Hayat Boumedienne was in a big hurry as she passed through Turkey into Syria, but not such a hurry that she didn’t have time to spend a couple of days in a popular hotel in Istanbul. Enough time for Turkish intelligence to lift her fingerprints, too.

Turkey’s alert security services managed to collect the fingerprints of the wife of Amedy Coulibaly, an operative for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) even though they maintained they were “unaware” of her importance.

Coulibaly is believed to have killed a French policewoman on Jan. 8 and held more than a dozen people hostage at a kosher grocery the next day, killing four and wounding others before he was finally killed by French police.

Meanwhile Boumedienne had apparently slipped into Syria while all that was going on, and according to a report published in the Daily Hurriyet, after having arrived in Turkey on Jan. 2 to rendezvous with ISIS terrorists.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed on Monday, Jan. 12 that airport footage showed Boumedienne’s arrival in Turkey on Jan. 2, in addition to evidence from “telephone recordings” that she had stayed in Istanbul’s Kadikoy neighborhood and crossed into Syria on Jan. 8.

French authorities were aware of the information, Davutoglu said. “We provided them with the information as soon as we got it, without them even asking,” he told reporters, responding to claims by the Syrian Foreign Ministry that Ankara had allowed ISIS terrorists to travel through Turkey to Syria.

Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fiden was quoted by Hurriyet as saying that Turkey has deported 1,056 foreigners and imposed a travel ban on 7,833 others to prevent foreign fighters from joining jihadist groups in Syria.

According to the Daily Yeni Safak, Boumedienne stayed for two days at a hotel in the central Istanbul district of Kadikoy on the city’s Asian side, together with a man identified as Mehdi Sabri Belhouchine. The two left the hotel only twice in the two days they were there, the daily newspaper reported.

The British newspaper The Times reported that Boumedienne called France 18 times during her stay in Istanbul, before crossing into Syria. She traveled to the southeastern province of Sanliurfa on Jan. 4. According to the report, the last signal from her phone was picked up on Jan. 8, one day after the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the same day that her husband, Amedy Coulibaly, shot a policewoman.

“It is unlikely that she will cross again into Turkey, even with a fake identity, because her name has been revealed. Along with her fingerprints, her face has also been disclosed,” states a security report on Boumedienne, according to Hurriyet. “She will likely be [hidden] by the militant group. Then she might be dispatched to a different zone to operate.”

One day after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas appeared arm in arm with world leaders in Paris at Sunday’s unity rally against radical Islamist terror, he joined Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in slamming Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for doing the exact same thing.

Turkey’s new presidential palace in Ankara was given the opportunity to witness a “dress show” during Erdogan’s welcoming ceremony for Abbas as a visiting head of state for the first time on Monday. The two shook hands flanked by a costumed retinue before moving on to a meeting room for bilateral talks. Erdogan also took the opportunity to meet with members of the media together with Abbas, where the pair lashed out at Israel’s prime minister for showing up to the event in Paris.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu joined Netanyahu, Abbas and other world leaders who gathered to honor the memory of the 17 people murdered last week in terror attacks by Islamist extremists. The Turkish president said, however, that Netanyahu had no right to participate due to the civilian casualties in Gaza resulting from Israel’s war with the ruling Hamas terror organization last summer.

“I also hardly understand how he dared to go there,” Erdogan told reporters. For one, you give an account for the children and women you massacred,” he said, according to AFP.

“How can you see this individual who carries out state terrorism by massacring 2,500 people in Gaza waving his hand? He is waving his hand as if people are very enthusiastically waiting for him,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.

The Turkish president went on to say that historically, Muslims were never on the side of terror, nor did they perpetrate massacres. Last week’s slaughter in Paris resulted from racism, hate messages and Islamaphobia, Erdogan contended.

“We hope that those attacking nations cease their assault on our mosques,” he said. “Take note that the acts of terror are not carried out in a vacuum. The acts follow a predetermined script and we should be alive to a plot against the Islamic world.”

