By now you surely have heard the bombshell dropped last night by the Spokesman of Ichilov Hospital. It is all over the news.

So now the President of Turkey, Erdogan, has threatened to invade Israel, the way he invaded Libya and Karabakh (some country in Azerbaijan, or something like that as far as I can make out, that Turkey invaded in 2020 to intervene in a local conflict).

as reported on Ice, Minister of Finance Betzalel Smotritch has decided to punish Turkey/Erdogan for his continued support of Hamas and the declining, or deteriorating, relationship with Israel. To that end Smotritch has announced that import taxes on goods imported form Turkey will be increased to the rate of 100% taxes. This will be brought to the government for approval.

Chief Rabni Rav Dovid Lau today issued a psak for the delegations that went to Turkey, or Turkiye, to help with the rescue efforts.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching but I am boycotting turkey until Erdogan lets my people go!

What is the best response to the Israel-United Arab Emirates peace deal?

Ynetnews is reporting that at the behest of Turkish Airlines, the airport in Istanbul will inaugurate a shul. Two actually.

The old Istanbul airport did not have a dedicated room to be used as a shul but had a generic prayer room that could be used by those of the Jewish faith just as it could be used by people of other faiths.

Now the Jews traveling through the new Istanbul airport will have, actually not one but TWO, dedicated prayer rooms just for Jewish prayers.

The Turks know us so well. Anytime one shul is to be built, there must be another one nearby so we can daven in one and not daven in the other!

Safe travels and meaningful prayers, in whichever shul you pray in..

When I first heard the news report that Turkey has recalled its ambassador to, and expelled Israel's ambassador from, Turkey I thought to myself that how could this happen after Israel apologized for the Marmara incident, along with a $20,000,000 compensation payment? All that went to waste after Hamas decides to attack the border and Turkey does not like the way Israel responded, again? What was the point?

Good move, Turkey. Denigrate Israel, making Israel grovel and apologize. Take our money - about 65 million shekels of it. And still keep your diplomatic crisis.

The truth is the two incidents are not related. While I did not like the apology and payment from the start, the fact that it happened does not give Israel immunity from harming Turkey's interests in the future and not having to pay the price for such future incidents.

This could have been foreseen though, that Turkey would one day get upset again.

Regardless, the United States is the world leader. These countries pulling their ambassadors will eventually send them back. It is inevitable. They will not oppose the world leading United States of America for too long at too much cost to themselves. And if not, they will be on the wrong side of history.

Israel apologized too late

  -- President of Turkey Abdullah Gul

Many thought the apology should not be made. Even among those who say it is worth apologizing, even if objectively it is undeserved, rather than continuing a fight, many thought that Israel apologizing to Turkey would not help and therefore should not be done. Looks like we were right.

Zionist sharks, Zionist seals, Zionist eagles.. the Arabs regularly seem to think that Israel has mobilized the animal kingdom to work on its behalf. Now they caught a Kestrel they suspected of being a Zionist spy.

A Kestrel is a type of bird from the Falcon family.

This small kestrel flew into Turkish airspace and was picked up by enraged Turks. They suspected it of being an Israeli spy because it was tagged with a metal band with the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel". The bird was immediately arrested.

According to some Turkish newspaper, authorities conducted x-rays to determine if the bird was carrying any secret microchips. After no microchips were discovered, the bird was cleared of any crime and was set free.

Turkish authorities have cleared a renegade bird captured in the Ağın district of the eastern province of Elazığ of suspicions of working for Israel's state-of-the-art intelligence agency.
Residents of Altınavya village became suspicious that the little kestrel could be more than a bird that lost its way when they found it wore a metallic ring stamped with the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel," and delivered it to the district governorate. 
Local authorities submitted the bird to careful medical examinations to ensure that it did not carry microchips. An X-ray test carried out at Fırat University in Elazığ finally convinced the authorities that the bird was just a simple specimen of Israeli wildlife. However, the X-ray showed the initial degree of suspicion, as the bird had been registered under the name "Israeli spy" by medical personnel.
Tagging birds is a common practice in ornithology as it helps scientists track bird migration routes.
Following the tests, the authorities decided not to press official charges and the falsely accused bird was free to fly away.

