DR AZRIEL BERMANT

In January 2013, when David Cameron first proposed the referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union, in order to pacify Eurosceptics within his ruling Conservative party, he could scarcely have imagined that Turkey would play such a prominent role in the campaign.

The concerns of the British public over the possibility of “an invasion of Turkish migrants” were exploited by the ‘leave’ camp as a means to strengthen support for a withdrawal from the EU, amid heightened anxiety within Britain and in Europe as a whole over the migrant crisis. It was claimed that continued British membership of the EU would lead to a loss of control over the number of migrants entering the United Kingdom. The March 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey on migration was held up as a perfect case in point. The Brexit campaigners pointed to a clause in the agreement referring to talks on new chapters in the possible Turkish accession process to the EU as evidence that Ankara would eventually join the EU, even though most experts argue that this is highly unlikely.

The ‘leave’ campaign also claimed that negotiations between the EU and Turkey over visa exemptions for Turkish citizens would pose a grave security threat, with Britain exposed to a wave of terrorists travelling from Syria and Iraq, in spite of the fact that no more than 14 per cent of Turkish citizens hold a passport....................................................................................................READ MORE

Israel’s nationalist camp, long suspicious of, if not hostile to, the European Union’s attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would - unwisely - celebrate Britain leaving the EU.

On 23 June, for the first time since 1975, the British will vote in a referendum to decide their future in the European Union. The question facing voters is very simple: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” 

Up until now, the issues dominating the referendum have been the state of the economy, jobs, immigration and wider questions over British sovereignty. The question of the EU’s foreign policy, including its policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been far from British voters’ minds. However, were the British to vote for ...........................................................................................READ MORE