It may be time for whatever tiny Jewish community remains in Turkey, to flee that place.
The writing has been on the wall there, ever since the population elected an Islamist a decade ago, undoing generations of relatively sane, western leaning, friendly governments. That writing is now in bold caps, as JTA reports the Turkish National Intelligence Organization is saying it’s identified five Turkish citizens who they say helped Israel during the 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara. That was the Turkish ship, filled with armed anti-Semitic militants that tried to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.
Turkey, which already is trying Israeli military leaders in absentia for the raid in which its soldiers were set upon by violent, armed terrorists, is being told that these Turkish citizens were either among the troops that raided the ship in which nine Turks were killed, or interrogated “activists” afterward, according to reports.
These Turkish citizens allegedly are part of the Shayetet 13, the elite Israeli naval commando force that raided the ship. They reportedly have been identified and their names sent to the Turkish prosecutors’ office, reports say.
Hence the need for Turkish Jews to flee.
I don’t know if any Turkish Jews were part of any Israeli operation, but it seems clear that the Turkish government thinks so, or wants to think so, providing them the cover they seek to go after the Jews there. If history is any indication, this sounds like a prelude to pogroms, or whatever the latter day equivalent is called.
“The investigation looked at all Turkish citizens who traveled between Israel and Turkey in the month surrounding the Mavi Marmara incident,” according to the report. “The investigation centered on Istanbul and Izmir, which have larger Jewish populations.”
“Turkey’s Jewish community could suffer a backlash as a result of the investigation,” JTA reports.
The criminal case against former Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and other Israeli military leaders opened last month in Istanbul, with charges reportedly including manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, causing bodily harm, deprivation of freedom, plundering and property damage.
This, the reader might recall, is the episode in which the “humanitarian aid” ship that left Turkey for Gaza in May, 2010, following anti-Semitic dancing and singing by many of its passengers, was prevented from breaking Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Though warned not to attempt to circumvent the blockade, the heavily armed terrorists on board did so, anyway, then laid in wait for the Israeli soldiers and set upon them with clubs and knives. Nine Turkish citizens died when Israeli Navy commandos were forced to defend themselves. Some in the international press chose to cover the incident by doctoring photos of the wounded Israelis and armed Turks. This can be Googled to learn more.
In any case, what this report sounds like to me, besides being a clear sign, if one were still needed, that whatever “friendship” had existed between Israel and Turkey, is over, is that things are about to get ugly for Turkey’s Jews.
They should join the Jews of Egypt, France, Britton and elsewhere where society has chosen either to throw in with the dark side or lie down and be rolled over by it, and head to Israel or the United States, which, I believe, is still on the side of right.
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