Erdogan accused Israel of ‘escalating tensions in the region by violating holy sites along with its recent increasingly aggressive behavior,’ according to a report published in Turkey’s Todays Zaman newspaper. He added that protecting the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the “Noble Sanctuary” and the third holiest place in Islam, ‘is not only the duty of Palestine, but also the entire Islamic world,’ according to the report – implying that the site is in danger. The Turkish president also vowed to continue fighting against Israel’s ‘reckless behavior that recognizes no rules’ with other Muslim countries and the international community, the newspaper reported.

With regard to the Paris terror attacks, Erdogan asked European authorities to ‘take preventive measures against those who attack mosques and Muslims,’ saying ‘these are all provocations’ and adding ‘these things are not being done for nothing… These are all a result of a scenario. There are also games being played over the Islamic world. We need to be aware of this too.’

Erdogan said it was ‘meaningful’ that Muslims were being blamed for a massacre that was committed by ‘French citizens.’

A homemade bomb was found placed outside an Instanbul, Turkey shopping center. Turkish police defused the bomb, according to the al-Ahram website.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber, believed to have Jihadi links blew himself up in Istanbul.

Is the Hamas terrorist organization about to set up a new international headquarters in Turkey?

Top Hamas terror officials denied a flurry of media reports Monday that the group’s political bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal, was expelled by long-time patron, Qatar.

At the same time, Israel’s foreign ministry issued a statement welcoming those same reports.

Hamas sources told CNN earlier in the day that members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned the terrorist organization, had also been expelled.

All were now on their way to Turkey together with Mashaal, according to the report.

However, Qatar-based senior Hamas official Izzat Risheq denied the report, and the Qatari government declined to comment.

Historically, Qatar has been a long-time supporter of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

However, political alliances are everything in the Middle East, and Egypt’s star is on the rise. Cairo’s increasingly popular military-backed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi deposed his Muslim Brotherhood-backed predecessor. Sisi followed the coup by offering to include the Brotherhood in his new government, but when that peace offering resulted in fresh violence, he outlawed the group.

During the Egyptian-brokered negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas last summer, numerous players were peripherally involved. Hamas was heavily guided by Qatar, which welcomed the Mashaal and his followers when they fled their Damascus headquarters at the start of the Syrian civil war. Also involved in guiding Hamas wasTurkey, another passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

But both Saudi Arabia and Jordan opposed any direct participation by those nations in the talks, as did Egypt, the United States and Israel herself.

Qatar has also recently come under pressure from the international community to halt its role as a center of service for terrorist groups and other radical Islamist organizations in the Middle East.

Communications via envoys between Qatar and Saudi Arabia have resulted in a quiet understanding that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood must seek a new home for its headquarters “abroad.”

On December 27, Mashaal attended a congress of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, where he praised the nation’s Islamist leaders and said he hoped to “liberate Palestine” with Turkey.

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah fell ill with pneumonia; it remains to be seen whether, and if so, how the monarch’s weakened state may affect Qatar’s decisions and actions in the coming days.

Some two dozen members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan were arrested ten days ago in connection with accusations of smuggling arms and money into Judea and Samaria.

According to an article published Monday by the Jordanian Al-Hayat newspaper, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood was also charged with creating a secret armed organization.

Two members were also accused of carrying out training in Gaza — and attempting to train operatives to carry out attacks in Judea and Samaria.

Sources in Jordan, meanwhile, revealed that the name of Turkey-based high-ranking Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri continues to reappear during investigations of the terror-related activities. Al-Arouri’s name has come up several times over the past year, most prominently in connection with the abduction and murder of three yeshiva teens in Gush Etzion by Hamas terrorists in June this past summer.

Al-Arouri’s name also came up during the questioning of the current Muslim Brotherhood suspects in connection with their activities. Al-Arouri, however, has stated that Hamas – which was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood – does not operate in Jordan at a military level. A report by the Aljazeera news network confirmed that 25 members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan were arrested after several were caught red-handed trying to smuggle weapons in the Palestinina Authority

The Jordanian officer involved in the case noted in his report that it appears two of the suspects had been trained for their roles in Gaza.

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed Thursday it has exposed a huge terrorist network that was aided by terrorists and commanders operating from Jordan, Syria and Turkey as well as within Judea and Samaria.

