Yet even as relations between the longtime regional allies sour, there’s one aspect of their partnership that’s still humming along: commerce. The Wall Street Journal notes that trade between the two countries rose by a quarter last year to more than $3 billion (representing just under 3 percent of Israel’s foreign trade that year). In the first half of 2011, the Israeli newspaper Globes adds, Israeli-Turkish trade rose 26 percent to $2 billion.
According to Ynet, Turkey is Israel’s sixth-largest and fastest-growing export destination, with chemicals and oil distillates representing the primary exports.
Uriel Lynn, president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, told Ynet that Turkey’s business sector doesn’t “feel committed to the government in the crisis” because the government hasn’t demanded “such a commitment.”
Read More: The Atlantic Wire