A THAW? Israel’s Top Diplomat to Visit Turkey for First Talks Since Reconciliation.

Yuval Rotem will head the three-day Israeli delegation to Turkey, where they will meet with Turkish officials across government agencies, Israeli embassy staff, and Jewish community representatives.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry said that “the political dialogue sends a positive message on the commitment of both sides to deepen the relationship between the two countries,” and added that the talks will “allow for comprehensive discussion, after six years of … challenges, on the drastic changes in the region.”

Diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey were cut following the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, during which ten Turkish citizens were killed on a Gaza-bound protest ship attempting to prevent Israeli commandos from boarding the vessel.

Turkey and Israel acted as de facto allies, prior to Recep Erdogan sabotaging the special relationship with stunts like the Gaza “protest” ship — two natural, democratic friends swimming in a sea of often-hostile Arab (and one Persian) autocracies.

Now that Turkey has chosen the path of autocracy and creeping Islamism, it’s difficult to imagine those two countries becoming as close as they had been in this century’s first decade.