Peloni: Trump’s refusal to recognize and oppose Turkish expansionism in the region has been and remains a disturbing aspect of his Middle East policies which undermines any potential for peace in the region.
By | Jan 2, 2025
Photo by kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia
Shay Gal is a senior strategic advisor and analyst specializing in international security, defense policy, geopolitical crisis management, and strategic communications. Jihad Watch ran an article in July: “Is Turkey ‘the new Iran’? A top Israeli strategic analyst thinks so,” based on Turkey’s consistent actions (as Jihad Watch has covered for years), and on the case that Gal makes that Turkey has indeed evolved into “the new Iran.”
What makes another recent article by Shay Gal critically important is that it reveals Turkey’s expansion in the region, at the behest of Trump, who has embraced the Islamic supremacist deceiver Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Trump Promised Turkey. Israel Will Ensure Washington Blocks It”, by Shay Gal, The Times of Israel, December 31, 2025:
What looked like a cordial meeting at Mar-a-Lago concealed a sharper reality. Turkey was not a side note to the Netanyahu-Trump talks; it was the core issue. Not Iran. Not Hamas. Not Gaza. At stake was a familiar method disguised as diplomacy: personal assurances replacing policy, performance replacing strategy. F-35s on one track, Turkish forces in Gaza on another, wrapped in promises that “everything will be fine”. But Jerusalem understands what Ankara prefers to ignore: Washington is not a villa in Florida, nor a single voice. When red lines are tested quietly, systems respond. This is about power and the limits of what can be promised.
The real story of this week’s Netanyahu-Trump meeting is simple: Turkey. Not Iran. Not Hamas. Not Gaza.
The deployment of Turkish forces in Gaza and the sale of F-35s to Erdogan are not policy ideas but a method: regional management through personal deals and assurances rather than hard reality. Trump himself illustrated this approach when he dismissed the issue as if it were a neighborhood misunderstanding: Israel “will be fine” and Turkey “won’t use them against you”. This is not policy; it is a dangerous assumption. In the Middle East, it does not work.
Turkey was not removed from the F-35 program on a whim. It was removed after choosing to deploy Russia’s S-400 system on its territory – an asset fundamentally incompatible with a stealth fighter. Washington drew a clear red line: S-400 or F-35 – never both. This was a security and technological principle, not a political impulse. US law explicitly ties the S-400 affair to Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 program. Personal chemistry does not override legislation….
Meanwhile, in a major new development just announced, Turkey has secured ten US engines, described as “a critical component of Turkey’s first indigenous fighter jet, KAAN,” which the state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries is developing.
The engine deal signals that the US “is willing to support Turkey’s domestic defense industry at a time when discussions are underway over Ankara’s possible return to the F-35 fighter jet program.”
The deployment of Turkish forces in Gaza is bad news. Consider that Erdogan has referenced Hamas as a “liberation organization,” hosted its leadership in Ankara, and granted them Turkish passports. Turkey and Qatar are well-known Muslim Brotherhood supporters. With Turkey also supporting Syrian jihadist President Ahmed al-Sharaa, as well as its increased partnership with Iran and the fact that it considers the Taliban a friend, Israel is left worse off than when Hamas managed Gaza, given the sheer power of Turkey (which is increasing).
On Friday, Erdogan “hailed a massive pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul on New Year’s Day as a ‘historic moment.’” He stated that “it sent a clear message that Palestine is not alone.” He threatened Netanyahu, saying: “What this Pharaoh called (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu has done will not go unpunished, because he incurred the curses of countless oppressed people, from the young to the old.”
Gal further notes:
A Turkish force in Gaza would mean Erdogan’s presence in Gaza – flag, uniforms, command structures, and intelligence – creating a permanent friction zone with the IDF, where any local tactical incident could escalate into a diplomatic crisis. This would not be stabilization; it would be a Turkish foothold at the heart of Israel’s most sensitive arena…
In Trump’s worldview, performance is not always a prelude to reality. At times it replaces it; at times it is the policy. Jerusalem understands this clearly: Trump can be with Israel and with Erdogan at the same time. For him, this is not a contradiction but a method.
Westerners will always be at a loss in negotiations with Islamic leaders because they are clueless about Islam and its culture, and too easily swayed by appearances. As Muhammad said: “war is deceit.” (Sunan Ab? D?w?d 2637)
This is what Trump thinks about Erdogan:
Turkey has been great…I know Erdogan very well, and, as you all know, he’s a good friend of mine. I believe him, and I respect him.
Trump added: “So does Netanyahu.”
However, Israel has openly and repeatedly disapproved of the presence of Turkish troops in Gaza as part of the International Stabilization Force in the next phase of the Trump plan.
Erdogan demanded that Allah “damn Zionist Israel” in his last Eid al-Fitr remarks. As he champions Gaza, the Turkish president is moving dangerously closer to working with his Allah to achieve that demand.
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