An entire country breathed a sigh of relief this morning (Thursday) with the news of the couple Natalie and the Oknin rebels' release from Turkish prison, and the end of the couple's arrest saga after they photographed President Erdogan's palace.
The fact that Israel was forced to involve a third country in its efforts to free the Israeli couple - and to be helped by the good relations of the heads of the UAE's intelligence and intelligence systems, as revealed in "Israel Today" - is more indicative of Israel's regional and international status and influence.
Prime Minister Bennett and Foreign Minister Lapid in conversation with the Oknin couple // Photo: Omar Miron / GPO
The heads of the intelligence and intelligence of the emirates had to join the head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea, and give their word to the Turkish intelligence chief that these are indeed innocent Israeli citizens, Egged employees, who were never part of the Israeli intelligence system or operated in one of Israel's security and espionage agencies.
There is still much to be said about what the political and diplomatic moves Israel was to bring about the liberation of its two citizens who were in fact "kidnapped" by Turkish intelligence, but according to senior Abu Dhabi sources, from the moment the emirates entered the picture. Less than a day.
This indicates that the "legal proceedings" taken by the Turks against the couple were in fact a diplomatic act for the caprices of Turkish President Erdogan who does not hide the disgust he feels towards the State of Israel, its citizens and its leadership.
Since it became clear that the Turks owned the Oknin couple (and did not bother to update the Israeli Foreign Ministry on the matter as is customary in these cases), the Turkish president has done his best to evade references from President Herzog, Prime Minister Bennett and Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Lapid.
The Turks 'excuse was that it was a legal proceeding and like any reformed state in which jurisdiction is separated from the judiciary and the legislature and the executive, and that the spouses' lawyers and Foreign Ministry representatives, senior as they may be, were sent to Turkey in an attempt to end the affair.
Even the head of the Barnea Mossad, who went into the thick of things a few days ago in order to bring the saga to an end - while rarely and exceptionally assuring his Turkish counterpart that it was not Israeli intelligence officers who arrested the Turks - was ignored by his Turkish counterpart.
As mentioned, the turnaround in the Turks' position came after Barnea and senior Mossad officials enlisted the help of their emirates from the United Arab Emirates, headed by the head of the UAE's National Security Council, Sheikh Tahanon Ben Zayed, who has personal ties with President Erdogan and his Turkish counterpart.
Sheikh Ben-Zayed and senior Emirati intelligence officials stressed to their Turkish counterparts that they were guarantors of the word given by Barnea that the Oknin couple had never acted and were not activated by a friend of Israel's intelligence system, paving the way for the quick release of Vantali rebels and their return to Israel within hours.
Natalie and Moti Oknin returned to their home in Modiin for a warm welcome // Photo: Yoni Rickner
Despite the fact that the Oknin couple's arrest affair has exposed the erosion in Israel's regional and international status, as well as the danger to Israeli tourists who come to vacation in Turkey beyond fear of terrorist attacks, there is also a bright spot in the darkness of the strange saga. And the United Arab Emirates, mainly in the field of cooperation and security and intelligence coordination between the countries that signed only a little over a year ago the "Abraham Agreements" and the normalization of diplomatic and political relations.