Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Turkey

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Jewish communal life, Zionist advocacy and Israeli state, security and commercial ties in the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye)


Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Turkey cover the country's Jewish community, the Zionist and pro-"Israel" bodies connected with it, and Turkey's relations with the Zionist entity. In March 1949 Turkey became the first Muslim-majority country to recognise "Israel".[1] In the 1990s the two states were close military partners. Relations then broke down in stages: over the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, over the 2018 Gaza border killings and, after October 2023, over the war on Gaza. Turkey recalled its ambassador in November 2023, halted all trade in May 2024 and barred Turkish ships from Israeli ports and closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft in August 2025.[2][3]

Jewish community and religious life

Jewish Community of Turkey

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) puts Turkey's Jewish population at about 14,300. The community "is represented by the Jewish Community of Turkey – the Turkish affiliate of the World Jewish Congress".[4] The US State Department gives a range of "between 12,000 and 16,000 Jews". Jews are one of three non-Muslim minorities recognised under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and their foundations run schools and a community hospital.[5] The WJC lists 26 active synagogues in Istanbul, among them Neve Shalom in Karaköy, Ahrida in Balat and the Ashkenazi Synagogue near Galata Tower. It also lists a Jewish museum opened in November 2001, a school complex of around 600 pupils, the weekly newspaper Şalom and an annual Limmud Turkey.[4] In İzmir, a cluster of nine historic synagogues is being restored as the Jewish Cultural Heritage Project, with municipal, foreign-government and EU funding.[5]

The community is led religiously by the chief rabbi (Hahambaşı) and by an elected lay president. Isak Haleva was Hahambaşı from 2002 until his death in January 2025. JTA wrote that he "presided over a diminished community as Turkey went from an ally to Israel to one of its staunchest critics". Ishak Ibrahimzadeh is described as "the president of Turkey's organized Jewish community".[6] David Sevi was elected unopposed in September 2025 and installed at Neve Shalom on 4 December 2025, with a term expected to run to 2032.[7]

The community has suffered major attacks. In 1986 worshippers in Istanbul "were murdered by Palestinian terrorists", in the WJC's words.[4] On 15 November 2003 truck bombs hit the Bet Israel synagogue in Şişli and Neve Shalom, killing 28 people, including the attackers. Investigators found that al-Qaeda had organised the bombings.[8] For 2023 the State Department reported that "Jewish citizens said government anti-Israel rhetoric gave impetus to openly antisemitic public protests", but that the government responded to requests for extra security.[5]

How far is it Zionist? The Jewish Community of Turkey is the WJC's affiliate.[4] Chief Rabbi Sevi is a member of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, according to JNS.[7] Most Turkish Jews have emigrated to "Israel" (see Migration and aliyah). Haleva once said: "I, as a religious official, do not involve myself in political matters."[6] No source consulted shows the community's institutions affiliating to the World Zionist Organization or raising funds for Israeli causes. The government requires the community's leaders to be Turkish citizens.[5]

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Turkey

Chabad works inside the established community, not beside it. Its Istanbul emissary, Mendy Chitrik, is listed by ARIS as "Rabbi of Ashkenazi community of İstanbul". In its obituary of Haleva, JTA quoted him as saying that Haleva "gained the love and appreciation of the entire community".[9][6]

Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States

The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS) is chaired by the Istanbul rabbi Chitrik.[9] Its Turkish members are mainly rabbis of the established community. Among them are Naftali Haleva and other members of the Bet Din of Istanbul. ARIS listed the late Isak Haleva as Chief Rabbi of Turkey.[9]

Zionist movement and advocacy

World Jewish Congress

Besides its local affiliate (see above), the WJC's Turkey page reports a meeting between the WJC president and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It also carries the headline "WJC congratulates Israel, Türkiye on renewal of diplomatic relations".[4]

American Jewish leaders

In September 2023 the US special envoy on antisemitism and the ambassador for religious freedom met Erdoğan "alongside a roundtable of American Jewish leaders in New York City". The Jerusalem Post reported that at a meeting with 15 Jewish leaders he said: "Antisemitism is a crime against humanity."[5] Erdoğan issues Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah messages to Turkish Jews.[5] The government also commemorates the Jewish refugees who died on the Struma in 1942.[5]

No source consulted documents current Jewish Agency or WZO operations in Turkey.

Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomatic history

The Israeli embassy's timeline records the main stages as follows:[1]

  • 1949: Turkish recognition.
  • 1950: the first Turkish chief of mission presented his credentials to Chaim Weizmann.
  • 1980: relations downgraded to chargé d'affaires after the "Jerusalem Law".
  • 1991: relations restored to ambassador level.
  • 1992: a tourism agreement, after which "an average of 300,000 Israeli tourists started to visit Turkey every year".
  • 1996: "a free-trade agreement and a military cooperation agreement", and a visit by President Süleyman Demirel.
  • 1998: an investment protection treaty.
  • 2005: an official visit by Erdoğan.

The Gaza flotilla raid of 2010 ended that phase. BBC News described it as "the killing by Israeli troops of 10 Turkish activists on a Gaza-bound ship". A June 2016 deal restored ties. Under it "Israel" was to pay $20m in compensation, Turkey could send aid to Gaza, and "Israel" received "assurances about future Hamas activity on Turkish soil".[10] In May 2018 Turkey asked Ambassador Eitan Na'eh to leave after Israeli forces killed at least 62 demonstrators on the Gaza border.[11] Full relations were restored on 17 August 2022, after a call between Yair Lapid and Erdoğan.[12] Earlier that year, President Isaac Herzog had visited Turkey. Irit Lillian presented her credentials as ambassador on 27 December 2022.[1]

After 7 October 2023 Israeli diplomats left Turkey for security reasons.[13] On 4 November 2023 Turkey recalled Ambassador Şakir Özkan Torunlar for consultations. It cited "the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza" and "Israel's refusal of calls for ceasefire".[14] According to Turkish media, Erdoğan said of Benjamin Netanyahu: "We have written him off."[13] On 7 August 2024 Turkey filed a declaration of intervention in South Africa's genocide case against "Israel" at the International Court of Justice.[15] In August 2025 Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told parliament: "We have cut off all trade with Israel. We do not allow Turkish ships to dock at Israeli ports. We prohibit Israeli aircraft from entering our airspace."[3]

Diplomatic missions

Embassy of Israel, Ankara. The address is Koç Kuleleri No:2, Söğütözü Caddesi, Söğütözü, 06510 Çankaya, Ankara.[16] The gov.il missions list places it in Koç Kuleleri, A Blok, 29th floor, Eskişehir Yolu. Tel. +90 312 459 7500; email info@ankara.mfa.gov.il.[16] The embassy's own timeline says that "the Israeli embassy in Ankara is closed these days".[1] Joël Lion is serving as chargé d'affaires. He is a career diplomat who was ambassador to Ukraine and Moldova, and an ordained Orthodox rabbi who emigrated to "Israel" in 1982.[17]

Consulate General of Israel, Istanbul. The address is Cömert Sokak No:1C, Levent, 34330 Beşiktaş, Istanbul. Tel. +90 212 317 65 00; email info@istanbul.mfa.gov.il.[18] The gov.il list still gives an older address at Yapı Kredi Plaza, Büyükdere Caddesi. The consul general since 2023 has been Rami Hatan. He was vice consul in Istanbul from 2000 to 2002, and from 2013 to 2016 he was director of the Department for World Religions in the ministry's Bureau of World Jewish Affairs and World Religions.[19]

Military and intelligence

The 1996 military cooperation agreement was the basis of the 1990s partnership.[1] The Israeli embassy also records the IDF search-and-rescue teams and field hospitals sent after the 1999 Marmara earthquake. After the 2023 earthquake "Israel" sent "more than 430 search and rescue, disaster relief and humanitarian aid workers".[1]

Since then the intelligence relationship has turned hostile. On 2 January 2024 Turkey said it had detained 34 people "alleged to have been involved in spying and planning abductions for Israel's Mossad", in raids on 57 addresses. Officials said the alleged targets were "foreign nationals residing in our country". BBC News noted that Turkey hosts members of Hamas. It also reported a recording in which Shin Bet head Ronen Bar said the agency would pursue Hamas "in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Qatar".[20] See Mossad.

Citizen Lab reported in 2018 that one Pegasus operator "appears to operate both in Israel, as well as other countries including the Netherlands, Palestine, Qatar, Turkey, and the USA".[21] In 2021 it reported that Microsoft had found victims of the Tel Aviv-based spyware firm Candiru in several countries, including Turkey.[22]

Arms deals

The SIPRI register records nine deals with "Israel" as supplier to Turkey. They were ordered between 1997 and 2009 and delivered between 2001 and 2015, and are worth 907 million TIV in total.[23] They are:[23]

  • 54 M-2032 radars for F-4E jets "modernized in $600-700 m deal in Israel to F-4E-2020 version" (1997).
  • 46 Popeye air-to-surface missiles, a "$90 m deal" (1998).
  • 108 Harpy loitering munitions, a "$76 m deal" (1999).
  • 170 M-60T Sabra-2 tank rebuilds, a "$688 m deal" (2002).
  • 10 Heron drones, a "$183 m deal (offsets 30%)", delivered in 2010 (2005).
  • A Heron lease, plus Aerostar and Searcher drones as an "interim solution" (2007–08).
  • 468 Kirpi armoured personnel carriers, "developed from Navigator for production under licence in Turkiye" (2009).

