Turkey was the second Muslim nation to recognize Israel in 1948 (after Iran), and since then both nations have been allies. In 2008, bi-lateral trade topped $3 billion. An agreement in the 1990s allows Israeli fighter jets to train in Turkish skies, and Israeli contractors are licensed by the Turkish military. And tourism is, on the Israeli side, a strong factor in the relationship as 7% of the Israeli public visited Turkey last year.

But Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestine and its most recent massacre of Palestinians in Gaza - over 900 civilians of whom over 400 were children - was greatly strained relations and puts into doubt whether both nations will even have diplomatic relations in a few years if a Palestinian state is not established by then.

Turkey’s prime minister strongly criticized the Gaza attack, and then engaged in a heated debate with the Israeli president at the Davos World Economic Forum. Turkey recently a NATO military exercise, which Israel was supposed to take part in, most likely due to opposition of Israeli participation (Israel isn’t even a NATO member). And since the Gaza massacre, trade between nations have fallen 40% in just nine months.

Israel has been panicking about its souring relations with Turkey. The loss of Turkey would further alienate the Jewish state in the international arena and undermine its legitimacy. It would also put more pressure on Egypt and Jordan to end their own relations with Israel.

The Turkish public is also incredibly pro-Palestinian. As usual, Israel always blames some news reporting or some “bias” for opposition to Israel rather than its own destructive, deadly policies that have made the Jewish state nearly a pariah in the world.

Although, for a while the words and actions of criticism where mostly coming from Turkey against Israel. In recent days, Israeli officials have begun criticizing Turkey back. The former foreign minister Tzipi Livni and Israeli President Shimon Peres have both voiced concern about Turkey’s posturing, so to speak. And Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu also criticized a new Turkish serial that portrays Israeli occupation troops as deliberately killing Palestinians in the occupied territories (imagine that!) and stated that this was inline with recent un-welcomed Turkish actions.

Taking their cues from the political establishment and believing that Turkey, rather than Israeli policies, are at fault, an Israeli cafe chain has begun a boycott of Turkish (which, for the record, is Arab) coffee:

A large Israeli cafe chain has decided to stop selling Turkish coffee and plans are afoot to boycott Turkish resorts in the wake of increased tensions between the two allies, officials said Sunday.

“We have decided for the time being to stop selling ‘Istanbul coffee’ — our Turkish coffee blend, and we shall keep doing it until matters improve,” Michael Steg, director of marketing for the Ilan coffee shop chain, told the Ynet news website.

And a tourist boycott too:

Meanwhile, Yossi Levy, a senior official with Israel’s national carrier ElAl, told Army Radio his employee association and those of several other major Israeli businesses plan to stop subsidising vacations for their workers to Turkey during the Passover holiday next April, the next major holiday season in the Jewish state during which up to 80,000 Israelis are expected to visit Turkish resorts.

The trade balance can then be expected to fall. Given the existing tensions and the stalemate in negotiations with Palestinians, this does not bode well for the continuation of relations between both nations.