lebanon tanks and a fleet of combat helicopters. Ten Cobras have led the way. They argued that there are no safeguards against American hardware falling into the hands of the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah, whose leaders vowed again Friday to destroy the Jewish state by launching a regional conflagration.

The spillover has a precedent: In the Israel-Hizballah war of 2006, the Lebanese army, then only...
In full

Print

Send to Friend

Related articles:

Israel Plays Hi Tech War Game While Hizballah Throws Rocks for Tactical Gains

After Losing Bint Jubeil, Hizballah Avoids Frontal Encounters, Switches to Guerrilla Tactics

Victory for Lebanon’s anti-Syrian Opposition Was Predetermined

Without a Shadow Cabinet and Clear Policies, Likud leader May Lose February election

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

December 20, 2008

Binyamin Netanyahu must level with the voter if he wants to be prime minister

The Israeli voter will want to know the name of the defense, finance and foreign ministers in Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu's shadow cabinet well before general election date of Feb. 10, 2009. He – and she – are desperate for a fresh, credible team capable of addressing its deep concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran, a missile-battered southwest and an impending economic recession. Netanyahu will have to take this into account. He will have to roll up his sleeves as soon as soon as the list of candidates is chosen by the 99,000 registered Likud voters on Dec. 8 and set about building an alternative transition team.

This is a matter of top urgency for the following reasons:

1. Prime minister Ehud Olmert's coalition cabinet is in an advanced state of decomposition. For months, its dominant figures - Olmert, defense minister Ehud Barak, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and finance minister Ronnie Bar-On - have been incapable of reaching decisions on one vital issue after another. They are...
In full

Print

Send to Friend

Related articles:

Ehud Barak Holds IDF on Leash against Hamas Missiles, Hizballah Rockets

Who Put “Deep Throat” up as Olmert’s Nemesis?

Israel’s New Top Soldier May Have to Take on the Politicians First - before the Enemy

Has Livni buried the two-state solution of Israel-Palestinian dispute?

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

December 13, 2008

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni

Foreign minister and aspiring prime minister Tzipi Livni used an apparent paradox to bury the two-state solution. In a speech she gave to high school pupils Thursday, Dec. 11, she said: "The place for Israeli Arabs to exercise their national aspirations is a future Palestinian state - not Israel, which is the Jewish national home." Livni's next comment: "No single Palestinian refugee will be admitted to Israel" was a roundabout message in the same vein to the Israeli Arab minority (a steady one-fifth of the population).

She clarified this later by saying that while Israeli Arabs would not be forced to leave or lose their civil rights, "those who wished to realize their national aspirations should look elsewhere," namely to a Palestinian state when it rises.

But what Palestine was she talking about? For now and in the foreseeable future, there are two – one ruled by Hamas in Gaza and one by Fatah on the West Bank, as the foreign minister knows very well.

America and European...
In full

Print

Send to Friend

Related articles:

Palestinian Unity Ploy Will Steal Gaza Military Initiative from Israel

Lack of Intelligence Enables First Armored Terror Attack on Regular Army

Israeli Government Stalls While Hamas Escalates

Ehud Barak Holds IDF on Leash against Hamas Missiles, Hizballah Rockets

DEBKAfile Special Analysis

November 24, 2008

Israel defense minister holds chief of staff in check

“To all the warmongers among you I say I am not minister of war but minister of defense.”

This emotional statement was delivered by Ehud Barak Monday, Nov. 24, to his many critics at a briefing session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. He went on to lambast Iran for its energetic pursuit of its nuclear program while deceiving the world. Israel does not rule out any option against a nuclear-armed Iran, he said, “but the less said about this better.”

DEBKAfile’s military sources suggest that Barak take his own advice. While never short of words and promises, his performance in deeds is seriously wanting.

Minutes after he spoke, the Society for Recording Terror-Induced Trauma Cases published figures which should have made him rethink his positions: 55% of Sderot’s citizens had witnessed Qassam missile blasts; 28.4% were made dysfunctional by post-traumatic effects; while 33.6% of the town’s schoolchildren aged 13-18 suffered from severe learning disabilities. ...
In full

Print

Send to Friend

Related articles:

Without a Shadow Cabinet and Clear Policies, Likud leader May Lose February election

Who Put “Deep Throat” up as Olmert’s Nemesis?

Israel’s New Top Soldier May Have to Take on the Politicians First - before the Enemy

Iran Challenges Obama by Hiking Tensions on Israel’s Borders

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

November 24, 2008

Israeli tanks in Gaza

The strategy the Islamic regime has charted for the new US president hinges on fanning tensions on Israel’s northern and southern borders while putting a damper on the various Middle East peace initiatives. Syria was therefore discouraged from returning to its indirect peace track with Israel and Hamas ordered to boycott Egypt’s bid to patch up the quarrel between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.

Tehran’s object is to show Barack Obama who holds the whip hand in the Middle East and force him to seek urgent talks to defuse rising tensions.

At his first news conference as president elect, Obama said Friday, Nov. 7, that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable” and its support for terrorist organizations “must cease.” He ducked a reporter’s question about whether he had read the letter of congratulation sent him by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and when he would answer.

But Iran had already laid out its strategy for the incoming president, jumping in the day before the US...
In full

Print

Send to Friend

Related articles:

Cheney Lines up Middle East Arab Allies for US Iraq Pull-out and Possible Iran Attack

Tehran’s Provocations top US Military Build-up to Ratchet up War Tensions

Chirac’s Tolerance of a Nuclear-Armed Iran Stirs Response in Washington