The world around Israel

Peter Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

In recent days Israeli politicians and experts have made several interesting statements touching on the Caucasus.

Israel-Iran

The head of the military investigation of Israel (AMAN), General Aviv Kokhavi, presented a report to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the political and economic situation in Iran. It was prepared several says ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to the UN General Assembly. The essence of the report is that after Hassan Rouhani has become the president of Iran the country undergoes positive changes and dynamically development toward a more open society, ready to cooperate with the West. The report stresses that these changes haven’t influenced Iran’s striving for a nuclear bomb or its foreign policy. At the same time, Kokhavi assesses these changes as positive and promising for Israel. The report considered, however, that until Iran stops enrichment of uranium, Israel will continue to insist on sanctions against Tehran.

Israel-Turkey

The Defense Ministry of Israel sent a special note to the command of the Turkish Army and government. It says that Israel “won’t stand for the military provocations which have recently been committed by Turkey.” The content of the note is kept secret; the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry of Israel didn’t tell journalists about its details, but they told that in recent months either at sea or in the air there were “several unfortunate incidents, which almost caused a disaster due to the provocative behaviour of the naval forces and Air Forces of Turkey.”

The Turkish side doesn’t deny that the incidents have taken place, but explains the indignation of Israel by the fact that “due toa  veto by Turkey, the participation of Israel in various NATO projects has been reduced.”

Israeli observers agreed that this was the beginning of the new worsening of Israeli-Turkish relations. At the same time, economic ties between Turkey and Israel continue to develop on the same course with huge trade turnover. Several experts believe that powerful businessmen from both countries should contribute to the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel.

Israel-Georgia

“Margvelashvili’s victory will not influence relations between Georgia and Israel,” the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Israel-Georgia, Itsik Moshe, stated. The emergency statement was caused by concerns of Israeli businessmen that the new Georgian president would develop relations with Russia against Israeli interests. Itsik Moshe said that Margvelashvili was “a pro-Russian candidate” and his victory reflected the general attitude in Georgian society toward normalization of Russian-Georgian relations. At the same time, it doesn’t influence Israeli-Georgian relations, which develop successfully and promise closer ties between Georgia and Israel.

Israel-Azerbaijan

The state Israeli water supply company Mekorot signed a contract with Azerbaijan on development of the reconstruction plan of the water supply system in the republic. The Israeli company will start reconstruction of Azerbaijan's water supply system in early 2014 and will end it within four years. The cost of the contract is unknown, but it is thought to be about a hundred million euros.