The US blocked Israel's participation in the Global Counterterrorism
Forum's, due to fierce objections from Turkey.
The United States blocked Israel's participation in the Global
Counterterrorism Forum's (GCTF) first meeting in Istanbul on Friday, despite
Israel's having one of the most extensive counterterrorism experiences in the
world.
Israel was excluded from the meeting due to fierce objections by Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a
Washington-based source told Globes news.
According the State Department’s website, the GCTF, which was established
in September 2011, aims at “strengthening the global counterterrorism (CT)
architecture in a manner that complements and reinforces the CT work of existing
multilateral bodies.”
Twenty-nine countries are participating in the GCTF, ten of which are Arab
and/or Muslim countries.
"The GCTF sought from the outset to bridge old and deep divides in the international community
between Western donor nations and Muslim majority nations. And it has, I think,
done that quite effectively," a top US official said at the press briefing prior
to the opening session.
Republican politicians claim that since one third of the GCTF's members are
Muslim countries, the Obama administration is trying to deepen ties with the
Muslim world at Israel's expense, Globes noted.
"Our idea with the GCTF was to bring together a limited number of
traditional donors, front line states, and emerging powers develop a more
robust, yet representative, counterterrorism capacity-building platform. A
number of our close partners with considerable experience countering and
preventing terrorism are not included among the GCTF’s founding members,” a
State Department spokesman said in response to questions about Israel's exclusion from the GCTF.
"We have discussed the GCTF and ways to involve Israel in its activities on
a number of occasions, and are committed to making this happen," he added.
Pro-Israeli sources say that the Obama administration decided to ignore the
fact that Turkey, which has a key role in the GCTF, opposes calling Hamas a
terrorist organization, even though the State Department lists it as such.
In May, Turkey blocked Israel's participation
in a NATO summit in Chicago and maintained that NATO–Israel
relations cannot be restored until Turkey-Israel relations are normalized.
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Kinda weird, eh?
Stay safe.
1 comment:
Probably just as well. Turkey and the other musloid countries shouldn't be allowed to know the specifics of Israel's counter-terrorism techniques and protocols, anyway. They would only share the info with Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and the rest of the scum.
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