Analysis: The winner from the Israel-Turkey détente

Hamas and Turkey come out as the winners in the upcoming deal if reports in the Israeli media are correct.

 

Israel apparently has agreed to the presence of Hamas in Turkey as long as it does not involve itself directly in terrorist attacks against Israel, but limits itself to political and other supposedly nonviolent activity.

 

However, the sanction of the presence and “political” activity of Hamas in a country with diplomatic ties with Israel undermines years of Israeli public relations against the terrorist group, which sought to identify Hamas with other Sunni groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu equated Islamic State to Hamas in a speech to the UN in September 2014, saying some countries “evidently don’t understand that ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree.”

 

Read More: Analysis: The winner from the Israel-Turkey détente – Hamas – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post