{"id":17194,"date":"2026-09-19T14:14:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/turkey-may-view-israel-as-its-regional-rival-after-strikes-in-syria\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T14:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:14:47","slug":"turkey-may-view-israel-as-its-regional-rival-after-strikes-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/turkey-may-view-israel-as-its-regional-rival-after-strikes-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey may view Israel as its regional rival after strikes in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkey\u2019s ruling AKP party has been hostile to Israel for many years. It ties its hostility to its support for Palestinians. However, Turkey\u2019s policy affects more than just the Palestinians; it has been increasingly sympathetic to Hamas over the years.<\/p>\n

From Turkey\u2019s point of view, it benefits from supporting Hamas because the Palestinians widely support Hamas. Ankara\u2019s link to Hamas runs even deeper, and likely has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, which influences both Hamas and the AKP.<\/p>\n

These days Turkey\u2019s stance on Israel<\/a> is beginning to shift. Where once it could look at Israel through the Palestinian lens and condemn Israel at international forums, it may now see Israel as a potential regional rival.<\/p>\n

This shift is not lost on Jerusalem. Many parties, both in Israel and abroad, are depicting Turkey as an emerging threat<\/a>, akin to Iran. This can\u2019t be good news for US policymakers who see both Turkey and Israel as key allies.<\/p>\n

This contradiction would not be the first for the US, however. In the past, the US had to balance Saudi Arabia and Israel as allies in the 1980s and 1990s, even when the two were at odds with each other.<\/p>\n

\"SYRIA\u2019S<\/figure>\n

A new article at Al Jazeera notes: \u201cAnkara views Israeli attempts to undermine the Syrian transition as having direct repercussions for its national security.\u201d This was written after a recent Israeli airstrike in Syria, which was intended to deter Turkey from expanding its role in Syria. Israel has shifted its priorities in Syria; it has gone from targeting Iranian entrenchment before the fall of the Assad regime to being wary of Turkish entrenchment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, Turkey is no longer seeing Israel solely through the prism of the Palestinian question,\u201d the article notes. \u201cRather, it increasingly sees it as a national security challenge, with Israeli regional revisionism threatening its interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s recall how this development occurred. Turkey and Israel have both been led by right-wing and religious parties over the past two decades. In a sense, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have had similar careers. Both have harnessed their countries' politics and sought to build right-wing, religious coalitions to run countries previously led by more secular, center-left nationalist parties.<\/p>\n

This trajectory has become increasingly common all over the world. However, in the specific case of Turkey and Israel, it appears to have led to clashes instead of partnership.<\/p>\n

In the past, it was Turkey that appeared to have the upper hand in the region. Turkey\u2019s population is eight times the size of Israel, and its territory is 36 times larger.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Israel\u2019s economic power is quickly catching up to Turkey. In fact, Israeli defense companies are outpacing Turkish defense companies. Population and geography matter, but Israel has a more dynamic economy.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Abraham Accords and other developments, Israel may be seen as a rival on various fronts with Turkey.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go back a few years and recall that Turkey and Israel were once friends from the 1950s to the 1990s. However, the rise of the AKP and Israel\u2019s continuing conflicts led to a rapid decline in relations after 2009. The Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, which resulted in the deaths of 10 Turkish citizens, harmed the already fraying ties.<\/p>\n

There were some attempts to reconcile the relationship between the two countries. President Isaac Herzog even went to Turkey in 2022, but the attempts at reconciliation didn\u2019t hold. October 7 opened up even more anti-Israel rhetoric from Turkey.<\/p>\n

The real story may, in fact, be found in Ankara\u2019s foreign policy and Israel\u2019s own paradigm shift. Turkey once had \u201czero problems\u201d with its neighbors. The Syrian civil war, however, led to Turkey invading parts of northern Syria. By 2019, Turkey was having a new crisis every week.<\/p>\n

