Turkey Kicks Out Hamas
As Turkey strengthens its ties with Israel, it is beginning to proactively expel terrorists from its borders. Dozens of Hamas operatives and allies have been deported from Turkey in a concerted effort to remove the terrorist organization’s presence in the country. A Palestinian official said, “The Israelis gave Turkey a list of Hamas members and information about the involvement of some of them in ‘military’ [terrorist] activity. In response, the Turks contacted Hamas and told them, ‘You promised you wouldn’t do anything like that here, so now you need to leave,’” he said.
Turkey is in dire straits financially, so these actions may be taken to revitalize Turkey’s economy through stronger partnership with Israel. When Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Turkey in March, he asked Turkish President Recep Erdogan to deport Hamas leaders from the nation. Hamas expressed great concern about the visit at the time, and now the deportation confirms their fears, as Turkey has made good on Israel’s request.
These deportations are a great development for Israel. Hamas seemingly exists for nothing more than to destroy the Jewish state, so breaking down its strongholds in Turkey should help Israel rest a bit more easily. Turkey has not shown this level of cooperation with Israel in the past, and this may signal a shift toward valuable relations between the two that could keep Hamas from growing stronger in its attacks against Israel.
