Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
Israeli Ministers Officially Approve Reconciliation Deal with Turkey
Error: Contact form not found.
by JNS.org
The flag of Turkey. Photo: Wikipedia.
JNS.org – The Israeli diplomatic-security cabinet on Wednesday approved the recently struck reconciliation agreement between Israel and Turkey. Following a five-hour debate, the cabinet ministers voted 7-3 in favor of the agreement.
Israel’s cabinet approval of the agreement came a day after a shooting and bombing attack, suspected to have been carried out by the Islamic State terror group, killed 41 people at Turkey’s Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.
Yisrael Beiteinu party leader and Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman voted against the agreement, as did Habayit Hayehudi party leader and Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.
In the past, Lieberman has been a vocal opponent of reconciliation with Turkey and vehemently opposed Israel paying compensation to families of Turkish victims of clashes with the Israel Defense Forces during the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident.
The approval came despite various demands to amend the agreement and calls to bring the deal to a vote by the larger Israeli cabinet, which includes all the government’s ministers, and even the entire Knesset legislature.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold and his Turkish counterpart Feridun Sinirlioglu formally signed off on the agreement in their bureaus in Jerusalem and Ankara.
While Israel’s diplomatic-security cabinet convened Wednesday, the families of Operation Protective Edge casualties Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, Israeli soldiers whose remains are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Avera Mengistu, an Israeli civilian who has been in Hamas captivity since he crossed the border fence into Gaza in September 2014, protested the agreement outside the cabinet room. The families are demanding that the deal include the return of their relatives or their remains to Israel.
