The US blocked Israel’s participation in the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s (GCTF) first meeting in Istanbul on June 8. A pro-Israeli source in Washington reportedly said that Israel was excluded from the meeting because of fierce objections by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Israel tried hard to obtain an invitation to the meeting, and its exclusion, despite the tight US-Israeli intelligence ties, has greatly disappointed officials in Jerusalem. The GCTF, one of the pillars of President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism campaign, was established in September 2011. The White House calls the forum a wise use of force against terrorism, and chose Turkey as the forum’s joint chair, together with the US.
Twenty-nine countries participated in the GCTF, ten of which are Arab and/or Muslim countries: Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Other members include China, Russia, India, and Western European countries. Republican politicians claim that, since one third of the GCTF’s members are Muslim countries, the Obama administration is trying to deepen ties with the Muslim world at Israel’s expense.
In an interview with the US media last May, Erdogan said that he did not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation, but as a resistance movement trying to protect its country from occupation. He said that Hamas won elections in the Gaza Strip in 2006, and that, therefore, calling it a terrorist organisation was an insult to the Palestinian people.