Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone, his first conversation with the Turkish leader since becoming prime minister. Erdogan congratulated Lapid and wished him success.
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Lapid wished Erdogan a happy Eid al-Adha holiday and peace and prosperity for the Turkish people. Lapid thanked the Turkish president for his country's cooperation in thwarting terrorist attacks planned against visiting Israelis.
Both Lapid and Erdogan stressed the importance of Israeli-Turkish relations, which have warmed in the last few months as Erdogan faces increasing challenges at home and abroad, finding himself isolated on the international stage. He hopes that Israel can help him improve his ties with the US administration.
Turkey is also in the grips of an economic crisis, with inflation spiraling out of control, and Erdogan wants Israeli tourists to return. The Turkish leader would also like to see a gas pipeline built between Israel's offshore natural gas rigs to Turkey, positioning his country to export Israeli gas to Europe.
Much of the credit for improved ties with Turkey goes to President Isaac Herzog, who has a personal relationship with Erdogan and spoke with him several times by phone prior to their recent meeting in Ankara.
Also on Sunday, Lapid spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who wished him success and discussed a recent meeting in Cairo, as well as the importance of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty as the basis of bilateral strategic relations and a "pillar" of regional stability.
Lapid and el-Sissi also discussed US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to the region, as well as the need to ensure calm in the Palestinian arena.
Israel's defense and security establishment is trying to maintain quiet not only vis-à-vis the Palestinians, but also on its northern and southern borders, where Hezbollah and Hamas pose threats, respectively.
A number of weeks ago, Israel decided to postpone any demolitions of terrorists' homes until Biden's visit is over, and the IDF is exercising extreme caution when initiating operations in Judea and Samaria to avoid any potential US criticism of its operations there during the presidential visit.
The north remained quiet, but tense, after a week ago the IDF intercepted three drones Hezbollah fired at Israel's territorial waters.
Recent days have also seen relatively less tension on the Gaza border, as well, and Israel thinks that Hamas is also seeking to keep things calm so Israel will be able to start Biden's visit with complaints about Hamas rocket fire on civilian communities in the western Negev and beyond.
As soon as Biden lands at Ben-Gurion International Airport, he will be treated to a display of Israel's new air defenses, whose development and manufacture is being funded by American military aid, as well as the Iron Beam laser defense system which is slated to go into use in the next two years and complement the Iron Dome defenses.
The Iron Beam technology is considered groundbreaking, and thus far has been entirely funded by Israel.
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