Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his plans to visit Israel soon in a meeting with 15 Jewish leaders in New York, according to a report shared Wednesday by the Hebrew website Ynet and social media.
“I have an open channel with President [Isaac] Herzog and now I also have an open channel with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” he said.
Erdogan added that he was excited to fulfil his Islamic duty to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Always a pleasure to spend time with my distinguished friend Turkiye’s President @RTErdogan who hosted earlier today a select group of U.S. Jewish leaders at the Turkish House during #UNGA78.Touched on a host of issues including President Erdogan’s upcoming plans to visit Israel pic.twitter.com/RMGxKdqZF0
The comments came only a day after Netanyahu and Erdogan had their first face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Israeli security forces guard while Jews and tourist visit the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City, August 28, 2023 (credit: JAMAL AWAD/FLASH90)
Strained relations between the two leaders
Tensions between the two leaders had escalated over the last several years, but were softened earlier this year when Herzog visited the country. Turkey has also been looking to reopen to Israeli business collaboration and tourism, after COVID-19 left its economy struggling.
The history between the two nations has been challenged. In 2019 at the UNGA, Erdogan questioned Israel’s borders and displayed a Palestinian propaganda map purportedly illustrating the shrinkage of Palestine since Israel’s creation. Netanyahu responded by branding Erdogan a liar; this exchange was just one in a series of harsh words they had for each other.
On the other hand, Turkey helped foil an Iranian-backed plot to kill Israelis in Istanbul in the beginning of last year.
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