On Thursday, May 2, two Turkish officials familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that tensions between the once-close allies have reached a boiling point over the Netanyahu regime's actions in the Palestinian enclave where more than 34,000 people are now dead from IDF airstrikes.
Last month, Turkey restricted some exports to Israel, but now there will be no more exports period to Israel, this after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been speaking out more boldly against Netanyahu.
While an official suspension of trade between Turkey and Israel has not yet been formally announced, we know that one is coming very soon.
"This is the behavior of a dictator who tramples the interests of the Turkish people and business community while ignoring international trade agreements," complained Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz in an X post.
(Related: Under Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas is fast becoming a Zionist police state where free speech is no longer tolerated.)
Middle East tensions are rising
With $6.8 billion worth of trade in 2023, 76 percent of which was Turkish exports, the trade halt will deliver a major blow to both nation's economies.
Israel is said to be working feverishly to establish immediate trade alternatives, including by increasing local manufacturing and locating other suppliers.
In 2023, Turkey's biggest export to Israel was iron and steel. Its biggest import was refined oil products, according to the Turkish statistical institute.
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The decision to halt trade came right after Turkey decided to join South Africa in its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' (UN) highest court. Like South Africa, Turkey believes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Last August before the October 7 incident, Israel and Turkey had restored diplomatic ties that were cut for more than a decade prior. The two nations were exploring ways to expand cooperation until the Hamas attack and Israel's response to it.
All across the Arab world, as well as right here in the United States, members of the public are taking sides and making their voices heard on the Israel-Gaza conflict. Tensions have spilled over onto college and university campuses as Congress presses on in trying to outlaw "antisemitic" speech.
Erdogan has repeatedly stated that he believes Hamas militants are "freedom fighters," not terrorists as the United States and the European Union say they are. On April 20, he hosted a Hamas political leader in Istanbul who called for immediate aid to Gaza.
"Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products," Turkey's trade ministry publicly announced this week.
"Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Katz, meanwhile, is saying that the move by Erdogan is "breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports."
"Erdogan talks out of both sides of his backside," someone wrote on X about how the ending of trade between Turkey and Israel could just be a smokescreen.
"He could've done so much already and hasn't. It would've been easy for him to uphold the Geneva Convention and break the siege by flagging the Freedom Flotilla which Israel and the U.S. prevented from leaving Turkey."
Another wrote that he believes all countries who oppose genocide "must follow suit and sanction Israel."
"That's the only way to bring the apartheid to an end," this person added.
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