With elections on the horizon in Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political standing under pressure, he appears to have identified a new adversary to bolster his campaign. After more than two years of sustained military action against various adversaries across the Middle East, Netanyahu has now turned his attention toward Turkey. On Tuesday, Israeli fighter jets struck a military installation in northern Syria, located close to the Turkish border.
Netanyahu justified the strike by claiming Turkey had been seeking to expand its military footprint in the area, and said Israel had made its warnings unmistakably clear after Ankara failed to heed them. Notably, with Israel’s election scheduled for October 27, Netanyahu’s campaign has rolled out posters portraying a lineup of “enemy” figures — including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — accompanied by messaging suggesting these adversaries want to see Netanyahu defeated at the polls.
A New Enemy in the Spotlight
Erdogan has been a persistent critic of Israel’s large-scale military campaign in Gaza since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv worsened further after Israel took forceful measures to intercept Turkish vessels carrying humanitarian aid workers bound for Gaza. Unlike Iran, however, Turkey brings considerably stronger international backing to any confrontation — it holds NATO membership, and Erdogan maintains a cordial rapport with US President Donald Trump. Washington’s ambassador to Ankara has already voiced criticism of the recent Israeli strikes.
Reacting to the Syria strike, Yair Golan, head of Israel’s center-left Democrats party, described the operation as reckless, warning that it heightens the risk of confrontation with Turkey and pushes Israel further from key allies, particularly the United States, according to AFP. Golan argued that military force was once again being deployed for political gain, at a cost to Israel’s own security.
Israeli Distrust of Erdogan Deepens
Erdogan’s decision to host Hamas leadership in Turkey has drawn criticism of Netanyahu from across Israel’s political spectrum, not merely from his usual detractors. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, now a center-right opposition figure, earlier this year accused Netanyahu of remaining fixated on Iran while overlooking the emerging challenge posed by Turkey.
Galia Lindenstrauss, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, told AFP that Erdogan’s combative rhetoric has done little to calm Israeli anxieties, noting concern that Turkey’s hosting of Hamas could extend to backing armed factions in Syria capable of threatening Israel down the line. She suggested Netanyahu appears to be leaning into the anti-Turkey narrative as a rallying tool for his base.
Separately, Gonul Tol of the Washington-based Middle East Institute noted that Netanyahu faces domestic criticism over his failure to fully achieve the stated aims of several military campaigns, including toppling Iran’s government and eliminating Hamas. While Erdogan has no shortage of critics in Washington, Tol cautioned that any direct military escalation against Turkey risks casting Netanyahu as a leader willing to take reckless action to cling to power.