A new era began in Turkey-Israel relations. After a long marathon of diplomacy, the rapprochement, which became visible with Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog’s highly publicized visit to Ankara on March 9, 2022, took another step forward with the meeting of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in New York, during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Apart from President Erdo ğ an's encounter with an Israeli prime minister for the first time since December 2008, another symbolic meaning of this date was that it was indeed the starting point for the deterioration in bilateral relations. At the time, Erdoğan played the role of facilitator in the talks between Syria and Israel. However, a rupture in Turkish-Israeli ties began with the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on December 22, 2008, shortly following the return from Turkey to Israel of then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Turkey and Israel reappointed respective ambassadors mor