The big question is if they are going to try to start convincing all sorts of animals to avoid Israel as part of the BDS movement.

Hizballah should change its name to Hezb al-Shaitan -- "the Party of Satan." How can an organization's name could be Hezbollah (which means "the Party of God") while it declares a war to kill innocent men, women and children... Those who stand by the Assad regime and kill their own Muslim brothers, kill indiscriminately women and children in the battlefield, should not appeal to Islam and the Quran to legitimize their actions.. There is no difference between Pharaoh, who ordered the killing of newborn boys based on a dream, and today's Assad, who he accused of killing thousands of people in order to stay in power.

  -- Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bekir Bozdağ

It would have been better had he not said that.. It was not nice. We have a trip planned to the United States. We could have spoken about this there.

  -- Prime Minister of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding US Secretary of State John Kerry's statement that Erdogan should not visit Gaza.

Is Erdogan going to demand an apology from the US for the offensive remarks by kerry?

Headline Of The Day

Turkey threatens Syria with retaliation over downed military jet 

  - Fox News

Maybe Syria should have apologized...

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Disgusting Turkish shampoo commercial starring Hitler

I would not expect anything better to come out of Turkey..



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Turkey's Adnan Oktar's live conversation with the Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

Headline Of The Day


-- JPost

Not to "pile on" on Turkey in their time of troubles, but just a couple weeks ago, after the main earthquake devastated the area (it had another serious tremor in the same area last week), it took time but eventually Turkey accepted assistance from Israel in the form of a number of caravans. When Israel sent the caravans packed with warm blankets, Turkey accepted the caravans but sent back the blankets, supposedly because the images would make them look needy and they did not want to be portrayed as such in the media. And now they are suffering not just from still being under rubble, but also from the snow and cold...

Rav Nir Ben Artzi's recent predictions for an earthquake in Turkey, among other predictions, are looking pretty authentic. Not resting on his laurels, Rav Nir Ben Artzi has added to his recent set of predictions.

Regarding the recent earthquake in Turkey, he said this was only round 1, and more is on its way. Turkey, according to Rav Nir Ben Artzi, has internal strife coming, along with more earthquakes. He added that any country that will speak and act against the Jewish nation and the Holy Land will immediately be hurt.

He also said Japan has another tsunami coming. I don't know what Japan did against Israel, but maybe its troubles are not following the same rules as Turkey's troubles.

As well, he said the USA will also continue to be hit with the strong forces of nature at their full power. In Egypt, the internal strife is so far only the beginning, and the recent uprisings will flare up again and strengthen.

He repeated from previous speeches that the recently released terrorists will not return to terror. They will fight among themselves and won't find the time to act against Israel. While Gilad Shalit, without even knowing it himself, has caused a great tikkun for Am Yisrael.

Source: Kikar

I don't know how, or if, these predictions work and happen, or if these are just warnings for us to improve our ways and the "natural" results of doing so, but I find his speeches to be interesting and intriguing.

The innocent civilians of Turkey are not at fault for the idiocy of the government, and specifically of their prime minister Erdogan. Of course, they voted him in, and re-elected him again, so in a sense they do bear a certain responsibility, knowing and obviously approving of his policies and his attacks on Israel.

Still, I don't wish upon the people trouble and distress, though I wish upon the government all the trouble it can possibly encounter. Today's earthquake is an example of that - a 7.2 on the Richter scale that hit in Eastern Turkey. I feel for the people, and I expect Israel will offer assistance as they always do, but my empathy is tempered because of the way the government has recently been acting, turnign us into enemies.

And the supporters of Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi are saying that his predictions are right once again, as he recently predicted such tzurres in Turkey (along with many other calamities in the coming year). I want to know who he thinks will win the Super Bowl. He might be better than Paul the Octopus!