Turkey To Replace Iran As Israel's Public Enemy #1
File under, be careful what you wish for—confirmation of what we’ve been discussing. That sure didn’t take long. After taking their victory lap in Syria, Israelis are starting to wake up. Just a bit too late:
Ankara-backed Syrian proxies could be even more dangerous than a stand-off with Iran, a security commission has said
Israel should brace for a potential clash with Türkiye over Ankara's support for various factions in Syria, a major government-backed panel has warned.
On Monday, the Nagel Commission, which was established in August 2024 by the Israeli government to advise on security matters, delivered a wide-ranging report on the Jewish state’s security posture. The group is led by Professor Jacob Nagel, a former head of the National Security Council and former National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The report highlighted what it sees as Ankara’s ambitions to restore Ottoman-era influence in the Middle East, warning that some Syrian factions are aligned with Türkiye. “The threat from Syria could evolve into something even more dangerous than the Iranian threat,” the commission stated.
The report also recommended a major shift in Israel’s defense strategy, moving from deterrence to a more proactive posture. This would involve reallocating 70% of defense resources toward offensive operations and increasing the 2025 defense budget by nine billion shekels ($2.5 billion), bringing it to 123 billion shekels ($34 billion). The commission emphasized that the country would then need to maintain elevated budgets through 2030.
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Relations between Israel and Türkiye, which has been historically supportive of Palestine, have been in a tailspin since the start of the Gaza conflict in October 2023. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of “state terrorism” and “genocide” in the enclave, while Israel has condemned Turkey’s support for Hamas. In November, Erdogan announced that Ankara had completely severed diplomatic ties with Israel.
Of course this means that Uncle Shmuel will have to pony up to support these ambitious and aggressive plans. It’s all madness.
Russia: Illegally annexes and invades
Israel: Hopes and dreams of annexation
Yup. At the end of the day it will be Israel (and its sole ally and banker) against just about the entire Muslim world (Shia and Sunni and their factions and jihadis, perhaps maybe minus Jordan and whoever else we can buy off) and all their allies, including mostly all of BRICS+, OPEC+, and the SCO+, plus a few fugitives from a disintegrating NATO and EU. It will be a lonely place to be.
Has Erdogan stopped selling oil to Israel? If not, there are quite a few more escalation levels to go.