A higher-ranking U.S. senator called on Turkey and Israel to conquer recent tensions and renovate close ties to help with calm efforts in the Middle East. John Kerry, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tell a group of press Tuesday that doing so could help Israel's relations with Syria and Lebanon.
"It is significant that Turkey and Israel renovate relations and go back to the method they were," Kerry said.
Israel and Turkey built burly military and economic tie over the past 15 years, and Turkey became Israel's contiguous ally in the Muslim world.
Kindred between the two soured, though, with Turkey's Islamic-oriented government's increasingly vociferous criticism of Israel's action of Palestinians. They hit an all-time low in May, when Israeli marine commandos killed nine activists from Turkey on board a Gaza-bound ship that try to breach Israel's naval barrier.
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