Israel’s rising confrontation with Turkey has opened a disturbing new chapter in Middle Eastern geopolitics.
After its war with Iran and its continuing campaigns against Hezbollah and other regional actors, Israel now appears to be widening its strategic lens toward Ankara. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s warning that “Turkey is the new Iran” was not an isolated slogan; it reflected a growing Israeli security debate that increasingly views Turkey, Qatar, Syria, Hamas, and even Pakistan-linked regional alignments as part of a new strategic challenge to Israeli supremacy.
This raises a central question: how can a tiny state, with a population smaller than many regional cities, speak with such confidence about confronting Iran, Turkey, and even Pakistan?
The answer is not conventional military size alone. Israel’s confidence rests on four pillars: its advanced air force, elite intelligence network, US strategic backing, and, above all, its undeclared nuclear arsenal.
Together, these have created a state mentality in which Israel does not merely seek security; it seeks regional dominance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
The writer is a former Press Secretary to the President, An ex-Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France, a former MD, SRBC Macomb, Detroit, Michigan