This post is to bring to the attention of readers that an important event has just occurred in the Mideast. After years of officially ignoring each other, Israel and Turkey have agreed to restoring full diplomatic relations and exchanging ambassadors again. This is an important event for more than one reason. We will consider this development from religious, political and military vantage points. Turkey is a Sunni Muslim nation as are all the Arab Muslim nations while Iran is a Shiite Muslim nation. A number of Sunni nations (Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and perhaps others) have full diplomatic relations with Israel. Even Saudi Arabia, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, has long been reported to have extensive unofficial relations with the Israeli nation, given that both of them are directly threatened by Iran.
Turkey has, in recent years, seemed like a nation adrift and unsure of where it belonged. It was a member of NATO, but bought Russian air defense systems designed to shoot down NATO warplanes. Turkey was Sunni, but Turkey’s President Erdogan was seen at joint meetings with President Putin of Russia and the Shiite Iranian leader. Turkey has recently been attempting to broker, if not a peace deal, at least an understanding between Russia and Ukraine. This would permit some Ukrainian wheat to be shipped to Egypt and other Arab Sunni nations which depend on Ukrainian wheat to feed their people. Egypt and Turkey have been quite chilly in their national relationships in recent years, but Turkey’s successful efforts to restore Ukrainian wheat shipments to the world will certainly be appreciated by Egypt and the other Sunni nations who need those wheat shipments. In taking that step, I think Turkey is bidding for a leadership role in the Sunni Muslim world. Saudi Arabia traditionally has that role, but if the Saudis do not establish diplomatic relations with Israel while Turkey is on full diplomatic relations with Israel, Turkey will tend to eclipse the Saudis in the Sunni world. In brokering the shipment of Ukrainian wheat to the world, Turkey has also “won points” with its NATO allies who are supplying Ukraine with the ability to maintain their freedom from Russian domination.
Below are three viewpoints on this important development which has received insufficient coverage in the American press. The three links below include an Israeli, an Arabic Muslim and a European perspective on this event. One mentions a recent instance of Israeli-Turkish intelligence cooperation which may have been important to the restoration of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel. As I discussed in a recent post, Iran attempted to have its agents kidnap and perhaps kill Israeli citizens inside Turkey. If that effort had been successful, a major Mideast war would likely have broken out. Thankfully, Israel found out about the plot and worked with Turkish intelligence agencies to thwart it. Turkey likely did not realize the Iranians were building a hostile network of agents inside Turkey until Israel tipped them off. Iran surely cannot be pleased with Turkey re-establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel. Iran had clearly hoped to win Turkey to its side since both nations in recent years had no diplomatic relations with Israel.
The warming of relations between Israel and Turkey is a win for the West and NATO in general, but it is also a win for the Sunni Muslim world which is now more united in its geopolitical positions. It is a win for Ukraine as well. Turkey may be helping behind the scenes to create a way out of the Ukrainian war for Russia without Russia losing face regarding its hitherto failed invasion attempt. It is also possible that the very poor performance of Russian military systems against NATO weaponry has convinced Turkey that an alliance with Russia is not advantageous for Turkey. It is a win for both Turkey and Israel and it is a major loss for Iran. It is also a loss for the Palestinians who made a very bad choice to align themselves with Iran in recent years.
It is also a win for the energy business as Israel, Greece and Egypt are cooperating in developing a natural gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey wanted a share of the inevitable profits from that venture, but with historically very bad relations with Greece, poor relations with Egypt and no relations with Israel, Turkey was on the outside looking in. With Israel and Turkey back in a normal diplomatic relationship and Egypt benefiting from Turkey’s brokering of Ukrainian wheat shipments to Egypt and Sunni nations, Turkey will likely be allowed to have a negotiated part of the energy revenues from that natural gas field. Indeed, this warming of Israeli-Turkish relations may have prevented a war in the Eastern Mediterranean over the rights to the gas fields in that region.
Those who have read my books or my website materials for any length of time are aware that I regard the Turks as one of the major descendant nations from the biblical patriarch, Esau, whose name was changed to Edom (Genesis 36:1). Long-time readers also know that I see in the prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39 that Iran would be part of the latter-day alliance led by Russia and China which will attack NATO and the Western nations in a final World War III at the very end of this current age before the Millennium/ Messianic Age begins. For new readers, I recommend reviewing my articles, Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days?, What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveal about a Future World War III and the United States in Biblical Prophecy, to gain critically-important perspectives that you will never obtain by watching or reading the world’s media.
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/
israel-and-turkey-to-restore- ambassadors-in-full-renewal- of-diplomatic-ties/ - https://www.reuters.com/world/
middle-east/israel-says- restore-full-diplomatic- relations-with-turkey-2022-08- 17/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ThTv4r5iOso