One of their targets was Jerusalem’s Teddy stadium, home of the Betar soccer team.

They also were planned to use a car bomb and had drawn up plans for a mass casually attack on the Jerusalem light rail system, coordinated roadside bombs and shooting attacks with M-16 semi-automatic rifles, and infiltrations, murders and kidnappings in Jewish communities throughout Judea and Samaria.

The gag order on the arrests of more than 30 terrorists two months ago was lifted today. A large quantity of weapons and ammunition also were found.

At least two of those arrested are Jordanians who previously were soldiers for the kingdom, drafted by Hamas in 2010 and sent to Turkey and Gaza for training, entering the Hamas territory through smuggling tunnels from Egypt.

The command post from Turkey further shows how Hamas has been provided a deadly safe haven by Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The cells had carried out two explosions in Samaria last August, but no one was injured. The terrorists set off the bombs using a timer so that the explosions would occur when security forces were on the scene. One of the bombs went off at the Rehalim junction.

The explosions were carried out under instructions from Hamas commanders in Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Investigations by the IDF and Shin Bet helped them track down the extensive terrorist network.

Among those arrested were two from Jordan, Manaf Mohammed Angvera, 28; and Abdallah Mahmoud Zitawi, 25, Jordan;

Kuwait native Mahmoud Airbajie, 25, who learned in Jordan; two Arabs from Tulkarem, east of Netanya, Rjyie Ahmed Amuri, 30; Adnan Samara, 30; Mutzav Ruwib, 23, from Bethlehem; and Tzuhiv Rabat, 29, from the Jordan Valley.

Israeli security forces in recent weeks have arrested dozens of terrorists operating within the Palestinian Authority and with tactical and financial support from Turkey, which the United States still considers a close ally.

The cell that planned to kill Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with RPG grenades, as reported here earlier today, was only one of several what targeted other Israeli officials, soldiers, civilians and even Palestinian Authority officials, the Times of Israel reported, quoting PA sources.

However, it is not known if the trio that planned to assassinate Lieberman was operating under the network based in Turkey.

Several of the terrorists reportedly are being held by the Palestinian Authority.

The arrests follow last August’s previously reported plot to overthrow Mahmoud Abbas

Turkey, which helped sponsor the IHH terrorists on the Mavi Mamara ship more than four years ago, has become Hamas’ de facto headquarters.

Senior Hamas official Salach al-Aruri last August admitted that Hamas was behind the kidnap-murders of three Israeli yeshiva students in June.

The United States for years has declared Hamas to be an illegal terrorist organization, but it has not opened its mouth in public to say anything against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s open support for Hamas.

Ever since Operation Cast Lead in late 2008, Erdogan has gone out of kilter.

He single-handedly changed Turkey from a decades-long friend of Israel to a sworn enemy.

He also suddenly and inexplicably saw Iran and Syria as allies in what he figured would be the new power broker in the Middle East.

Syrian President Bassar al-Assad’s butchery against his own people and raids on refugees who deserted to Turkey changed Erdogan’s mind, or what is left of it.

Similarly, he finally realized that a nuclear Iran might not be so healthy for Ankara.

But he still plays cards with Hamas, probably because of populist hate against Israel that has been fueled by incitement from Erdogan and Turkish media.

“Countries do not gain strategically by hosting terrorist groups,” Max Abrahms, professor of political science at Northeastern University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations told Al-Monitor.

“My research demonstrates empirically that terrorism is politically counterproductive behavior that erodes popular support for the political cause and results in a backlash from the target country,” he added. “Hosting terrorist groups is thus a political liability.”

ISIS makes Hamas look like the Boy Scouts, so Turks are not up in arms so long as they see Hamas as being nothing more than a group of Muslims loyal to the cause of turning Israel into an Arab country, whether through the “peace process” or the “war process.”

Al-Monitor noted that “Turkey’s support for Hamas — along with Qatar — hampers Israel’s ability to isolate Hamas,” but the reported Israeli success in busting another Hamas network based in Turkey shows that it still can be done.

It also proves that Abbas knows he is making empty threats when he warns he will break off security cooperation with Israel.

It would be suicidal for him.