Will Washington Freeze Out Ankara Following Outrage Involving an Israeli Soccer Star?

President Erdogan’s anti-Western and anti-Israel bent has led to the deportation from Turkey of an Israeli soccer star playing for one of the country’s top-tier teams. As Turkey’s animosity to the West grows, will Washington chill ties with the NATO ally?“I’m so glad to be here, there’s no place like Israel,” Sagiv Yehezkel said Monday evening as he landed at Ben Gurion airport. His sigh of relief capped a 24-hour “Midnight Express”-like nightmare that started with heroics on the pitch for his Turkish soccer team, Antalyaspor, and ended with an arrest on trumped-up charges of “incitement.”For the offense of expressing solidarity with Israeli hostages, Mr. Yehezkel was then deported, an incident that outraged Israel. Mr. Erdogan’s growing ire toward the Jewish state has pushed Turkey into the group of the most antisemitic countries. Last week, Mr. Erdogan sent material to the International Court of Justice at the Hague in support of South Africa’s demand to declare Israel in violation of the genocide convention.In the 1920s, before a Polish-born Jewish lawyer, Rafael Lemkin, coined the post-Holocaust word that gave its name to that convention, he wrote a thesis about the World War I genocide of Armenians — by the Ottoman Empire that Mr. Erdogan now seeks to revive. Beyond Israel, Mr. Erdogan, along with Qatar, backs and hosts members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot, Hamas. That support worries Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other American allies that have long fought against the Brotherhood. As Turkey tightens relations with Iran, it also competes with the Islamic Republic over supremacy in the Muslim world. Yet, it consistently supports Tehran’s militant proxies even as Mr. Erdogan sharpens his anti-Western rhetoric. As he controls most of the Turkish media, anti-Americanism is growing in the country. Last week, Mr. Erdogan condemned an American-British strike against Houthi targets in Yemen, even though it came in response to consistent attacks on civilian shipping in one of the busiest sea lanes in the world. Mr. Erdogan said it’s America, rather than the Houthis, that is turning the Red Sea into a “sea of blood.” Turkish media last week reported sharp disagreements between Secretary Blinken and his counterpart, Hakan Fidan, after their meeting at Ankara. Yet, the Department of State was careful to praise Turkey. The meeting with Mr. Fidan was “very fruitful and productive,” Mr. Blinken told reporters as he departed that country.The new Turkey desk at the state department is “very careful not to burn bridges, and that’s part of what Erdogan is counting on,” a Turkey watcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Sinan Ciddi, tells the Sun. From threatening trade sanctions to the “nuclear option” of relocating the Incirlik Air Force base outside of Turkey, America is unlikely to move against Ankara — even as Mr. Erdogan tightens relations with Russia, a NATO foe, as well as with Iran and extremist Islamist groups. In 2022, America imported $22 billion worth of goods from Turkey, while Israel imported more than $7 billion. Even after the Hamas attacks of October 7, Israel’s imports from Turkey reportedly rose by 34 percent last December. While Israel imports less from Turkey than America does, the Jewish state can still hurt Mr. Erdogan economically by narrowing trade, Mr. Ciddi says. As the Israeli public’s ire over Ankara’s Hamas support grew, a grassroots drive was launched to boycott Turkish-grown tomatoes and replace them with Israeli ones. Jerusalem ordered supermarkets recently to label produce according to country of origin. Sunday’s soccer incident raised the Israeli anger level even further. “The scandalous arrest of the footballer Sagiv Yehezkel is an expression of hypocrisy. Turkey is the executive branch of Hamas,” the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, wrote on X. The incident started after Mr. Yehezkel, a prolific forward, scored a goal that tied a match for Antalyaspor. To the roaring cheers of fans, he bent his fingers in the shape of a heart and, as television cameras zoomed in, pointed to a wrist band. There, he had drawn with a pen a Star of David, and wrote, “100 days. October 7.”As hostile commentary flooded social media, Ankara weighed in, launching a criminal investigation against Mr. Yehezkel. His crime was “inciting people to hatred and hostility” in an “ugly action in support of the massacre committed by Israel in Gaza,” the justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, wrote on X.Antalyaspor suspended Mr. Yehezkel. He was then arrested, held overnight, and interrogated by police. Following intense diplomatic negotiations between Ankara and Jerusalem, he was deported and arrived in Israel to cheering crowds.Two other Israeli soccer players and two basketball stars play for Turkish teams. Yam Madar, who was recently signed by Fenerbahçe Beko of the top Turkish basketball league for a $1 million a season, is now hearing boos on the court. Israeli press commentators wonder if any of them will be able to play in Turkey for the remaining terms of their lucrative contracts.

Will Washington Freeze Out Ankara Following Outrage Involving an Israeli Soccer Star?

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