Late last month, a Turkish tourist visiting Israel stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City and was subsequently shot dead on the spot. The terror attack, which resulted in the officer being moderately injured, raised questions about the presence of Turkish tourism in Israel. The answer is yes, there is Turkish tourism, but not necessarily in the positive sense of the word.
Each year, around 30,000 tourists from Turkey enter Israel. Several Turkish Islamist organizations are behind these tourist groups, with the most prominent being TIKA, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, which operates under the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism led by Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, a close associate of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In 2017, the former Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism visited the Temple Mount and encouraged Muslims worldwide to visit these holy sites.
Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, Director General of…