Trade policy toward Israel may change
has been a leading critic of the TURKEY actions of Netanyahu government in the Gaza strip. As more information becomes available on Israel’s actions under the pretext of clearing the area of Hamas but in fact rendering the area uninhabitable, killing a large number of innocent people in the process, the world has begun to turn against the Israeli operation and the Israeli government.
At the beginning, there was sympathy for Israel that had lost over a thousand citizens in the unexpected Hamas attack. Receiving particular sympathy were the hostages Hamas had taken apparently to use as a bargaining chip in negotiations. Netanyahu mobilized support for sending troops into Gaza in part by arguing that they would free the hostages. Several months on, this has not happened. In fact, while Israeli forces have been elevating the violence to force Hamas to submission, they have been inflicting ever increasing harm on the innocent Palestinian population. Hamas continues to thrive.
So far, the only country that appears to offer unqualified support to Israel has been the US. Even on that front, however, there are signs of wavering. The Arab origin population reaches critical numbers in some states that Mr. Biden must win in order to defeat Donald Trump in the forthcoming presidential election. The concerns of this electoral group has to be taken into consideration. But more importantly, as the news of what is happening in Gaza makes the news in the US, many Americans have raised objections to the highly partial policy the Biden Administration has been pursuing toward Israel. American attempts to restrain Israel have fallen on deaf ears. Mr. Netanyahu appears to feel that while Americans may be critical of what he is doing, they will not leave him and fully support the Palestinians. If I were Mr. Netanyahu, I would take note that even those who have been full supporters of Israel at earlier times are no longer fully behind his policies, distinguishing between supporting Israel from the policies of the Netanyahu government in which the rightwing extremists play a major role.
European support for Israel has been uneven. Apart from Germany that seems to extend unconditional support to the Netanyahu government, equating Israel with it, other European countries are more appreciative of Palestinian positions. If one were to search for a European policy pronounced by the EU, there is none, but most European countries are cognizant of the fact that unless a solution is found and that solution would have to be in the direction of two states, the problem would keep festering.
Interestingly, while Israel imposes severe deprivations on those still remaining in Gaza, the country itself appears to suffer no deprivations. In Gaza, so many restrictions are placed on giving aid to the Palestinians that the Americans tried to turn to dropping aid packages from the sky upon their failure to persuade the Israeli government to send aid through ordinary means. Unfortunately, some Palestinians lost their lives in the process trying to catch these packages. More recently, an attempt has been made to build a facility on the shore so that ships may deliver their aid cargoes there. But, turning to Israel, the country appears to enjoy a booming trade with many countries, importing not only foodstuffs but anything starting with munitions and continuing on to cement and barbed wire that is likely to be used in Gaza as well as fertilizers that may also be used in the making of gun power.
Is how Israel supplies itself of interest to Türkiye? Its turns out to be “very much so,” because apparently there is a booming trade between the two countries in which material that is used in the Gaza war also changes hands. Earlier but also particularly during the recent electoral campaign linked to the local elections, the Turkish opposition criticized the government as being only vocal in criticizing Israel, but behind the scenes, continuing active trading. The opposition focused on trade general, trying to persuade the voters that the government that presumably followed a highly critical policy toward Israel was insincere and in fact involved in “highly beneficial” economic relations with it. The government vacillated between ignoring the criticism or indicating that it was between private actors and the government had nothing to do with it, adding that much of the exported material went to Gaza.
The outcome of the elections showed that the governing party had lost a lot of support, mainly for reasons not related to Gaza, but it seems that the government policy toward Israel also contributed to defeat by directing votes to the New Welfare Party. More recently, it was revealed beyond doubt that government corporations were also involved in trade with Israel, exporting minerals. Already vulnerable on many fronts, the Turkish government, although in need of hard cash, may still feel pressured to harmonize its trade policy with its avowed broader critical policy toward Israel.