Ah, They're Just Afraid of Getting Their Behinds Kicked, As In 1967

At YNet: Israelis Banned From Turkish Race

Now, this is not QUITE as drastic as it sounds. My first guess was that if you were an Israeli citizen they were officially banning you from being a Turk. Not quite. It's a bicycle race.

A group of Israeli cyclists was banned last weekend from the 2011 Cycling Tour of Isparta in Turkey, after the Syrian and Iraqi teams threatened to withdraw from the competition.

The Turkish cycling association is organizing this year a series of international tours to promote its cyclists in Europe and win a ticket to the Olympic Games.

Israel participated in the first tour, the Cycling Tour of Turkey, but the Syrian team avoided facing the Israelis and the Iraqi team withdrew after the first stage, after learning of the Israeli participation.

Some people might have said that if Syria and Iraq wanted to take their bikes and go home, it would have been reasonable to let them, rather than ban the team that wanted to compete, and were willing to ride with people of all nations. But that would just be silly.

Israeli Interfaith Delegation Asks for Protection of Jewish Holy Sites

By Jonah Mandell, in the JPost.

An Israeli delegation of religious leaders is going to present Syrian opposition members on Thursday with a list of sites in Syria holy to Judaism, to be safeguarded if Bashar Assad’s regime collapses.

While the erstwhile Turkish vision of brokering talks between Jerusalem and Damascus seems as distant as ever, an Israeli deputy minister and member of the Chief Rabbinical Council will be part of the Israeli interfaith delegation to Istanbul, which, besides meeting with a prominent local Muslim preacher, will also be holding talks on Thursday with the members of the Syrian opposition.