JERUSALEM (JTA) — Turkey has asked the United States not to share intelligence from a new missile defense system with Israel.
Turkey received U.S. assurances that no intelligence will be shared, The Los Angeles Times reported, citing a report from the Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman.
The United States is hoping that Turkey will vote in favor of a NATO plan to place missile defense systems in Turkey and in the Mediterranean, but is not pressuring, according to the Times.
"Turkey initially objected to the new missile shield on grounds that the wording of the agreement singled out Iran as a threat," the Times reported Monday. "Not only does Turkey wish to maintain its friendship with Iran, but Iranian hostilities toward the West are increasingly seen as having roots in American and European support for Israel."
As a non-member of NATO, Israel is not eligible for its protection, Today’s Zaman pointed out.
Enmity between Turkey and Israel began with the Gaza war in the winter of 2008-09, and has grown since the May 31 flotilla incident in which nine Turkish passengers on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara were killed when Israeli Navy commandos boarded the ship in an effort to maintain the country’s maritime blockade of Gaza.
