Israel Runs the Iran Playbook on Turkey

Foreign Affairs Yesterday’s peripheral partnerships are today’s rivalries. (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images) One of the stranger geopolitical developments in the Middle East of late (leaving aside the present war) has been the rupture between Israel and Turkey. A war of words has turned into something resembling a full diplomatic spat, with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing Turkey’s regional aspirations as “aggressive” and other high officials even advocating for the country’s removal from NATO. Most worrying, considering the conflict in which the United States currently finds itself embroiled, are Israeli comparisons of Turkey to Iran. The former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, for instance, has declared that “Turkey is the new Iran,” which seems to po