Israeli Prime Minister To Meet Turkish President After Palestinian Leader’s Visit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has invited Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to meet him in Turkey on July 28, following a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the same week, according to an announcement from the president’s office on Thursday. This will be the first visit to Turkey by an Israeli prime minister since 2008.

The talks will focus on Turkish-Palestinian relations, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and other pressing international matters. While Netanyahu’s office has confirmed the visit, the sequence of meetings has heightened interest given the recent history of Israeli-Turkish relations.

Over the past year, relationships between Turkey and Israel have started to improve after years of tension. This progress is evident in a series of high-level visits, including one from Israel’s President Isaac Herzog. Despite these diplomatic advances, relations remain complex. In April, Turkey strongly criticized Israel over clashes that occurred inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police and Palestinians engaged in violent confrontations. Erdoğan referred to the incident as Israel crossing a “red line.”