Israeli official: Erdogan means trouble for Israel

Turkey is “problematic” for Israel as long as a leader with a “strong Islamic attitude” heads the country, Israeli Deputy Chief of Staff Golan Yair warned yesterday.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported Yair saying that Israel must prepare for more “troubles and challenges”.

He added that US President Barack Obama had been mediating between Israel and Turkey for years in order to regain diplomatic relations which were severed in the wake of the Israeli attack on a Turkish ship in 2010.

From time to time, Ankara announces it is closer to reaching an agreement, Yair explained, but Israeli officials do not have hope in such a reconciliation.

Yair’s remarks were delivered during a speech in the Begin-Sadat Peace Centre in the Israeli University of Bar Ilan.

Previously, a spokesperson for the Turkish presidency said there would be no reconciliation with Israel without the implementation of three conditions: Israel must apologise for the attack on the Turkish ship, compensate the families of those killed and end the siege on Gaza.

Read: Turkey’s conditions: An apology, compensation from Israel and lifting the blockade on Gaza