Israel taps new point man for strained Turkey relations

Relations have deteriorated sharply under Erdoğan, particularly following the Oct. 7 attack.

By Canaan Lindor, JNS

Israel’s temporary chargé d’affaires for relations with Turkey presented his credentials at the Foreign Ministry in Ankara on Wednesday.

The visit by Joel Lion, which the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced in a terse update on Thursday, was the first public diplomatic visit by an Israeli to Turkey since a crisis in bilateral relations led to the evacuation of the embassy in Ankara in 2023.

Lion has served as Israel’s ambassador to Moldova and Armenia.

The evacuation for security reasons on Oct. 19, 2023, 12 days after the Hamas massacres in Israel that triggered a regional war, was over fears for the security of the diplomatic staff in Turkey, Israeli officials said.

On Oct. 28, 2023, a decision was made to withdraw diplomats for a diplomatic reassessment following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s increasingly harsh statements.

Irit Lilian, the previous ambassador, retired earlier this year.

Contacted by JNS, a spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to elaborate on the new development and its potential significance for Israeli-Turkish relations.

Relations have deteriorated sharply under Erdoğan, particularly following the Oct. 7 attack.

Erdoğan, whom the U.S. had accused before 2023 of spreading antisemitic speech, has repeatedly escalated his rhetoric against Israel.

In 2024, he said, “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we will act similarly exactly to them,” a remark widely interpreted as threatening military action against Israel.

Last year, during an Eid al-Fitr prayer service, Erdoğan prayed: “May Allah, for the sake of his name … destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly in 2024, he said, “Just as Hitler was stopped by the alliance of humanity 70 years ago, Netanyahu and his murder network must also be stopped by the alliance of humanity.”

Earlier this year, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described Israel as “a burden humanity can no longer bear.”

In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Erdoğan “an antisemitic tyrant,” accusing him of carrying out a genocide against the Kurds, supporting the Hamas terrorist group, repressing his own citizens and imprisoning political opponents.