Turkey hosted Hamas leaders and offered them the red carpet. This, in turn, threatened Greece and Cyprus, which eventually pushed Israel, Greece, and Cyprus closer together.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Turkey became increasingly belligerent in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey intervened in Libya. It also threatened Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It backed Qatar in the 2017 Gulf crisis. It backed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and was outraged by the death of former Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi in custody.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the world saw a decidedly different Turkey. It moved to reconcile with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and sought to reduce tensions in Libya. Although Turkey was still mobilizing for a larger role in places like Africa, it also had to balance its ties with Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n

In Syria, Turkey believed the Assad regime would remain. It was handed a new chance in Syria when the Assad regime fell in December 2024.<\/p>\n

Turkey was used to playing a major role on several continents. It was a member of NATO and had a foothold in Europe. It once even considered joining the EU. Years ago, I interviewed Yasar Yakis, who had been the chairman of the EU Committee of the Turkish parliament. Turkey shifted its view from a European concept to one that sought to play a larger role in the Islamic world.<\/p>\n

As such, one can see in Ankara\u2019s drive for power as a desire to play a role in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. As a country that inherits some of the policies of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate that once sat in Istanbul, Turkey naturally has a global view.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s foreign policy has not always been a global one. Once upon a time, in the 1950s and 1960s, it had a periphery doctrine when it was surrounded by hostile Arab countries. Later, it was able to broker peace with Egypt and Jordan. With the Trump administration\u2019s help, Israel also made peace with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.<\/p>\n

Although Israel has friends in Asia and Europe, it has had to juggle its policies so it focuses only on a few issues at a time. This precarious balance can also be seen in Israel\u2019s struggle to maintain well-staffed embassies abroad, even in the countries it has ties with.<\/p>\n

The post-October 7 doctrine has changed Israel\u2019s approach. Now, Israel believes it will have a long-term role in running half of Gaza, as well as a swath of southern Lebanon and a buffer zone in Syria.<\/p>\n

The post-October 7 doctrine has changed Israel\u2019s approach. Now, Israel believes it will have a long-term role in running half of Gaza, as well as a swath of southern Lebanon and a buffer zone in Syria.<\/p>\n

Turkey<\/a> therefore, has begun to think of Israel as its regional rival. Because of this concern, Turkey has decided to tone down some of its current rhetoric. Turkish officials, such as Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan, are likely advising Erdogan not to rush into a confrontation at the moment. Gone are the days when Turkey would warn that it would \u201csuddenly\u201d come one night \u2013 the rhetorical flourish Erdogan would often use when threatening other countries.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Turkey sees the bombing<\/a> in Syria as a threat, and wonders if Israel may \u201csuddenly\u201d come one night. There is no doubt that, now, some of the cooler heads in Turkey seek to tone down tensions.<\/p>\n

The result? Going forward, Turkey and Israel will eye each other across the table, seeing each other more as equals. Gone is the past where Ankara appeared to have an Ottoman-like grip over the Mediterranean and Middle East. Now, it has a rival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUGUST 26, 2026 18:59Updated: AUGUST 26, 2026 23:06Turkey\u2019s ruling AKP party has been hostile to Israel for many years. It ties its hostility to its support for Palestinians. However, Turkey\u2019s policy affects more than just the Palestinians; it has been increasingly sympathetic to Hamas over the years.
\nFrom Turkey\u2019s point of view, it benefits from supporting Hamas because the Palestinians widely support Hamas. Ankara\u2019s link to Hamas runs even deeper, and likely has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, which influences both Hamas and the AKP.
\nThese days Turkey\u2019s stance on Israel is beginning to shift. Where once it could look at Israel through the Palestinian lens and condemn Israel at international forums, it may now see Israel as a potential regional rival.
\nThis shift is not lost on Jerusalem. Many parties, both in Israel and abroad, are depicting Turkey as an emerging threat, akin to Iran. This can\u2019t be good news for US policymakers who see both Turkey and Israel as key allies.
\nT..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}