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Israeli analyst: â€œAgainst the background of the cooling of Israel-Turkey relations, it can not be ruled out that Israel will seek alternative allies in the region and one of such allies can be Azerbaijanâ€

16 November 2011 12:14 (UTC +04:00)

Stockholm. M. Guliyeva â€“ APA. â€œUnlikely Israel and Turkey, which had close military-political cooperation most recently, will return the previous level of relationsâ€, Hirsch Goodman, analyst of the Israel National Security Institute, said during the lecture at the Stockholm Institute for Security and Development Policy.

He said Israel made a mistake not apologizing to Turkey for â€œFreedom Fleetâ€ incident. â€œAgainst the background of the cooling of Israel-Turkey relations, it can not be ruled out that Israel will seek alternative allies in the region. One of such allies can be Azerbaijan. But the main problem for Israel is Iran and therefore in terms of the geography, Iranâ€™s neighbors can cause more attention for Israel. US regional policy is falling into decay, but the former USSR republics, including Azerbaijan, are developing. Today Azerbaijan-Israel relations are in the highest business levelâ€.

â€œWe donâ€™t cut our relations with Turkey for long, but the number of Israeli tourists traveling to this country was reduced. It caused significant damage on the Turkeyâ€™s economyâ€, the analyst made comments on the current level of the Israel-Turkey relations.

Assessing the revolutions in the Arab countries in terms of the Israelâ€™s security, Hirsch Goodman noted that after Mubarakâ€™s overthrow, the future of Egypt remains in the focus of attention.

â€œIt is still considered in Israel that servicemen will rule Egypt as in the reign of Sadat and Mubarak. It depends on the agreement of the army whether Islamists will come to power or not. Military relations between Israel and Egypt are still on the highest level, it is no less important in terms of security of the borders of the two countries and Sinai,â€ he said,

Assessing the recent happenings in Syria, the analyst welcomed the freedom movement that is against the regime of Bashar Assad.
â€œTaking into account the ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons, support for Hezbollah and antidemocratic movement in Iraq, the regime in Syria can not be considered a friend. Therefore, fall of the Assad regime will weaken the positions of Hezbollah, thatâ€™s why Israel positively assesses this process,â€ he said.

Hirsch Goodman said the Arab Spring caused the change of the political and economic environment in the region.
â€œThe start of the revolution in Syria eliminated the threat of military attacks on Israel by the allies of this country. There exist several factors complicating Iranâ€™s attack on Israel. Firstly, there are genii in nuclear physics in Israel and the country has strong missile defense system. Secondly, Iranâ€™s attack on Israel may cause death of the countryâ€™s Arab population and seriously damage the water resources of the region. It should not be forgotten that Arab states are dependent on these resources,â€ he said.