Israel to get no data from NATO’s shield

Data collected by an early-warning NATO radar system in Turkey will not be transferred to Israel, both Turkish and NATO officials confirmed Feb. 17, underlining that the missile defense project was designed to protect NATO territories and populations, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“Data is shared within our allies, among our allies. It’s a defensive system to protect the populations of NATO allies,” Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Turkey’s membership in the alliance.

Following insistent questions from Turkish media and lawmakers, Rasmussen had to repeat several times that “it was a NATO system and the data within the system will not be shared with third countries.”