Turkey sends aid to Israel

Ahmed Sami Abdel-Fattah

International reports exposed the allegations and falsehood of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the strained relations between Ankara and Israel, and that his country supports the Palestinian people as Turkey has provided medical supplies to Tel Aviv, in light of the outbreak of coronavirus.

The American Bloomberg Agency published a report on April 12, 2020, in which it confirmed that Turkey had exported medical supplies to Israel in order to confront coronavirus, despite the apparent tension in the relationship between the two parties.

These supplies include “medical masks, anti-virus clothing, and sterile gloves.”

The same report revealed, quoting a Turkish official, that it was expected that three Israeli planes would land at Incirlik Air Force Base in order to transport these supplies.

In the April 12, 2020 report, the Israel Hume newspaper indicated that Turkey’s export of medical supplies to Israel, in order to counter coronavirus, would improve relations between the two parties.

Turkey and economic benefit

Turkey has used the Palestinian cause as a means of popular mobilization within the Arab region, but at the same time maintains strong and solid relations with Israel.

Despite the difficult health situation in Turkey because of coronavirus, where the injuries exceeded 50,000, Turkey prefers to sell from its main needs to preserve the rest of its suffering economy.

For his part, the researcher specializing in Turkish affairs, Muhammed Rabi, stressed that it is not surprising that Ankara provides medical supplies to Israel because the relations between them are very strong even before the coronavirus crisis.

He added in statements to the Reference that according to international reports, the volume of trade exchange between Turkey and Israel, which Erdogan describes as “the occupation and terrorism state”, was four times what it was before. This comes in addition to the fact that Turkey is Israel’s second largest partner in producing weapons and throughout history, Turkey is the first Muslim country to recognize Israel.

He also explained that Turkey maintains solid relations with Israel, as the volume of trade exchange between the two parties in 2009 reached two billion 597 million and 163 thousand dollars, and the volume of trade exchange for 2014 reached 5 billion, 832 million and 180 thousand dollars.