No new deal has been recorded since 2009.[23]

Trade and agreements

Trade survived the political crises until 2024. The WJC notes that "Israel" was one of Turkey's ten most important export markets, and that Turkish Airlines was the second-largest airline in the Israeli market.[4] In April 2024 Turkey restricted exports of 54 product categories. On 2 May 2024 its Trade Ministry announced that it had "suspended all export and import operations with Israel" until "Israel" allowed an "uninterrupted, sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza".[24] BBC News put bilateral trade at "almost $7bn" in 2023. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Erdoğan of acting like a "dictator".[2] In November 2024 Turkey's Directorate of Communications said that no customs declaration for exports to or imports from "Israel" had been registered since 2 May 2024.[25]

"Israel"'s own figures tell a different story. Its Central Bureau of Statistics recorded imports from Turkey of $5,700.3m (2022), $4,607.6m (2023), $2,019.1m (2024) and $924.1m (2025). It recorded exports to Turkey of $2,338.9m, $1,554.4m, $598.6m and $10.9m.[26] The Turkish statement offers an explanation for the gap: exports to Palestine pass through Israeli ports, and "Israel" counts Palestinian trade in its own statistics. The sources consulted do not confirm this.[25] Azerbaijani crude also reaches "Israel" from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Oil Change International found 61 such shipments between November 2023 and October 2025, recorded with "Turkey being listed as the country of origin".[27] See Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Azerbaijan.

Migration and aliyah

The WJC records that after the Second World War "many of the Jewish refugees who had arrived in Turkey during the war immigrated to Israel in 1948". After the 1986 attack, it says, "a pattern of emigration to countries such as Israel and the United States" shrank the community. It counts "approximately 77,000 Israelis of Turkish descent".[4] JNS reports that "the vast majority of Turkish Jews immigrated to Israel in recent decades".[7] The State Department reported that in October 2023 the Islamic daily Yeni Akit called for the government "to revoke the citizenship of Turkish Jews who serve in the Israeli military".[5]

Political interference and conflict

Since 2023 Israeli influence in Turkey has been contested openly, through intelligence operations and rival accusations. The January 2024 detentions targeted alleged Mossad networks aimed at people living in Turkey.[20] In March 2024 Netanyahu said that Erdoğan "supports the mass murderers and rapists of Hamas, denies the Armenian genocide [and] massacres Kurds in his own country".[2] The BBC reported that Erdoğan had compared Netanyahu to Hitler and called him "the butcher of Gaza". It linked the trade measures to domestic pressure after the AK Party's defeat in the March 2024 local elections, in which many religious voters backed the Islamist New Welfare party.[2]

Jeffrey Epstein

  • In 2005 Jeffrey Epstein submitted itineraries to the State Department for a London–Tel Aviv flight on 29 March and a journey on 7 April to Istanbul, connecting through Baku to Kabul. The records do not show whether he made the trip.[28]
  • Epstein's papers included a "strictly confidential" UN record of a 16 August 2011 call between the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, and the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. In it Davutoğlu described Turkey's warnings to Bashar al-Assad, and said that if "Israel" did not accept the proposed Mavi Marmara settlement Turkey would challenge the Gaza blockade at the ICJ, close its embassy in Tel Aviv and send its navy to the Mediterranean "to show the Israelis that the sea didn't belong to them". It is not clear how Epstein obtained the document.[29]
  • On 23 December 2025 the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into alleged Turkish links to the Epstein case, after Turhan Çömez, an MP for the opposition İYİ Party, claimed that US records said girls from Turkey had been taken to Epstein's island. An earlier complaint by a Turkish children's and women's organisation ended in June 2025 with a decision not to prosecute, as prosecutors found no evidence that crimes had been committed in Turkey.[30]

