Turkey’s recent flurry of overtures to Israel has been ill-conceived, ill-communicated and ill-received by the Jewish State. Be it the now-scotched nomination of an overtly anti-Israeli pundit with close ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party as ambassador to Tel Aviv or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's pronouncements that he would like to improve relations but that Israel was “merciless” toward the Palestinians, Ankara’s messaging has been greeted with a mix of bemusement, yawns and contempt.

Israel’s position is crystal clear. As a steady trickle of Gulf and other Muslim states ditch decades of hostility to make peace, Turkey’s name is slipping on Israel’s dance card. Thus, if Turkey is sincere about restoring ties to the ambassadorial level after unceremoniously booting out last Israeli envoy Eitan Na’eh — he’ll be Jerusalem’s first ever man in Abu Dhabi — in May 2018, it now needs to kick out the hundreds of Hamas operatives Israel claims are plotting terror attacks from Istanbul.

But will it? The question resurfaced when pro-government Milli Gazete published a letter dated Dec. 21 from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that was sent to multiple heads of Islamic states, including Erdogan warning against friendship with Israel, on the same day it appeared in the Palestinian media. Had Ankara leaked the letter in a further clumsy signal to Israel that it might consider ignoring Haniyeh’s request?

Ankara has expelled Hamas operatives in the past under Western pressure. They include Saleh al-Arouri, who led the movement from Turkey until he was shown the door in 2014.