Turkish President Erdogan: "May Allah destroy Israel"

Against the backdrop of growing tensions between Israel and Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched an unprecedented threat toward Israel, saying that Israel's enemies should unite against it and be strong together.

According to a report by Ynet journalist Itamar Eichner, Erdogan said the following in his speech for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr: "We see what is happening in Palestine, may Allah destroy Israel." He added that "we must see what is happening there, and we must unite and be strong."

Meanwhile, sources in the Middle East are warning about a concerning development in the northern arena: The Syrian regime is conducting advanced negotiations with Turkey to transfer control of the Tadmor (Palmyra) area to the Turkish army, in a move that could create direct friction between Israeli and Turkish forces in Syria.

According to the reported information, al-Julani's regime in Syria is in advanced stages of negotiations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the transfer of a significant territory in the historic city of Tadmor to Turkish army control. In return, Syria would receive a significant economic, military, and political aid package from Turkey.

Over the past several years, Turkish President Erdogan has taken an increasingly hostile tone towards Israel, a tone which only escalated after October 7. Turkey has banned all trade with Israel, and Turkey also joined with South Africa's "genocide" case against Israel at the Hague. Erdogan has even dropped hints of a possible military reckoning with Israel over Gaza. Thus, analysts believe the threat is a serious one.

The Israel-Alma Center, which regularly provides analyses of threats to Israel from countries to the north - specifically Lebanon and Syria - believes that Turkey could indeed pose such a threat in one of two possible ways: indirect support for Syrian forces as an anti-Israel proxy force, and direct use of long-range missiles and drone arsenals.

The Center argues that Turkey may use Syria as a hostile proxy force in much the same way as Iran uses and equips terrorist proxy armies around the Middle East - Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and others - while trying to officially maintain deniability. According to their analysis, this is vital to prevent the United States directly intervening with their NATO partner.

Turkey also possesses an increasingly large arsenal of long-range ballistic missiles, which it may use in the event it desires to clash with Israel over any number of pretexts. However, the Alma Center believes that at present, Turkey currently seeks to hold onto those missiles and is unlikely to hand them over to anyone else.

The option of Turkish ground forces directly moving south from Turkey to the Israeli border to threaten Israel from the north does not seem to be considered a real possibility, according to the analysis, though that may change depending on developments in the region - such as what is occurring right now in Syria.