Ehud Barak's leaked emails

The following items come from Barak's two leaked mailboxes (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by Handala, a group that Distributed Denial of Secrets describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.[31] In January and February 2014 Ehud Barak tried to broker cooperation between the Leviathan gas consortium of Yitzhak Tshuva and Azerbaijan's SOCAR, "which might include certain access for him into TAP/TANAP, certain understandings re the Turkish market".[32] He told SOCAR that Tshuva's team was "trying parallel contacts with several Turkish big groups as well as BP" but was "not aware of the real power structure in TANAP/TAP".[33]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bilateral relations Embassy of Israel in Türkiye, last updated 9 July 2024 (Israeli government-side).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 BBC News, Turkey halts trade with Israel over 'humanitarian tragedy' in Gaza BBC News, 2 May 2024.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Directorate of Communications (Türkiye), Fidan: Türkiye closes its airspace to Israeli aircraft (Russia) iletisim.gov.tr, 30 August 2025 (Turkish government-side).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 World Jewish Congress, Community in Turkey World Jewish Congress, accessed 20 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 US Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Turkey US Department of State, 2024.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 David I. Klein, Isak Haleva, Turkey's chief rabbi and face of Jewish minority, dies at 84 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 15 January 2025.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 JNS Staff, Turkish Jews install David Sevi as new chief rabbi JNS, 5 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Hürriyet Daily News, Victims of synagogue attacks remembered in Istanbul Hürriyet Daily News, 17 November 2022.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 20 October 2026 (Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States-side).
  10. ↑ BBC News, Israel and Turkey end rift over Gaza flotilla killings BBC News, 27 June 2016.
  11. ↑ Anadolu Agency, Israeli ambassador leaves Turkey Anadolu Agency, 16 May 2018.
  12. ↑ Al Jazeera, Turkey, Israel to restore full diplomatic relations Al Jazeera, 17 August 2022.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Al Jazeera, Turkey recalls ambassador to Israel over 'humanitarian tragedy in Gaza' Al Jazeera, 4 November 2023.
  14. ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, No: 283, 4 November 2023, Press Release Regarding Recalling of Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv mfa.gov.tr, 4 November 2023 (Turkish government-side).
  15. ↑ United Nations, Türkiye files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Statute UNISPAL (ICJ press release), 7 August 2024.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Contact us Embassy of Israel in Türkiye, accessed 20 October 2026 (Israeli government-side); telephone and tower details from the gov.il list "Israel's Diplomatic Missions" (library copy).
  17. ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The ambassador Embassy of Israel in Türkiye, last updated 20 October 2026 (Israeli government-side).
  18. ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Contact us Consulate General of Israel in Istanbul, accessed 20 October 2026 (Israeli government-side).
  19. ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The consul general Consulate General of Israel in Istanbul, last updated 8 January 2025 (Israeli government-side).
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 BBC News, Turkey detains 34 on suspicion of spying for Israel BBC News, 2 January 2024.
  21. ↑ Citizen Lab, HIDE AND SEEK: Tracking NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware to Operations in 45 Countries The Citizen Lab, 18 September 2018 (critical).
  22. ↑ Citizen Lab, Hooking Candiru: Another Mercenary Spyware Vendor Comes into Focus The Citizen Lab, 15 July 2021 (critical).
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, trade register, Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, generated 20 October 2026 (library copy).
  24. ↑ Gokhan Ergocun, Türkiye suspends all trade operations with Israel until uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza allowed Anadolu Agency, 2 May 2024.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Directorate of Communications (Türkiye), Türkiye'nin İsrail ile ticaretinin devam ettiği iddiasına ilişkin açıklama iletisim.gov.tr, 11 November 2024 (Turkish government-side; in Turkish).
  26. ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
  27. ↑ Yousef Bardouka, Azerbaijan supplied Israel with 40% of its oil during Gaza war, report finds OC Media, 20 November 2025 (critical).
  28. ↑ James Hill and Thomas Volscho, Records show Jeffrey Epstein's requests for multiple passports, travels to Africa and Middle East ABC News, 15 January 2024.
  29. ↑ Ragip Soylu, Epstein files reveal Turkey's final ultimatum to Assad before Syrian war Middle East Eye, 4 February 2026.
  30. ↑ Turkish Minute, Ankara prosecutors investigate alleged Turkey links in Epstein case: report Turkish Minute, 3 February 2026.
  31. ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
  32. ↑ Email from Ehud Barak to Elshad Nassirov (SOCAR), "Leviathan cooperation", 22 January 2014, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!39/1 (240).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  33. ↑ Email thread between Ehud Barak and Elshad Nassirov (SOCAR), "Leviathan +", 4–23 February 2014, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!38/1 (191).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
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