Why Turkey was not punished for support of Hamas, yet?

Hamas, as usual, undermines everything the Jews are trying to accomplish and why Turkey was not punished for support of this terrorist organization yet?

US President Donald Trump stated that Hamas assisted Israeli troops to locate the body of the defender of the kibbutz Alumim and festivalgoers, the St.-Sgt.Maj. Ran Gvili. In the interview with the Axios news on January 26, the President insisted “They (Hamas) worked very hard to get the body back’ and “They (Hamas) were working with Israel on it. Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised.”

Israeli officials, describing the IDF’s efforts to locate the remains of the Israeli Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvilli, were thanking the new intelligence received from Shin Bet, the Israeli Security Agency, and have made no mention of assistance from Hamas. Maj. E (res), an IDF company commander in Alexandroni Infantry Brigade, and who oversaw the recovering the body of last murdered hostage St.-Sgt.Maj. Ran Gvili, said: “there had been no real-time intelligence of aid from Hamas operatives in the field, via mediators or otherwise, during the operation. He and his colleagues relied solely on information given by Israeli security sources” and “Where we were in the area, there were a lot of enemies around us, trying to interrupt us. And we had to had to ‘deal with them’, so to speak, so that they wouldn’t reach the secure areas established at the cemetery.” I am inclined to believe the version of events presented by Maj. E (res). Hamas was not a cooperative and helpful partner in Israeli effort to locate the remains of the last hostage. The terrorists continue, as usual, undermining everything the Jews were trying to accomplish.

It is possible that the President had received the information regarding the contribution of Hamas to locate the remains of the Master Sgt. Ran Gvili from his WH staff. The cooperation of Hamas, in the mind of the administration official (s), was adding to the validity and feasibility of the phase two of the Trump’s peace plan. With this successful metamorphosis of Hamas, the President wrote in Truth Social a congratulative message to a “great team of Champions” for brokering the Gaza ceasefire deal that secured the return of the last 20 living and 28 slain hostages.

We do not know why Donald Trump or member (s) of his administration had presented the murderous and lying terrorists, Hamas, as an ally of decent people. We can only guess.

Now, let’s move to a different topic where there is not a need to guess. We do know for sure that Turkey, under leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is unrepentant enemy of Israel and enthusiastic friend and supporter of Hamas.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not miss an opportunity, when speaking publicly, to refer to Turkey’s identity as Ottoman in its essence. The Ottomanism propagated by Erdogan and his ideological soulmate, Ahmet Davutoglu, can be presented in six definite features: “It pits East against the West. It places Islam at the center of Ottoman identity, civilization, and polity. It looks back to Kadim, an ancient civilization based on sacred teachings. Though it is pluralist and recognizes other major Abrahamic religions, it views Islam as their foundation. It includes the Turks but cannot be reduced to the Turks exclusively, for it embraces a sense of responsibility towards Muslims of former Ottoman territories, especially towards the Palestinians. And it embraces Muslim hegemony and geopolitical power.”

What is paradoxical that Turkey, a country under the leadership of Erdogan, who hates the West and its values, is a member of NATO, an organization composed of European states of liberal democracies.

Erdogan’s policy of Turkey’s right, even a duty, to represent the Muslims, who are residing in the territory of former Ottoman empire, is evident by his actions.

In 2006, Erdogan had invited top Hamas leaders to visit the capital of Turkey, Ankara, although he assured the world governments that Hamas would not be welcomed unless it accepts the terms of the Oslo Accords, which Hamas did not.

On January 29, 2009, at the World Economic Forum, during a session titled “Gaza: The Case for Middle East Peace, the Nobel laureate, Shimon Peres, gave a speech defending Israeli action to protect its citizens. Erdogan had belittled the Israeli President by calling him a murderer. Following the inappropriate dispute with the moderator regarding the rebuttal time, Erdogan stormed off the stage. In 2010, under the auspices of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) a flotilla was organized to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip which Israel had instituted to prevent hostile Hamas to acquire weapons vis the Mediterranean Sea.

The Israeli forces had intercepted the ships and confronted the intruders. During boarding the ship Mavi Marmara, the Israeli solders were attacked by Turks. This interaction resulted in death of ten Turks. In 2012, the Council on Foreign Relations had published the following: “Is Turkey purchasing Hamas from Iran? One recent report says “a high-ranking Hamas official told the Al-Shaq newspaper on Thursday that “Turkey has agreed to carry out a project to support Hamas and rebuild Gaza. According to the official, Hamas will open an official office in Turkey in the coming weeks” and the author of the source continues “I have seen other reports suggesting that Turkey has replaced Iran as the largest donor to Hamas, pledging $300 million over the coming year”. In 2014, the silent encouragement of Erdogan had led to another war between Israel and Hamas. The actions of Turkey based Hamas operative Saleh al- Arouri in the West Bank, who planned the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens, had triggered Israeli ‘Operation Protective Edge’, a counter-terror initiative. In the last decade there were many instances, the ones that we know of and there might be more, of Erdogan’s unrepentant hatred of State of Israel and his devotion to Hamas. He characterized Israel a ‘terror state’ after the war between Israel and Hamas in 2021 and called for United Nations to be on the side of Hamas. Erdogan’s policies made a significant contribution to the Hamas’s decision to attack Israel on October 7, 2023. A couple weeks before October 7th, Hamas’s invasion of Jewish state, Israeli customs seized 16 tons of explosives sent from Turkey to Gaza. In 2024 Erdogan issued a call for Islamic coalition against Israel, an appeal for religious war-a jihad.

Why Turkey, under the leadership of Erdogan, still is a member of NATO despite his continues outrageous provocations towards the principles of this organization? And why Turkey is not yet sanctioned for support of the terrorist organization Hamas?

The geopolitics plays a significant part-Turkey is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Middle East. The country has the second largest military in NATO and constantly upgrades its capabilities. Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the external policy of the country is aimed to fool the wishful thinking and naivete of Western governments of US, EU, and Great Britain, hoping that soon Turkey will change and fall back into the embrace of Western liberal democracy.

With the introduction of Trump’s 20 points peace plan, the autocratic and antisemitic Erdogan regime wants to have a say in the reconstruction of Gaza which, understandably, concerns Israel and its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.  The leadership structure of Trump’s peace plan is still a work in progress. Let’s hope that the final version of the various boards and committees of the Trump’s peace plan will not give Erdogan power to undermine and harm the State of Israel.