Turkey has warned that if Israel fails to provide it with unmanned aerial vehicles, it will fine Israel three or four million dollars, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The threat, originally reported in the Turkish paper Today's Zamen, is the latest in a serious of tense incidents between Israel and Turkey. The Jerusalem Post explains the incident:
Turkey agreed in 2005 to purchase 10 Heron UAVs for over $180 million from Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems, Ltd. Israel was expected to deliver four Herons in August, followed by another two and then the last four by the end of October, but has missed the deadline.
Earlier this week, AP reported on an incident in which the Israeli government became angry with a Turkish television drama that appeared to show Israeli soldiers shooting children:
An Israeli foreign ministry official rebuked Turkey's acting ambassador Thursday over a TV series Israel says depicts Israeli soldiers murdering children.Naor Gilon, deputy director for the Western Europe desk, says he told Turkish envoy Ceylan Ozen the series was "incitement" and could spark attacks against Jews visiting Turkey.
The AP article went on to explain the clip...
Clips of the program, screened by Turkey's state-owned TRT television, show a military force in what appear to be Israeli combat fatigues committing acts of murder and violent repression against Palestinians under their control.
AP reports that the show's producer denied that the characters are Israelis.
Producer Selcuk Cobanoglu told Israeli news site Y-net, however, that the characters in his series do not represent Israelis.
"The uniforms ... only look similar. The Turkish and American militaries have uniforms like that as well," he said. "We love the people in Israel. We love the Israelis."
As if that weren't enough, Turkey barred Israel from a NATO exercise over the Gaza War earlier in the week. Reuters reported on the incident, and noted:
Turkey, a secular state with a Muslim population, has been a key ally of Israel, but relations have cooled over Erdogan's outspoken criticism of Israel's three-week offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December and January.
Just how serious will this turn out to be? Let us know in the comments.