Israel's defense agreement with Greece is a signal to Turkey that it will have strong bilateral ties with other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, regardless of how Turkish-Israeli relations develop, writes The Jerusalem Post.

That principle was in evidence this week when Israel and Greece announced they would sign a 20-year defense agreement worth almost $1.7 billion that includes an Israeli flight school for the Hellenic Air Force and 10 M-346 trainer aircraft.

According to the newspaper, the anti-Turkish axis has also begun to unite at the Eastern Mediterranean, including in Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt. The United Arab Emirates is another key country in this axis, although it is not located in the Mediterranean Sea.

Turkish-Israeli relations deteriorated after Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador in May 2018 and recalled its own ambassador.

Also, Turkey has normalized relations with Hamas, which has been declared a terrorist organization by the West.

However, the Turkish government has expressed readiness to improve relations with Israel. A number of meetings were reportedly held between their high-ranking intelligence officials to discuss reconciliation.

The Jerusalem Post notes that it is important for Israel and Greece to have pillars in addition to their cooperation on a major natural gas pipeline project that could build relations to meet further challenges.