The State of Israel is encouraging investors to stop investing in Turkey, asking consumers to stop importing Turkish products, and urging the U.S. Congress to impose sanctions on Turkey for violating American anti-boycott laws.
That announcement came Tuesday after Turkey, which openly supports the Hamas terrorist organization, announced that it was blocking 54 categories of exports to Israel in retaliation for not being allowed to airdrop supplies to Gaza.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, responded that it “will respond accordingly and prepare an extended list of additional products that Israel will prevent Turkey from exporting.” In addition, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told journalists in a briefing that Israel is asking that investors stop investing in Turkey, that countries stop the import of products from Turkey, and that “our friends in the U.S. Congress” should “examine the violation of the boycott laws, and to impose sanctions on Turkey accordingly.”
U.S. anti-boycott laws primarily apply to U.S. firms to prevent them from participating in boycotts of Israel, which could affect companies doing business in Turkey.
Turkey was once Israel’s most important ally in the Muslim world. But relations soured over the years, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly supported Hamas and made explicitly antisemitic statements a staple of his rhetoric.
The two countries repaired relations in 2016, angering Hamas, but have been in a war of words since the October 7 terror attack, which Turkey’s government has openly celebrated, comparing Israel’s response to Hitler and Stalin.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.